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.
Human reaction cannot be less. The destruction, maiming, killing, broken relationships, etc. originated from one form of disappointment or the other. When we disappoint one another, the heart of the disappointed is grieved, he/she then reacts to the grieve by doing some negative things to the disappointer, e. g. pronouncing curses, quarrelling, fighting, killing, revenge, etc. It is therefore not a good thing to disappoint one another. A lot of the killings, destructions, maiming, etc.; we have today can be prevented when we learn not to disappoint one another.
Disappointment starts from the heart, the heart cause the body or hands to reacts in a negative way, leading to destruction of lives and properties; which in many cases are irreversible.
How to deal with disappointment? How God reacted to His disappointment.
• He regretted His negative reaction to His disappointment, 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.
• He promised/covenanted never to react that way again.
• He did not just promised but covenanted never to react that way again, 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. 16 Whenever 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.”
• God always put a measure in place in order not to be disappointed, He knew Moses was going to disappoint, He therefore prepared Joshua, Numbers 27: 18 So the LORD said to Moses, "Take Joshua son of Nun, a man in whom is the spirit, and lay your hand on him. 19 Have him stand before Eleazar the priest and the entire assembly and commission him in their presence. 20 Give him some of your authority so the whole Israelite community will obey him. 21 He is to stand before Eleazar the priest, who will obtain decisions for him by inquiring of the Urim before the LORD. At his command he and the entire community of the Israelites will go out, and at his command they will come in." 22 Moses did as the LORD commanded him. He took Joshua and had him stand before Eleazar the priest and the whole assembly. 23 Then he laid his hands on him and commissioned him, as the LORD instructed through Moses.
o God knew Saul was going to disappoint, He therefore prepared David, 1Samuel 16: 1 The LORD said to Samuel, "How long will you mourn for Saul, since I have rejected him as king over Israel? Fill your horn with oil and be on your way; I am sending you to Jesse of Bethlehem. I have chosen one of his sons to be king." 12 So he sent and had him brought in. He was ruddy, with a fine appearance and handsome features. Then the LORD said, "Rise and anoint him; he is the one."13 So Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him in the presence of his brothers, and from that day on the Spirit of the LORD came upon David in power. Samuel then went to Ramah.
o God knew all humans were not perfect; He therefore came down in human form to show man how to react to disappointment, John 1: 8 He himself was not the light; he came only as a witness to the light. 9 The true light that gives light to every man was coming into the world. 10 He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. 11 He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. 12 Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God-- 13 children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband's will, but born of God. 14 The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth. 17 For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.
How then do we deal with disappointment?
• Be prepared for disappointment: Recognize that human beings are not perfect and therefore you can be disappointed at any time, therefore put a measure of anti-disappointment in place. Something we already know about, should not be allowed to destroy us.
• When disappointed, recognize that you will not be the first person to be disappointed in the world, even God our creator was disappointed and though initially reacted in a negative way to His disappointment but later regretted His negative reaction. Therefore do not react negatively to your disappointment. Remember, Romans 12: 19 Do not take revenge, my friends, but leave room for God's wrath, for it is written: "It is mine to avenge; I will repay," says the Lord. 20 On the contrary: "If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink. In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head." 21 Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good. vengeance is mine” says the Lord, allow God to fight for you. Our master Jesus was disappointed by Judas and by his close pally Simon Peter, but how did He react to their disappointment? React the same way to every of your disappointments.
• If you have reacted negatively to your disappointments in the past, ask the Lord to forgive you and make a covenant with the Lord “never to react that way again, just as the Lord made a covenant never to destroy the earth with water.
• On daily basis ask the Lord to give you the grace to be able to face any disappointment that is likely to come your way. Pray always with: Colossians 4: 6 let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone. Pray also for those who disappoint you, Luke 23: 34 Jesus said, "Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing." And they divided up his clothes by casting lots.
• Make every effort not to disappoint another person, as instructed in Luke 6: 31 do to others as you would have them do to you.
Conclusion:
Disappointment has led to broken relations, maiming, killing, destruction, etc. it is not a good thing to disappoint or be disappointed. Let us therefore make every effort not to disappoint fellow human beings. And if ever we have been disappointed, let us forgive those who disappoint us rather than taking revenge. The Lord helps us in Jesus’ name.
