WHEN LIFE SEEMS LIKE A DEEP DISAPPOINTMENT
By Wade Martin Hughes, Sr. Kyfingers@ol.com (YouTube: Wade Hughes)
Text: John 16:33 (MSG) I've told you all this so that trusting me, you will be unshakable and assured, deeply at peace. In this godless world you will continue to experience difficulties. But take heart! I've conquered the world."
Life has a way of knocking us down. Often disappointments have fatigue and then we grow the tendency to throw in the towel. We often see disappointment as ADVERSITY. Our disappointments can become opportunities.
*We often ask: What could I have done? What should I have done? What did I not do?
*DISAPPOINTMENT: unfulfilled expectations. A NEGATIVE EMOTION WHEN THE OUTCOME DOESN’T MATCH UP WITH YOUR EXPECTATIONS. Sadness or displeasure caused by the non fulfillment of one’s hopes or expectations. Disappointment expresses itself as anger, sadness, and frustration. Hard blow, defeat, a bitter pill to swallow.
LET US START WITH EXPRESSING DISAPPOINTMENT IS AN UNAVOIDABLE PART OF REAL LIFE. Hot on the heels of disappointment grows discouragement coming because what happened is not as good as we hoped to accomplish. Know this often: our thoughts and expectations results because we had unreal goals and high hopes. ARE WE TIRED AND WEARY OF DAILY LIFE? COULD IT BE WE ARE JUST GOING THROUGH THE MOTIONS?
NAAMAN WAS DISAPPOINTED IN THE PREACHER! NAAMAN IS DISAPPOINTED SO MUCH THAT IT ALMOST KILLED HIS MIRACLE. I DON’T LIKE WHAT THE PREACHER SAID! I DON’T LIKE HIS DIRTY RIVER! NAAMAN’S DISAPPOINTMENT GAVE BIRTH TO RAGE!
2 Kings 5:11 But Naaman was wroth, and went away, and said, Behold, I thought, He will surely come out to me, and stand, and call on the name of the LORD his God, and strike his hand over the place, and recover the leper. 12 Are not Abana and Pharpar, rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel? may I not wash in them, and be clean? So he turned and went away in a rage.
FINALLY NAAMAN LISTENS AND DIPS 7 TIMES! NAAMAN OVERCAME HIS DISAPPOINTMENTS TO STEP INTO HIS HEALING!
MARY AND MARTHA WERE DISAPPOINTED WHEN JESUS DID NOT COME ON TIME… LORD IF you had come when we sent for you… our brother would still be alive.
JOHN 11:32 Then when Mary was come where Jesus was, and saw him, she fell down at his feet, saying unto him, Lord, if thou hadst been here, my brother had not died.
Jesus we are disappointed. Our brother is dead and his body stinks.
John 11:39 Jesus said, Take ye away the stone. Martha, the sister of him that was dead, saith unto him, Lord, by this time he stinketh: for he hath been dead four days.
John 11:43 And when he thus had spoken, he cried with a loud voice, Lazarus, come forth.
I WENT OUT FULL AND DISAPPOINTMENT HAS LEFT ME EMPTY. DEATH HAS DESTROYED AND BROUGHT SO MUCH DISAPPOINTMENT TO RUTH.
Ruth’s husband died in a foreign land. It gets worse. Ruth’s two sons die. This is a hopeless situation. NOW WHAT?
Ruth 1:19 So they two went until they came to Bethlehem. And it came to pass, when they were come to Bethlehem, that all the city was moved about them, and they said, Is this Naomi? 20 And she said unto them, Call me not Naomi, call me Mara: for the Almighty hath dealt very bitterly with me. 21 I went out full, and the LORD hath brought me home again empty: why then call ye me Naomi, seeing the LORD hath testified against me, and the Almighty hath afflicted me?
DISAPPOINTMENT? THERE IS A GOD OF RESTORATION!
Ruth 4:14 And the women said unto Naomi, Blessed be the LORD, which hath not left thee this day without a kinsman, that his name may be famous in Israel. 15 And he shall be unto thee a restorer of thy life, and a nourisher of thine old age: for thy daughter in law, which loveth thee, which is better to thee than seven sons, hath born
WE HAVE LOST EVERYTHING… NOTHING IS LEFT. TALK ABOUT DISAPPOINTMENT, LISTEN TO YOUR WIFE?
Job 2:9 Then said his wife unto him, Dost thou still retain thine integrity? curse God, and die.
GOD IS THE GOD THAT RESTORES ALL THAT DISAPPOINTMENTS TAKE.
Job 42:10 And the LORD turned the captivity of Job, when he prayed for his friends: also the LORD gave Job twice as much as he had before.
SEEMS MY MINISTRY IS NOTHING BUT A DISAPPOINTMENT. I HAVE ALWAYS DONE MY BEST! (???) GOD DON’T YOU KNOW? I AM SO DISAPPOINTED IN MYSELF, IN OTHERS AND TO BE REAL HONEST GOD MY MINISTRY HAS NOT GONE AS I EXPECTED… GOD I GUESS I AM DISAPPOINTED WITH YOU! I AM THE ONLY ONE!
1 Kings 19:10 And he said, I have been very jealous for the LORD God of hosts: for the children of Israel have forsaken thy covenant, thrown down thine altars, and slain thy prophets with the sword; and I, even I only, am left; and they seek my life, to take it away.
1 Kings 19:10 (MSG) "I've been working my heart out for the GOD-of-the-Angel-Armies," said Elijah. "The people of Israel have abandoned your covenant, destroyed the places of worship, and murdered your prophets. I'm the only one left, and now they're trying to kill me."
I AM THE ONLY ONE SERVING GOD! ELIJAH’S EMOTIONS ARE PLAYING GAMES WITH HIS HEAD. YOUR BRAIN CAN DISTORT THE TRUTH. GOD TOLD ELIJAH THE TRUTH.
1 Kings 19:18 Yet I have left me seven thousand in Israel, all the knees which have not bowed unto Baal, and every mouth which hath not kissed him.
WHERE CAN DISAPPOINTMENT PUSH YOU? WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE?
1 Kings 19:9 And he came thither unto a cave, and lodged there; and, behold, the word of the LORD came to him, and he said unto him, What doest thou here, Elijah?
WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE? GET UP! YOU CAN’T STAY HERE IN THIS EMOTIONAL AND SPIRITUAL STATE.
1 Kings 19:11 And he said, Go forth, and stand upon the mount before the LORD. And, behold, the LORD passed by, and a great and strong wind rent the mountains, and brake in pieces the rocks before the LORD; but the LORD was not in the wind: and after the wind an earthquake; but the LORD was not in the earthquake:
12 And after the earthquake a fire; but the LORD was not in the fire: and after the fire a still small voice.
THE SECOND TIME GOD ASK: WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE?
1 Kings 19:13 And it was so, when Elijah heard it, that he wrapped his face in his mantle, and went out, and stood in the entering in of the cave. And, behold, there came a voice unto him, and said, What doest thou here, Elijah?
CONCLUSION: LIFE IS ABOUT THE CHOICES WE MAKE. This disappointment can be a stumbling block or it can be a stepping stone. We are not immune to spiritual disappointments. There is a pandemic in the world that hurt drives disappointments. WE MUST LET GO AND LET GOD…
Psalm 68:1 Let God arise, let his enemies be scattered:
His servant, Wade Martin Hughes, Sr. Kyfingers@aol.com (YouTube: Wade Hughes)
