Drowning in Disappointment

Have you ever found yourself in that position where you’ve been disappointed or let down by someone, and you’re having a hard time getting past it? Sure, it’s easy to tell yourself to “get over it,” or “forgive as you’ve been forgiven,” but honestly, that’s not really much help, is it? On the other hand, you know that bog of disappointment is not a good place to be in. 

You know that “human anger does not produce the righteousness God desires” (James 1:20). But you are angry. So how do you get past it? You can’t force the offending party to make things right or even to apologize.

What we need to keep in mind is that, while God will not hold us accountable for what some other person/company/church/group has done or not done—that’s on them—He will hold us accountable for our reaction. 

Can I truly say and mean:

“Lord, hear a just cause; pay attention to my cry; listen to my prayer—from lips free of deceit. Let my vindication come from you, for you see what is right. You have tested my heart; you have examined me at night. You have tried me and found nothing evil; I have determined that my mouth will not sin. Concerning what people do: by the words from your lips I have avoided the ways of the violent. My steps are on your paths; my feet have not slipped.

“I call on you God, because you will answer me…. Display the wonders of your faithful love…. Protect me as the pupil of your eye; hide me in the shadow of your wings from the wicked who treat me violently, my deadly enemies who surround me.” (Psa. 17:1-9)

If I persist in hanging on to the disappointment, if I speak out against this one who has disappointed me, drawing in others who are uninvolved with the situation, then I have lost the right to cry out “from lips free of deceit.” I have lost the right to declare that there is “nothing evil” in my heart. I am depriving myself of seeing “the wonders of [God’s] faithful love.” 

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Lord, let me “see your face in righteousness; when I awake, I will be satisfied with your presence.” (Psa. 17:15)