Proverbs 15:22, Handling Disappointments

September 28, Proverbs 15:22

Luke 12:16-21; James 4:13-15 “God rules and overrules”.

Handling Disappointments

Are not disappointments the common lot of humanity? Without counsel purposes are disappointed. So it has been for prince and peasant, for rich and poor, young and old. The word purposes comes from the root to think. They are devices or thoughts, usually of man. Another meaning of disappointed is to be frustrated, to make ineffectual. Do any of these words describe you? Is your life clouded because of some past disappointments?

1. The Reason Analysed: There are many reasons for disappointments that may come our way. Without counsel is the one given here. There are broken plans and shattered dreams because we refuse to seek wise counsel. Yet, even when we have sought the best human counsel, disappointments may still come. Remember the disappointment experienced by Eve when she ate of the Tree of Life! The builders of Babel were disappointed in their Tower. Solomon sought happiness in many things, only to write over them all Vanity and vexation of spirit (Eccl. 2:11). How about you? Either you refused to follow the wise counsel you received, like Rehoboam or Ahab (1 Kgs. 12:13; 22:18), or the wise counsel proved to be not wise. You and I still live in a sinful, imperfect world. We cannot control events or see around the next corner. “Man proposes, but God disposes” is not just a cliché. Thomas Brooks said, “Surely the best of men are but men at best.” We too easily forget “what shadows we are, and what shadows we pursue” (Burke).

2. The Remedy Adopted: Instead of a blighting, make disappointments a blessing. Let them teach us the uncertainty of all human expectations, and how short-sighted our judgment is (Jas. 4:13-15). God sometimes has to thwart our best-laid plans to make us “tear them up” and turn them over to Him in trust and faith. Often disappointments prove to be better than success when the failures drive us into complete dependence on God. A.B. Alcott said, “We mount up to heaven mostly on the ruins of our cherished schemes, finding our failures our successes.” We are to trust God’s promise that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them that are the called according to his purpose (Rom. 8:28). “There is many a thing that the world calls disappointment, but there is no such a word in the dictionary of faith. What to others are disappointments are to believers intimations of the ways of God” (John Newton).

Disappointment – His-appointment, change one letter then I see
That the thwarting of my purpose, is God’s better choice for me.
Disappointment – His-appointment, no good thing will He withhold;
From denials oft we gather treasures of His love untold.
Well He knows each broken purpose leads to deeper fuller trust;
And the end of all His dealings proves our God is wise and just.

Thought: “Disappointment is often the salt of life” (Theodore Parker).

Prayer: Lord, that disappointments may draw me closer to Thee.