Disappointment is Inevitable
We're in a little series called Deal With It. This week I want to talk to you about dealing with your disappointment in life.
I know for certain that many of you watching or listening are facing disappointments right now. Life rarely, if ever, goes the way we would like it to! There are always defeats and disappointments in our paths.
In fact you might say that disappointment is inevitable even for the Christian.
When Confidence Turns to Disappointment
One of the Bible characters who dealt with deep disappointment was Job. Things were going well for him, and then suddenly a series of tragedies happened and his whole life turned upside down.
One of his friends comes to speak to him to try and help him out of his slump, but Job finds that his friend's words don't provide any help. He says this: "Caravans turn aside from their routes; they go off into the wasteland and perish. The caravans of Tema look for water, the travelling merchants of Sheba look in hope. They are distressed, because they had been confident; they arrive there, only to be disappointed." (Job 6:18-20)
Job was saying that disappointment is inevitable. He was saying that people travelling through the desert hope that they will find water at various places, but sometimes their confidence turns to disappointment because what they were hoping for doesn't happen.
There will be times when you get to what you think will be a refreshing spring, and it’s dry.
There will be times when you hope for something, and it doesn't happen. It doesn't come.
I don't need to tell you this, do I? You know firsthand what it's like to be disappointed. You know that life isn't always what it's cracked up to be.
Even the Greatest Saints Faced Disappointment
This is true even for people of God. Think of the Apostle Paul, who had a remarkable ministry, truly. He saw and did incredible things. Had remarkable gifts of miracles and healing. Saw many people come to Christ and saw the world begin to change as Christianity took root.
But Paul didn't just have it easy. Read what he said to the church in Corinth: "In order to keep me from becoming conceited, I was given a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me. Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. But he said to me, 'My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.'" (2 Corinthians 12:7-9)
Nobody agrees on what the thorn was in Paul's flesh - an illness perhaps, or a struggle of some sorts. He pleaded with God to have it taken away, but God didn't just remove it.
Disappointment is inevitable. Jesus even prayed that God would take the cup away from him when he was about to go to his death. But while God could just prevent us from any disappointment, difficulty, pain, struggle…
He doesn't.
God Offers a Way Through
Philip Yancey wrote a powerful book which I read as a young man called Disappointment With God. Listen to what he writes: "No one is exempt from tragedy or disappointment - God himself was not exempt. Jesus offered no immunity, no way out of the unfairness, but rather a way through it to the other side."
Do you hear this? God himself was not exempt from tragedy or disappointment. Jesus offered no way out, but rather a way through our disappointments.
As you face disappointment in your life, you stand alongside Job, Paul, and Jesus Himself. Be encouraged. Like them, you will find that disappointment is redeemable when we have our faith in the Lord.
Disappointment is inevitable, even for people of faith - but God offers not a way out of it, but a way through it.