Wednesday, February 19, 2014

You'll Never Have to Stay in the Pit

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…In You they trusted and were not disappointed. Psalm 22:5
An acquaintance is having problems with disappointment. It’s tough. We’ve talked. We’ve prayed. To say she is disappointed is putting it mildly. She is crushed. She is sick at heart. She is not sure if God really understands her feelings or can help her with the pain. She has tried different things but even in her concessions to the problem she is not finding an answer, so she is stuck in a huge pit of disappointment and isn’t sure if her heart will ever heal. 
Disappointment is painful. Whether it’s work related, ministry related or family related, we are all susceptible to it. No one is immune. No one goes through life without it coming their way. Disappointment brings with it frustration, distress, disillusionment. It comes when we have high hopes that are dashed on the rocks of someone else’s choices. It appears when we hopefully ask for one thing and get given another. It rears its head when we have high hopes that are met with discouraging answers. 
It can come as well when we have sought the Lord. We ask and petition and pour our hearts out before Him yet the situation does not change. We are full of hope when we begin the request but after a while we are discouraged. No answer comes and we begin to feel disillusionment. We get frustrated with the one(s) who are not responding the way we pray. We get frustrated with God when He doesn’t give us that petition we ask of. If we’re not careful we will find ourselves in a downward spiral of regret and fear. Regret that things are the way they are and fear that the situation will never change.
Oh beloved, it’s time to trade in that old broken record of disappointment. It will play on and on until you feel deafened by the noise. You are not bound by disappointment. You are not bound to feel disappointment. You are not bound by the results of disappointment. You are bound to the Lord! He has your best in mind and every single time you feel the disappointment you can trade it in for His appointment! Yes, God knows. Yes, God is aware. And God has something in mind for your good through every situation you encounter. While you cannot see beyond the disappointment, He does. While you cannot see the answer, He will surely answer. While you just want your circumstances to change, He wants you to grow closer to Him. 
Get out the Word of God and make it personal! Speak it aloud over your life. Speak it into your prayers. Post it everywhere. Take it in as your necessary nourishment for it will slake the thirst of disappointment every single time. God loves you and He’s for you and that’s all that really matters as you walk in His appointments while casting away your disappointments. Your steps are light and your heart is bright, as you lean on Him for all your needs and give Him all your cares.
Psalm 22:5 To You they cried out and were delivered; in You they trusted and were not disappointed.
Romans 10:11 For the Scripture says, “Whoever believes in Him will not be disappointed”
Psalm 6:2 Be gracious to me, O Lord, for I am pining away; Heal me, O Lord, for my bones are dismayed.
Psalm 31:15a My times are in Your hand…
Psalm 139:16 Your eyes have seen my unformed substance; And in Your book were all written the days that were ordained for me, When as yet there was not one of them.
1 Peter 5:7 …casting all your anxiety on Him, because He cares for you.

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