DISAPPOINTMENT

I Was Just Thinking About – DISAPPOINTMENT.

Disappointment is “the feeling of sadness or displeasure caused by the nonfulfillment of one's hopes or expectations.” Disappointment can easily lead one to discouragement (“a loss of confidence or enthusiasm; dispiritedness”). In other words, disappointment can become a type of slide into negativity. The Apostle Paul addressed how he overcame disappointments and discouragements in II Corinthians 1:8-10, “We do not want you to be unaware, brothers, about the hardships we encountered in the province of Asia. We were under a burden far beyond our ability to endure, so that we despaired even of life. Indeed, we felt we were under the sentence of death, in order that we would not trust in ourselves, but in God, who raises the dead. He has delivered us from such a deadly peril, and He will deliver us. In Him we have placed our hope that He will yet again deliver us.”

Jesus was upfront with His disciples when he cautioned them in John 16:33, “In this world you will have tribulation, but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.” The NLT renders the words of Jesus: “I have told you all this so that you may have peace in me. Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows. But take heart, because I have overcome the world.”

The definition for disappointment included the the thought about one’s personal expectations. One will find in many family or church matters that the current of disappointment surges into one’s life and thinking when one’s expectations and anticipations are in the process of being dashed. When this occurs in the life of a Biblical Christian, there should be the eagerness to practice I Peter 5:7 and “Cast all your care upon Him (Jesus), because He cares for you. He never leaves or forsakes on of His own. We would do well to embrace the words of Moses to Joshua in Deuteronomy 31:7-8, “Be strong and courageous, for you shall go with this people into the land that the Lord has sworn to their fathers to give them, and you shall put them in possession of it. It is the Lord who goes before you. He will be with you; he will not leave you or forsake you. Do not fear or be dismayed.” This closing phrase in the NLT should be emblazoned in one’s life, “ He (The Lord) will be with you; He will neither fail you nor abandon you.”

Prayerfully – consider these things with me.