DISAPPOINTMENTS

"Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but a longing fulfilled is a tree of
life." - Proverbs 13:12

Life is filled with disappointments. Many of God's greatest servants
experienced deep disappointment in their journeys of faithfulness to
God. Joseph, after spending years as a slave and in jail for crimes that
he did not commit, revealed deep disappointment when he was forgotten
another two years in prison. John the Baptist, when awaiting execution,
doubted whether Jesus was, in fact, the Christ because he was sitting
there awaiting his death. Elijah, losing all hope and despondent to the
point of death, asked God to take his life in the desert; and Peter, who
left his fishing business and invested three years of his life only to
watch his Savior crucified, wondered whether the purpose of those three
years could be justified.
When life doesn't add up, it leaves the heart sick. When we have done
all we know to do and the formula has not worked, it leaves us
questioning. These are times that try the very souls of men. There is no
human sense to be made of it. We are left with a choice: to cling or not
to cling. There are times when holding on to our Master's robe is all
that we can do. It is all that He wants us to do.

The heights by great men reached and kept
Were not obtained by sudden flight;
But they, while their companions slept,
Were toiling upward in the night.
Standing on what too long we bore,
With shoulders bent and downcast eyes,
We may discern-unseen before-
A path to higher destinies! ~Longfellow

There is only one answer to life's disappointments. Like the psalmist,
we must "Find rest, O my soul, in God alone; my hope comes from Him. He
alone is my rock and my salvation; He is my fortress, I will not be
shaken" (Ps. 62:5-6).