Life is full of disappointments!
We have hope / expectation / longing and what we want to happen does not, or something we don’t want does!
Areas of disappointment
Disappointment with LIFE
Work or school or exams; sport; music; hobbies
Sometimes disappointments are because expectations were unrealistic
Silly to be disappointed about not winning the lottery! Especially if you never bought a ticket because you realised gambling was not only a sin but a waste of time!
Sometimes disappointments were unexpected, undeserved
Overlooked for promotion.
Disappointment with PEOPLE
Work, friendships, relationships
Sometimes it’s not their fault
Sometimes it was their fault
Disappointment with GOD
Life not working out as we hoped
We looked for God’s blessing and blessing did not come
Prayers not answered in the way we would like
God does not disappoint people! So if we are disappointed it is because we misunderstood / did the wrong thing / asked for the wrong thing. Often God is trying to teach us patience and faith but we want him to give us patience immediately – right now!.
Effects of disappointment
We can be disturbed, distressed, discouraged, dismayed, disheartened, depressed, distraught, disaffected, disillusioned, downright dismal, even (as Edmund Blackadder would say) discombobulated (real word = disconcerted and confused).
Disappointment leads to pessimism and a negative view on life.
We can become cynical – Murphy’s Law – general laws of life:
“Whatever can go wrong will go wrong, and at the worst possible time,”
If you think there’s nothing wrong, you havent understood the problem.
“Make something idiot-proof, and they will build a better idiot”.
Specific laws – The odds that the falling toast will land jam side down are directly proportional to the cost of the carpet.
If you’re running late the bus will be early.
The odds are six to five that the light at the end of the tunnel is the headlamp of an oncoming train.
It’s sad when people get disappointed by life.
Disappointment makes us not want to try again – not want to hope.
Alexander Pope “Blessed is he who expects nothing, for he will never be disappointed!”
Disappointment traps us in our comfort zones – we aren’t prepared to take any more risks. We don’t like to hope because we fear our hopes will be dashed.
It’s very sad when people get disappointed by other people.
Disappointment makes us close in on ourselves.
It stops us from taking the risk of trusting other people and makes us rely on ourselves.
It stops us from putting ourselves in a place where we might get hurt again.
It’s very sad when people feel that God has disappointed them
Disappointment stops us from praying bold prayers – we only pray “safe” prayers.
It stops us from stepping out on a limb in faith for God – we won’t risk being disappointed again.
It stops us expecting miracles from God!
It stops us from getting excited about God!
Are you feeling disappointed about anything tonight? Disappointed with life? Disappointed with other people? Disappointed with God?
ANTIDOTE TO DISAPPOINTMENT
1. Take your disappointments to God
If life has disappointed us – if people have let us down – take it to God!
Have we trials and temptations? Is there trouble anywhere?
We should never be discouraged; Take it to the Lord in prayer.
Can we find a friend so faithful Who will all our sorrows share?
Jesus knows our every weakness; Take it to the Lord in prayer.
Are we weak and heavy-laden, Cumbered with a load of care?
Precious Saviour, still our refuge, Take it to the Lord in prayer.
Do thy friends despise, forsake thee? Take it to the Lord in prayer;
In His arms He’ll take and shield thee, Thou wilt find a solace there.
God longs to help us and heal us and give us his peace.
Paul Montacute of Baptist World Aid was reminding us this morning that many people around the world have lives which are far harder, far shorter, far more pain-filled than our lives generally are. Through poverty. Or through persecution. So in the hard times WE need to learn to trust God as much as those believers do.
ROM 5:3-5 3 Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; 4 perseverance, character; and character, hope. 5 And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us.
If following God leads to disappointment, and discouragement, even suffering or persecution – don’t give up! True hope in God WILL NOT disappoint us.
MESSAGE v 5 In alert expectancy such as this, we’re never left feeling shortchanged. Quite the contrary—we can’t round up enough containers to hold everything God generously pours into our lives through the Holy Spirit!
2. Put your trust in God
We may feel that in the past God has let us down. That we have trusted God and we have been disappointed
Isaiah28:16 So this is what the Sovereign LORD says:
“See, I lay a stone in Zion, a tested stone, a precious cornerstone for a sure foundation;
the one who trusts will never be dismayed. Will never be disappointed.
That verse is so important that it is quoted at least three times in N.T. Rom 9 and 11 and
1 Peter 2:6 “Look! I’m setting a stone in Zion, a cornerstone in the place of honor.
Whoever trusts in this stone as a foundation will never have cause to regret it.” MESSAGE
Christ is the cornerstone! If we build our lives on Him He will never let us down. He is the sure unshakeable foundation. He will NEVER disappoint us! No disappointments!
