Disappointment

Followers of Jesus are not immune to disappointment, discouragement, or fear. Unanswered questions rattle around in our minds. There are challenges, for sure, but we know that every believer is empowered by the Spirit.

So, check this out. You are your father’s favorite son and your brothers’ worst nightmare. It doesn’t help that you bring bad reports about them to your father and brag about dreams in which they bow down to you. They plan to kill you, mercifully throw you into a cistern instead, and then not so mercifully sell you to a traveling band of Ishmaelites.

C. S. Lewis wrote, “The human spirit will not begin to try to surrender self-will as long as all seems to be well with it.” When we are good, we’re good. We don’t need God. As one person said, “We regard God as an airman regards his parachute; it’s there for emergencies but he hopes he’ll never have to use it.”

There is a great story involving Jesus and his disciples that reminds us that even great men and women of God have times of doubt, especially when the storms kick up. Here’s the story from Matthew’s account of Jesus walking on the water and Peter giving it a try.

People will always let you down. Even those who love you the most. Even those you consider a mentor. Even those who want what’s best for you. It’s in our DNA—we disappoint others. But there is One who never disappoints.

Have you ever been shaken? Left reeling? A person I met with today described it as a “gut punch.” These troubling times may involve an illness, a job loss, a death, a disappointment, or a broken relationship. In today’s passage, the psalmist says it feels like the earth is giving way and the mountains are quaking. But the strength of God can overpower our greatest fears.

Hurt. Disappointment. Anger. Confusion. Fear. Mary was probably feeling all those emotions following the death of her brother Lazarus. She made her way to Jesus, fell at his feet, and let him know exactly what was on her mind. “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died” (John 11:32). Those words were spoken with tears running down her cheeks and between the loud sobs of grief.

When we set our hearts on seeing Jesus, nothing will hold us back.

I am God and there is no other…. I have purposed, and I will do it.