What starts out as a set-back or perhaps a temporary delay, can (and sometimes does) turn into heart-wrenching disappointment. Depending on the nature and cause of the disappointment and unmet expectation, we can experience a range of feelings from mild annoyance to deep discouragement.
Prolonged disappointments (perhaps prayers that seem denied, or seemingly “not even heard” by God) can sometimes then lead to levels of doubt. “Does God hear me, or does He even care?” “How can a loving God allow this to happen to me?”
These are just a few of the typical questions asked when faced with life situations that do not resolve easily, or perhaps “don’t get better”.
A sense of “failure” may be due to unmet goals or expectations of yourself, others, or even God; or perhaps a combination of them all. These feelings can develop into the other emotions described in the image above. Elements of the “stages of grief” can also be entwined during these experiences, complicating everything; making the “fix” harder to find.
As believers in God… a God we have known to be loving, merciful, forgiving, and compassionate …how do we respond to these life events? Inevitably, we will find ourselves in a “crossroad” where we need to decide several things:
•How to respond to this situation?
•What is my understanding of God, His Word, His promises, etc. and how does it apply now?
•What am I supposed to do? How does/will my life change?
We may be crying out inside our hearts/minds: “H E L P !” Sometimes others know about our distress, but sometimes it is something we carry alone. These crossroads in our lives may be small decision points, needing to be addressed several times throughout a day; or they may be much larger decisions—ones that truly do affect the direction our lives will take. Loss of loved ones or relationships, loss of financial security, or health are just some examples of these situations.
In II Peter 1: 2-4, we read that through the knowledge of God and our Lord Jesus Christ, we can receive “all things that pertain to life and godliness”, and “exceedingly great and precious promises, that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature…” (NKJV) A verse that may not “feel” very true in times like these.
I have found (and am continuing to learn/experience) that the ULTIMATE decision that needs to be made (over and over again) is the choice to believe these verses, even when we don’t feel their reality in our lives at that moment.
I recently completed Laura Story’s study When God Doesn’t Fix It: Learning to Walk in God’s Plans Instead of Our Own (W. Publishing Group Nashville, TN 2016 ) It is a Bible study and testimony of how God took her disappointments and brokenness so that she could honestly write, “Our hope comes in Jesus, even when he doesn’t do what we want him to do. Even when he doesn’t fix what’s broken in our life…When Jesus is with us, he’s our anchor in the rough waters of a troubled life. If we want to survive the storm, we need to cling to him like the salvation he is.” (p. 11)
She also writes, that by choosing to believe in these promises and truths of Scripture, we can become a “Better Broken”. Circumstances may not change for the better, but we can. “We do this by clinging to Scripture, discovering who God truly is, being willing to share our story even in the trials, and looking for blessings in our brokenness…” (p. 99)
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Dear Lord, Help us to take all of our cares, and hurts, and “brokenness” to You! Give us the grace to trust that You can “work all things together for good” as we love You and seek to walk in Your ways! (Rom. 8:28) Give us the strength to choose and decide to believe, in faith! And, if/when it is even hard to pray, let the cry of our heart be as the Psalmist’ cry: “My flesh and my heart fail;
But God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.!” Ps. 73:26
In the precious name of Jesus! Amen!