Tell What He’s Done for You

God’s Disappointments

Recently, a group of us attempted to travel from Jefferson, Oregon, to Abbotsford, British Columbia, Canada, for a family gathering. My wife and I were in one car, and our son-in-law, daughter, and their baby daughter were in another. The trip was preceded by winter storms that were unusual for the Interstate-5 corridor, but a short window of relief seemed to be available that Saturday. Our daughter had been afflicted by a pain in one of her legs which made it impossible for her to walk several days before the planned trip, but she was given some relief the day before the trip. We took this to mean that God meant for us to go. She had a rough time sleeping Friday night, and we were late leaving Saturday morning. It was just as well, for the window of opportunity was shorter than we had supposed, and a severe winter storm moved into the area.

At about three in the afternoon, we were traveling with increasing difficulty near Highway 12. Each car was equipped with a cell phone, and at that point we learned that the other car had slid into the center median, thankfully without damage. They began to put on chains. My wife and I pulled over at the next exit and put on chains, too, as we waited for them. At 4:30 pm, we were ready to go, but it was evident that we would be doing well even to make it back home. We had come about a hundred miles, but conditions were worsening so fast that we could only travel about 25 mph. We started back. At around 6:30 pm, the other car had broken a chain, and the fallen snow was increasing to a depth that it was obvious that we would not make it home that night. We were able to find a motel for both families. The following was written from there.

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“Blessed Savior, draw me nearer,
As I walk the narrow way;
When my soul is sorely tempted,
Thou wilt all my fears allay.

“By Thy help I’ll trust Thee ever,
Though the shadows gather round;
Thou my light, and my salvation,
Let Thy grace in me abound.”*

Man’s disappointments are God’s appointments.

“Then said Martha unto Jesus, Lord, if thou hadst been here, my brother had not died.”* (John 11:21)

Here is real disappointment. “I expected differently from You, Lord.” “But we trusted that it had been he which should have redeemed Israel.”* (Luke 24:21)

It is not good for us to be pleased all the time. We imagine that we would be doing quite well if we were showered with blessings all the time. One has accurately observed, that if it were left up to us, we would never be sick and we would have all the money we could use. Fortunately, it is not left up to us, and God knows it is best for us to be disappointed at times.

Our disappointments are all the more keen when there is a certain feeling in there that God has set us up—has led us on—positioned us—so that things fell apart and our expectation was denied. “O Lord, thou hast deceived me, and I was deceived: thou art stronger than I, and hast prevailed: I am in derision daily, every one mocketh me.”* (Jeremiah 7:20) “I am the man that hath seen affliction by the rod of his wrath. He hath led me, and brought me into darkness, but not into light. Surely against me is he turned; he turneth his hand against me all the day.”* (Lamentations 3:1-3)

Our disappointments are greatly magnified by our sense of having done our best, of trying our hardest. We search to see if there was some unworthy motive, some hidden sin or uncleanness. “Did I offend the Lord somehow?” Sometimes we may find something that needs adjustment, but at other times, there is nothing—no reason that we can see why God would disappoint us. Temptations to bitterness assail us. We are tempted to doubt the love of God for us and to imagine that He is different from what He is. It is a profound thought to consider that we cannot see God as He really is and get an accurate estimation of His character except through the path of blessing and withheld blessings through which He takes us.

We would that it could be different. This sifting, trying, refining way is not very compatible with our human nature, and it takes a conscious effort of will to humble ourselves (again) before God when on the receiving end of one of these disappointments.

“Lord, I started out to do this for You!” But God does not seem to be moved by declaration of unselfishness—at least, not moved to the point of reversing the disappointment. Our minds start reasoning, and in short order, will produce a list of reasons why God should change the distasteful outcome to one that we feel is better. “Lord think about the waste of: (1) time, (2) money, (3) health, (4) opportunity!” He thinks about it, all right, but He doesn’t think about it like I think about it. One has said, “Why God permits people like Mary Slessor, who was probably one of the most courageous of women missionaries, to suffer so long when she would have spent her strength in His service so gladly if physically able, no one knows.”1 No one knows but God, we would add.

