Facing the Disappointments

Then you will know that I am the LORD; those who hope in me will not be disappointed. Isaiah 49:23 (New International Version)

I listened to a sermon via the internet and the question was asked, “Have you ever been disappointed with God?” I wrestled with that question because I couldn’t really think of a time when God was the One who disappointed me. I guess this is because God’s heart and character are so embedded in my thinking. I know He rules supreme, is in control, is always good, has my best interest at heart, never leaves, and never changes. While I may not understand or always enjoy His ways, I don’t feel my disappointment lies in Him, yet I know I have lived with a profound sense of disappointment.

The sources of disappointment have varied. Relationships have disappointed me. When people cannot or will not give me what I want or need from them I walk in disappointment. When those I have grown dependent upon walk away or cease to be involved in my life, I feel the disappointment. When someone’s opinion of me takes a nose dive and I am no longer looked at in the same light or with the same affection, I become cloaked in disappointment. When schedules, energy, and constraints become barriers and hindrances, I am left with disappointment.

I have experienced disappointment in myself. Disappointment in my need for people and my dependency upon them. Disappointment in my own weaknesses and failures. Disappointment in the inability to change circumstances in my life. Disappointment in my own habits and addictions. Disappointment in being disappointed.

The list is endless but hope is available when I live out the truths of Isaiah 49:23. Placing my trust, dependency, expectations, and hope in the eternal God is my only answer for disappointment. He is all I need Him to be and more. He is my Rock to stand upon and my Father to lean upon. As He listens to me acknowledge my disappointments to Him, He is the only One capable of soothing the ache. Disappointed in Him? Absolutely not! He is the very One I turn to each and every time disappointment finds its way into my life. He listens, comforts, and teaches me with each dissatisfaction, discontentment, disillusionment, and displeasure.

I may not be able to avoid being disappointed, but I don’t have to stay there. I have His daily invitation to come to Him, abide in Him, rest in Him, and look to Him.

Father, I have tasted disappointment and found You to be faithful when it hurt the most. Amen.

When the Tears Fall We are never alone
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6mnN-U1Lai8&feature=related

He is wooing you from the jaws of distress to a spacious place free from restriction, to the comfort of your table laden with choice food. Job 36:16