Dealing With Disappointment

Introduction:

At one point or the other in our lives we have been disappointed or disappointed another person. Disappointment is part of everyday occurrences and which whether we like or not have to deal with. If God our creator can be disappointed then we His children cannot escape disappointment in one form or the other. How we deal with disappointment shall be the subject of our message this morning. Our text is taken from Gen 6 verses 5 to 7; 8: 20 - 21; 9:8-17

Genesis 6: 5 The LORD saw how great man's wickedness on the earth had become and that every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil all the time. 6 The LORD was grieved that he had made man on the earth, and his heart was filled with pain. 7 So the LORD said, "I will wipe mankind, whom I have created, from the face of the earth--men and animals, and creatures that move along the ground, and birds of the air--for I am grieved that I have made them."

Genesis 8: 20 Then Noah built an altar to the LORD and, taking some of all the clean animals and clean birds, he sacrificed burnt offerings on it. 21 The LORD smelled the pleasing aroma and said in his heart: "Never again will I curse the ground because of man, even though every inclination of his heart is evil from childhood. And never again will I destroy all living creatures, as I have done.

Genesis 9: 8 Then God said to Noah and to his sons with him: 9 "I now establish my covenant with you and with your descendants after you 10 and with every living creature that was with you--the birds, the livestock and all the wild animals, all those that came out of the ark with you--every living creature on earth. 11 I establish my covenant with you: Never again will all life be cut off by the waters of a flood; never again will there be a flood to destroy the earth." 12 And God said, "This is the sign of the covenant I am making between me and you and every living creature with you, a covenant for all generations to come: 13 I have set my rainbow in the clouds, and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and the earth. 14 Whenever I bring clouds over the earth and the rainbow appears in the clouds, 15 I will remember my covenant between me and you and all living creatures of every kind. Never again will the waters become a flood to destroy all life. 16Whenever the rainbow appears in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and all living creatures of every kind on the earth." 17 So God said to Noah, "This is the sign of the covenant I have established between me and all life on the earth."

What is disappointment?

Disappointment comes from the word, disappoint which means to fail to meet expectations, hopes, desires, or standards of; or to let down. Disappointment therefore is the act of disappointing or the state of being disappointed.

What causes disappointment?

Disappointment is caused when a person fails to meet the expectations, desires, or hopes of another person, e.g. God was disappointed when Adam and Eve hid from him, Genesis 3: 8 Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the LORD God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the LORD God among the trees of the garden. 9 But the LORD God called to the man, "Where are you?" 10 He answered, "I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid." 11 And he said, "Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree that I commanded you not to eat from?” Cain was disappointed because God did not look with favor with his offering as He did with his brother’s offering, Genesis 4; 4 But Abel brought fat portions from some of the firstborn of his flock. The LORD looked with favor on Abel and his offering, 5 but on Cain and his offering he did not look with favor. So Cain was very angry, and his face was downcast. 6 Then the LORD said to Cain, "Why are you angry? Why is your face downcast? 7 If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must master it.

Effect of disappointment; from verse 5 of our text;

• God’s heart was grieved,

• God reacted to his grieve by wiping out all his creations on the earth except the only person and his family who did not disappoint him and insignificant few animals.