Disappointment

For the LORD of hosts has purposed, and who will annul it? His hand is stretched out, and who will turn it back? 
Isaiah 14:27 

Growing up, my family would take a lot of trips in our van across the country. I loved packing up the van and claiming my seat in the back row so that I could have a bit more space and comfortably listen to music or read a book. It was a lot of fun and the excitement always grew as we slowly, but surely, neared our final destination. Oh what adventures would await us. But that is not to say that every trip was without disappointments. For example, I vividly recall one long trip that involved us to cross through multiple states. Seeing as this was going to be a long one, I took a nap during the drive. Some time later, I woke up to the salty smell of McDonald's fries…mmm dinner was going to be great. To keep within the word count, let me tell you that it was not great. What had happened was that while orders were being taken at the Drive-thru for McDonalds I was still fast asleep. So I ended up with a total of zero fries, no cheeseburgers, and zilch on the ice cream front. Talk about a major disappointment.

Disappointment. We all experience this emotion at some point in our lives. In the month of March, that is the topic that we will be considering and in the following articles we are going to answer the questions of how it is that we should deal with it in our own lives, how to help those who may be feeling despair or hopelessness, and even look at how Social Media seems to play a part in our lives. However, for this article I want to hone in on two simple questions: 1) what is it and 2) is it always a sin to feel disappointed.

One of my pet peeves is when someone says "according to the ____ dictionary", so for those like me I apologize for my next sentence. According to the Oxford dictionary, disappointment is defined as "sadness or displeasure caused by the nonfulfillment of one's hopes or expectations". To put it another way, things did not go the way you had wanted them to go. Now we can all think of areas and times in our lives when we have felt disappointed. I know that one of the most disappointing times for me are while I am open-air preaching or doing one-on-one touch evangelism and the person rejects the message of the Gospel. It pains me because I truly love these people and want them to come to know God. It pains me because God will not be glorified, hopefully yet, in that person's life. I think it is easy for us to understand how people and circumstances can disappoint us, and do disappoint us often. When we read the Scriptures, we also become disappointed by the actions of God's people, from the beginning in the garden, to the wandering in after the exodus, to the disciples.

So then is it sinful? It depends. Disappointments reveal what is placed in our hearts and, for the most part, our hearts lead us to the wrong desires. So when we are passed up for a promotion despite our strong work ethic and proficiencies or simply do not win at church bingo, what is being exposed is our selfishness and entitlement. Worse, it can be one that is not alone but will bring resentment, anger, and a hatred directed towards God. For those, we must be quick to repent, but we will deal more with this in the next article.

A form of disappointment that is not sinful could be a case such as the ones mentioned in the previous paragraph. When we are yearning for God to do a work in the life of an unbeliever but He delays. Another way is when our child strays from the path of righteousness, we will experience emotions of disappointment that they went the wrong way. It is natural and correct for us be disappointed even when a an entire nation celebrates and promotes a culture of violence and death, such as can be seen by many countries stance on abortion. All throughout, we can continue to be in complete trust in God and His divine providence, but still feel sadness at outcomes developing around and in us. The important thing to guard yourself from is ever moving from disappointment to frustration. At that point, we move into sin. The double consequence of that is that our love will grow cold and our trust in God will waver.

Ultimately, disappointments can become a good thing. For one, it will drive us to hold fast to our convictions and to strengthen ourselves in the Lord. As we see our inability to control any situation, we can trust more surely that God is in control and that nothing can thwart His purpose. It can also cause us to pray with greater conviction and passion as we seek for God's will to be done and His glory to be made manifest. So do you have righteous disappointment? If not, go to the Lord and be aware of what it is that is in your heart. Otherwise, take heart. God is in control, this may be His means for your sanctification.

Grace and Peace,
Alex Galvez

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