Facing disappointment in life

Psalm 118:5-8 (NLT)
5 In my distress I prayed to the Lord, and the Lord answered me and set me free. 6 The Lord is for me, so I will have no fear. What can mere people do to me? 7 Yes, the Lord is for me; he will help me. I will look in triumph at those who hate me. 8 It is better to take refuge in the Lord than to trust in people.

David gives us an account of God’s gracious dealings with him. He shares this with us that we might also be able to find both songs of praise and thoughts of faith in our hearts and both ways God would have the glory. David had, in his time, waded through a great deal of difficulty, which gave him a great experience of God’s goodness. Who better to trust in than The Lord?

 

 

Let’s face it -- people will disappoint you. It doesn’t matter if it’s your father, mother, brother, spouse or child – at some point in life they may disappoint you. There may be others who you think are close friends and then they do something that really disappoints you. The disappointment may be so great in some cases that it leads a person to break their relationship with the person. I know for instance my mother was married twice and divorced twice. I’m sure in the beginning she loved both my father and stepfather, but they let her down and disappointed her. The affect was not just against her, but also against her children, which again turned into a disappointment for my brother and me. It was tough growing up with a mom who worked all the time to support us while the dads were nowhere to be found.

When Job, of the Old Testament, was suffering in pain, his friends came with a purpose to comfort, but instead made accusations and tried to lead Job into believing he had done something wrong. Job laments by saying -- But when the hot weather arrives, the water disappears. The brook vanishes in the heat. The caravans turn aside to be refreshed, but there is nothing to drink, so they die. The caravans from Tema search for this water; the travelers from Sheba hope to find it. They count on it but are disappointed. When they arrive, their hopes are dashed. You, too, have given no help. You have seen my calamity, and you are afraid. – In other words these travelers were hoping to find something refreshing and they found nothing. You see Jobs friends offered no help and instead accused him of things he had not done. What a disappointment they must have been as they sat and talked with Job.

The good news is Romans 5:2-6 tells us -- Because of our faith, Christ has brought us into this place of undeserved privilege where we now stand, and we confidently and joyfully look forward to sharing God’s glory. We can rejoice, too, when we run into problems and trials, for we know that they help us develop endurance. And endurance develops strength of character, and character strengthens our confident hope of salvation. And this hope will not lead to disappointment. For we know how dearly God loves us, because he has given us the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts with his love. When we were utterly helpless, Christ came at just the right time and died for us sinners.”

Reflect on King David’s words, “It is better to take refuge in the Lord than to trust in people.” We still love people, but we can’t place all of our trust in them for they will disappoint us. God however always loves and always has as best interest at heart and we can always trust in The Lord. We should always put God first in our lives, counting on Him to fill the voids in our lives, counting on Him to sustain us, counting on Him to love us just for those moments when we face disappointment.