Life Lessons

Lesson 3 - Disappointment

 

Disappointment – “Unhappiness caused by the failure of one's hopes, desires, or expectations.” *

 

Does a Christian have the right to be disappointed?

Life is filled with disappointments. We have hopes, dreams, & desires. Though they may be unrealistic we have them all the same. Media outlets of all types fill us with unreasonable expectations based on our basic materialistic desires for comfort and pleasure. Do we as Christians have the right to be disappointed with anything in life? Well, not really. It all depends on our expectations and whether they are reasonable and/or God driven. We get caught up being disappointed because things don’t turn out the way we had hoped, not realizing at the time that God has something much more valuable in store for us.

 

Disappointment is tied to patience.

How long are you willing to wait for God’s will to be manifest in your life, as long as it takes? Many folks say that but show they don’t mean it by their actions. Look at Abraham and Sarah – God promised a son, but because 20 years had passed, and they were old Sarah told Abraham to lay with her Egyptian servant Hagar. He did and she gave birth to Ismael, but he was not the son God promised. Impatience caused disobedience. Sarah became angry and jealous and cast Hagar out of her presence. The enemy will use any delay to discourage us to the point of distraction allowing doubt to creep into our soul. Don’t set your expectations too high. Let God set your expectations based on his promises from scripture.

 

Disappointment is tied to happiness.

They say, ‘being happy is a decision’. Should our happiness be tied to life’s disappointments? It often times is, but should it be? It depends on the driving force in your life. Are you running with a worldly engine or a heavenly inspired one? Do you seek God for wisdom and guidance or comb the Internet for inspiration? I believe it really is a decision we make each day to be happy or unhappy. Each day we must touch base with our Heavenly Father in an effort to feed our spirit man. Perhaps it’s thru the lyrics of a song, a devotional reading, a scripture verse we come upon or an email from a brother or sister in the Lord telling us what a blessing we are. These small things elevate our faith and drive out unhappiness and disappointment. Just reading a Psalm per day can rev up your spiritual engine.

            Below you will find scriptures dealing with disappointment: Don’t wait to be spoon fed … dig deep into the richness of God’s soil and feed on the truth of his word. 

            Next we’ll take a look at DEPRESSION. Until then, walk with the King & be a blessing.

 

In His Name & for His Glory,

Richard Keller

Bread of Life Ministries

Bible verses dealing with disappointment:

Jeremiah 29:11

Isaiah 55:8-9

Romans 8:28

Psalm 55:22

Philippians 4:6-7

Matthew 6:6

Psalms 27:14

Isaiah 40:28-31

Philippians 4:13

*The American Heritage® Roget's Thesaurus. Copyright © 2013, 2014 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.