Romans 8:28 And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.
Disappointments are just God’s way of saying, “I’ve got something better”. Be patient…live life…have faith”.
Disappointment is a sadness or sorrow caused by a non-fulfillment of one’s hopes. It is something or someone that is not as good as you had hoped or expected. Disappointment with your spouse, job, friend or child can be nerve-wrecking but the most disheartening disappointment is ‘disappointment with God’.
Disappointment with God could question our faith and shake our trust. When God fails to answer our fervent pleading, discouragement could cloud our mind and derail our journey of faith. It would feel like the Lord God sat back on His throne watching us to go through the treachery and torture. Disappointments can make us bitter if we don’t deal with it correctly.
The young lad Joseph would have prayed a thousand prayers when his brothers brutally assaulted him. He might have cried to the Lord for an angelic rescue team from heaven or for the Lord to send someone to save him from the hands of the coldblooded envious siblings. However, his cry from the pathetic pit was not heard in heaven. To add to his disappointment, he was sold to the Ishmaelite merchants who took him like a commodity to be traded as a slave in Egypt.
Joseph would have been disappointed and shattered but he was not embittered. The young teenager kept his faith through the dread of disappointment until he saw the hand of God lift him out of the distress. Joseph chose not to remember the deceit and disloyalty but he ruminated over the dreams that God has given about his future.
Discretionary response to the disappointment kept him from depression.
Dealing with Disappointment:
1. Bitter: The carnal response to disappointment is resentment. It can make us angry with God or the people who let us down. Disappointment with people can be overcome by forgiveness. Give them room and space to grow and stop fixing them with long lectures or cold shoulders. Don’t allow disappointment to steal your joy. Anything that touches us has first passed through the fingers of the Almighty. Become benevolent, not bitter through the disappointment.
2. Better: Allow the disappointment to shape your thoughts and ways. God’s thoughts are better than ours. So, let God be God. If He chooses not to answer a prayer – surrender, don’t resist and insist on your way. Let the disappointment bring the best out of you and not the worst.
3. Bigger: Be the bigger person in the dissolution. Disappointments refine our thoughts and mature our expectations. God will ultimately work all things together for our good – even the ugly, unwanted and unexpected disappointments.
Don’t let the disappointment make you bitter; God will work it out to be better, brighter and bigger.
Genesis 42:9a Then Joseph remembered the dreams which he dreamed about them.
Prayer: Dearest Lord Jesus, help me to trust you through the disappointment that in the end all things will work out for my good and good alone. Amen
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