Living By Faith Blog

Our regular getaway

This time of year Jan and I usually head out of town and spend two nights at a bed and breakfast on the coast.

So Monday we packed up and headed off with great expectations.

But after we’d been there an hour, Jan started feeling sick.  It slowly got worse.  And worse.

I’ll spare you the details — but Jan has never been that sick.  After a miserable night, we drove home this morning.

Thankfully, Jan is better.  But we’re still feeling disappointed.

What is disappointment?

Disappointment is the emptiness we feel when something we’ve hoped in does not happen.

There’s much bigger disappointments than missing a two-night getaway —  disappointments about your children, your marriage, your ministry, your life.

But large or small — disappointments are painful.

A promise for every problem

Spurgeon said God has a promise for every problem.

So — what does God promise about disappointments?

Disappointments are not dead-ends — they are God-ordained detours.

As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good.  Gen 50:20

Joseph’s evil brothers cost him years in a dungeon.  Those wasted years could be seen as a dead-end.

But Joseph understood that those years were not a wasted dead-end.  God had taken him on an unexpected detour — which would bring him something even better.

Disappointments are God-ordained detours to an even more satisfying destination.

Three times I pleaded with the Lord about this, that it should leave me.  But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.”  Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. 2Cor 12:8-9

Paul asked God to remove his thorn in the flesh.  God said No.

But God told Paul that his thorn in the flesh was not a dead-end — it was a God-ordained detour to give Paul an even greater experience of Christ’s power.

But for this to encourage Paul, he would need to feel that closeness with Christ was a greater joy than freedom from the thorn.

That’s where my battle needs to be fought.

Living by faith when disappointed

So how can we fight the fight of faith when we are disappointed?  Here’s what I’m doing —

• I’m coming to God with my disappointment, trusting that — because of Jesus — the Father loves me, welcomes me, and will help me.
• I’m searching my heart, to see what I’ve been trusting for my joy — the 2-day getaway or Jesus.
• I’m confessing that in some ways I’ve been trusting the 2-day getaway more.  I’m asking for forgiveness and cleansing.
• I’m asking God to help me feel that the joy of Jesus is infinitely more satisfying than a 2-day getaway.
• I’m asking God to strengthen my faith so I trust that the detour of coming home can bring Jan and me even more joy in Christ than the 2-day getaway.
• I’m setting my heart on Christ, asking Him to open my eyes to see Him so clearly that I can rejoice in this detour as a means of gaining more of Christ.
• And I’m asking the Father to completely heal Jan, and pour His comfort and joy upon her.

This is still in process.  But I know I’m on the right path.

What about you?

How have you handled disappointments?  What promises have helped?  I’d love to hear your thoughts — leave a reply below.

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