Dealing with Disappointment
“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.”
Isaiah 49:23
I remember a couple years ago, I was visiting a dear friend and her family for the weekend. One of her kids was having a birthday, so I helped her prepare for a birthday dinner that weekend. Our goal was to concoct a chocolate mocha-type of layered cake, but not having made one before it was an experiment. We added coffee to the chocolate cake mix and tried to make a chocolate mousse frosting. After we frosted the first layer we carefully placed the next layer…and watched in slight horror as it slowly began to crack and slide off in pieces. We couldn’t figure out what we did wrong! The cake was ruined, so now we had to assemble another one in time for the dinner, which was stressful. However, we were able to figure out what to do differently to prevent it from happening again and the final result was wonderful, and continues to be a regular request for birthdays at their house. There was temporary disappointment, but in the end it turned out even better than we could have hoped.
It’s important to note that the original Hebrew word translated as “disappointment” in this verse can also mean to be put to shame, ashamed or disgraced. However, any way you look at it the point is that God is saying if we put our hope in Him the end result will not be negative. While His love for us does not change based on our behavior, He does make it clear that He will pour blessings out on those that love and follow Him. He is in the business of lifting up and rewarding those that have been faithful. So when we are going through trials we need to know that God is not done. If you are still in the midst of a struggle, that means God hasn’t had the final say yet! Because He is faithful, we must trust that even when things appear to be a mess, God is still working on it. He’s moving pieces into place for our good and the good of His Kingdom. When we believe that very deeply, nothing can take our hope away. Additionally, this verse gives us a clue that God also moves on our behalf to make it clear to those around us that He is the Lord! He wants to take your situation and move in such a way that those around will know that God is the One that did it. He wants to demonstrate His power and faithfulness through you so that those around you will know His character and be drawn to Him. If we will choose to really trust that God knows what He is doing in our situation, He will inevitably do something with it that will be better than we could have ever planned. Trust Him today to move in your situation in His time and His perfect way. He is faithful!