November 11, 2011

Disappointment is something that as people we deal with on a continual basis.  It doesn’t matter how much you trust God and believe in Him or how much faith you have, we all from time to time experience disappointment.

 

Sometimes for whatever reason the ‘thing’ we have been believing for doesn’t happen or doesn’t happen in the way or at the time we were believing it for.

 

That doesn’t mean you didn’t trust God enough.  That doesn’t mean that you didn’t have faith.  But sometimes our faith is in our faith and not in the giver of faith.

 

Huh?  If you have been someone who has actively practiced faith for a long time I think you may understand that statement.  We understand how to live by faith and trust in God with hopeful expectation towards certain things.  We have seen our faith be fruitful time and time again which in turn builds our faith further.

 

But I am convinced that sometimes we become so confident of our faith that we leave the God of our faith out of the equation.

 

I am writing this after a particularly difficult week.  I have watched circumstances happen where a dear loved one of mine was believing to happen a certain way at a certain time.  I was right there praying and believing with them.  I was confident that it would happen.

 

But it didn’t.

It will happen.  We know that.  We have been told that it is now a done deal, just not now.

 

Disappointment was palpable yesterday.  There were many angry people.  Many frustrated people.  Many hurt people.  If affected many more people than just those I know and love.

 

So, if we are being led of the Holy Spirit and following Him, then why would there be disappointment?  How could this major derailment happen?

 

We know that without faith it is impossible to please God, so we believe.  But sometimes we encounter disappointment that just seems to strip us of any remnant of faith that we thought we had.

 

But I believe that sometimes we intermingle our own ‘belief’ with the ‘faith’ that God has given us and that is what leads us to disappointment.

For example.  We may be believing that a certain thing will happen.  We feel from divine inspiration that God is bringing this to pass for us.  But in our minds, we begin to reason how and when, and then we create a belief in ourselves about that very thing.

 

So we have an inbred situation.  The situation I just experienced was one exactly like that.  The main request will happen.  All those involved felt the peace of God leading that this was to happen.  But it did not happen when, where and how everyone thought that it would.  There was huge disappointment.

 

So what I have been learning in my life is to discern what God is giving me divine inspired faith for and what are beliefs I am attaching on to that faith.  I want to learn to remove those self-generated beliefs and just trust in and rely on God to produce the when and where.

 

That is so hard for us as people.  We are planners.  We have to know or suspect when things will happen so we can recalibrate all the other aspects of our lives around it.  When we put something in a slot and it doesn’t happen then it is like pulling a can from the bottom of a display – all the other cans just topple.  And we have spent weeks stacking those cans just so!

 

So how do we do this, keep from tainting what God is giving us faith for with our own concocted beliefs?

I think that is a great challenge and one that we all must work on individually.  But for me I think I will approach it like this…  I will first determine what I sense that the Holy Spirit is truly giving me faith for.  A situation, a dream a goal and then submit myself to allow Him to unfold it in my life the way and the time that He determines.

  I believe to avoid disappointment that we must be open to things NOT happening when we think they will.  I always think I do this, but as I look back even though I mentally do this and vocally do this, I still move forward as if it will happen then way I think it will.  I’ve been working on this for awhile, seeking the Holy Spirit each day to unfold for me each day and trust Him in that day.

 

So if a situation requires committing to a specific time because of the world we live in.  I will abide by that, but not put my faith in that.  I know if God has spoken to me and given me faith for something, then it will happen.  But I will determine in myself that even though it is scheduled, or planned for a certain way, that God may have a different schedule or plan which ultimately serves His purpose and us better.

 

We’ve often heard the saying, ‘timing is everything’.  And it is.  Kairos is the word for time which means the exact perfect moment that an event can occur which will produce the optimum results.  I’ve always loved that word since the first time I came to hear it and know what it was.

 

Think of it like swinging a bat in baseball.  If you swing a fraction of a second to late or too early you won’t get the optimum results as if it you swing and hit that ball at the exact perfect time to produce the optimum results.

 

So here again we must trust that God, only God, knows the kairos moment for every event.  We can perceive in our own minds what is best for us, but only God know the kairos moment.  Should He choose to share with us what that kairos moment is, then and only then will we know.  But I believe that for the most part, He wants us to trust Him in this area as well.  To choose that perfect moment for an event to unfold.

 

So let’s not be disappointed because a situation or circumstance did not unfold exactly the way we felt it should.  It doesn’t mean that it won’t happen or that we didn’t have faith.  What it means is that if God has given us something to have faith for and the faith for it to come to pass, we must also trust Him that it will also happen at the exact perfect time.

 

Trust God completely today.

 

No matter what your beliefs are, I want to thank you for visiting my Christian blog!