3. Put your hope in God
There are no hopeless situations – only people who have lost hope!
“Hope is not a passion for the possible, but a passion for the promise!”
With God ALL things are possible. If we will only trust in God’s promises.
Psalm 25 1To you, O LORD, I lift up my soul; 2 in you I trust, O my God.
Do not let me be put to shame, nor let my enemies triumph over me.
3 No-one whose hope is in you will ever be put to shame, (will EVER be disgraced!)
ISAIAH 49: 22 This is what the Sovereign LORD says:
“See, I will beckon to the Gentiles, I will lift up my banner to the peoples;
they will bring your sons in their arms and carry your daughters on their shoulders.
23 Kings will be your foster fathers, and their queens your nursing mothers. They will bow down before you with their faces to the ground; they will lick the dust at your feet.
Then you will know that I am the LORD; those who hope in me will not be disappointed.”
Those who hope in me WILL NOT be disappointed!
No-one whose hope is in you will EVER be put to shame!
These are the promises of the ALMIGHTY all powerful Sovereign God who is MORE THAN ABLE to keep his promises.
These are the promises of the HOLY and JUST God who is totally righteous and would never break His promises.
These are the promises of the ALL-LOVING God who IS love – who loves us so much that he gave His Son Jesus Christ to redeem us – who loves us so much that He would NEVER let us down!
Those who hope in me WILL NOT be disappointed!
No-one whose hope is in you will EVER be put to shame!
You may be disappointed about something tonight. Something small. Something big. Something overwhelmingly crushing huge! Disappointed with life. Disappointed with people. Disappointed with God. Take the antidote to disappointment tonight.
1.Bring your disappointments to God – open up – tell him how you are feeling.
2. Put your trust in God again. Take a leap of faith. He is completely worthy of our trust.
3. Put your hope in God again. Pray prayers of faith daring to expect God to do great things. You may have asked for blessings before and the answer has been “no”. Pray again tonight – dare to hope that this time the answer will be “yes”. No disappointments!
Those who hope in me WILL NOT be disappointed!
No-one whose hope is in you will EVER be put to shame!
But then, what else can we do when somebody has upset us? When they let us down? When they break their promises? When they say things which are spiteful or untrue? When they do things which damage us physically or mentally or emotionally or spiritually? What do we do when somebody hurts us? If anyone says, ―I love God,‖ yet hates his brother, he is a liar. For anyone who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen. (1 John 4:20) Part of this loving each other is an obligation to forgive one another when we get things wrong. Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. (Colossians 3:13) C.S.Lewis has said, ―Everybody agrees forgiveness is a beautiful idea until we have something to forgive.‖ George Herbert wrote, ―He that cannot forgive others breaks the bridge over which he himself must pass if he would ever reach heaven, for everyone has need to be forgiven.‖ The essence of Christian forgiveness is that God makes a way for us to be forgiven BEFORE we repent. ―It was while we were still sinners that Christ died for us.‖ (Romans 5:6-8) As Jackie Pullinger puts it, ―Jesus didn‘t wait for me to make good before he died for me.‖ The Father is out looking waiting for the prodigal to return BEFORE the prodigal comes to his senses and returns to his Father and confesses and repents. (Luke 15) The paralysed man in Mark 2:5 and the woman caught in adultery in John 8:11 are forgiven BEFORE they repent. We should seek the grace to forgive others before they repent, before they apologise, even if they never do admit their wrongdoing or say sorry. The story goes that when Leonardo da Vinci was painting the Last Supper, he had an intense, bitter argument with a fellow painter. Leonardo was so enraged that he decided to paint the face of his enemy into the face of Judas. That way the hated painter’s face would be preserved for ages in the face of the betraying disciple. When Leonardo finished Judas, everyone easily recognized the face of the painter with whom Leonardo quarrelled. Leonardo continued to work on the painting. But as much as he tried, he could not paint the face of Christ. Something was holding him back. Leonardo decided his hatred toward his fellow painter was the problem. So he worked through his hatred by repainting Judas’ face, replacing the image of his fellow painter with another face. Only then was he able to paint Jesus’ face and complete the masterpiece. Jesus said, ―Therefore, if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there in front of the altar. First go and be reconciled to your brother; then come and offer your gift.‖ (Matthew 5:23-24)