We don’t know—we are kept in ignorance. God does it deliberately. “Lord, why did You let me make that mistake?”

A little baby has very little comprehension of the adult world. His or her world is limited by what he is—the baby cannot possibly think as a parent does. And our world is limited by what we are—immortal souls in bodies of clay, seeing at the very best through a glass, darkly, limited even in human wisdom and insight, to say nothing of matters of the spiritual world all around us and beyond us. We are as poorly equipped to second-guess God as the baby is to evaluate if the mother is doing a good job. How do we know what we need? We feel, we hurt, we desire, we are drawn to what appears interesting and worthy, but for the most part, we are not even very wise babies. The most intelligent thing we can do is to acknowledge our inability, and we find that when Jesus came into this world to live in a fleshly body, that is exactly what He did. “And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.”* (Philippians 2:8) The obedience is not possible without trusting (as you can see with a child receiving correction), so we see that the only right attitude is trust and obey, with the humility of heart necessary to do both.

A child that has willed itself to accept Mother’s direction will profit from Mother’s understanding without comprehending why it is all happening. We read of David’s attitude in accepting God’s disappointments (appointments actually) in Psalm 131:2—“Surely I have behaved and quieted myself, as a child that is weaned of his mother: my soul is even as a weaned child.”

Is this a lesson that you have learned, reader? Is your soul “even as a weaned child”? God’s trusting children have their disappointments, too, for God causes things to come out differently than they expected or hoped, at times. But those who take things into their own hands have the same experience with God that a willful baby has with a devoted, loving mother or father, who will not be moved from what they know is best by what the baby thinks is best. No wonder David said, “Lord, my heart is not haughty, nor mine eyes lofty: neither do I exercise myself in great matters, or in things too high for me.”* (Psalm 131:1) But even when a child of God has not been haughty, nor had lofty eyes, nor exercised himself in great matters that are too high for him, God still can and does pull the rug out from under us, upsetting our fondly arranged apple cart, bringing tears to our eyes and questions to our lips. “Lord, if thou hadst been here, my brother had not died.”* (John 11:21) Why, Lord? I did all the things I knew to do. I sought guidance as sincerely as I knew how. We have prayed as earnestly and fervently as we knew how to pray. If You had been here….

Now if we have taken the bridle in our teeth, so to speak, and insisted that we had the right to have it our way because He promised, then there is something else involved than just life not coming out as we expected. It is not good for us to have our expectations all the time. It is even worse if we get it in our mind that we are entitled. There have been many who read John 15:7, “If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you,” and the only part of the verse that really spoke to their heart was “ye shall ask what ye will.”

Babies are selfish by nature, extremely selfish. (We are reminded of a new mother who said of her firstborn, “They have no consideration at all.”) They think that everything that is being done for them is because the entire world (theirs, at least) revolves around them; this, of course, is a very false picture of life. How many babies do you know that are thankful for the rarity of real parental love and sacrifice? They just take it for granted. The big babies, such as you and I, are able by God’s help to not take it for granted, but it takes a desire to look at and a conscious effort of will to accept God’s disappointments, as well as His times that elate our hearts. The fact is, God doesn’t spoil any of His children.

“Jesus knows how to keep me humble,
And how to make me pray.

“Well, He knows when the clouds cover my sky,
And when I’m walking through the valley low,
I’ll be down on my knees, calling on Him;
There’s no other place to go.”

“Well,” says the sincere, trusting child of God, “I don’t understand. How can I exercise faith, then?” You can. You can exercise faith in God. “Have faith in God.”* (Mark 11:22) Not faith in what He can do, but faith in Him. He will make a way, even if that way seems to deny what we thought we were promised. In effect, He says, “Now stay with Me. Don’t doubt Me. Trust Me.” Don’t set up your best idea of what you think God is doing and trust in that, but have faith in God. The Lord will make a way, somehow.

When attempting to move a large, unwieldy desk through a doorway some years ago, the group of us attempting the task were having considerable doubt about whether the furniture would fit. A young girl with us was fired with enthusiasm, and she exclaimed over and over, “Where’s your faith?!” There was something about the way she said it that hinted she had not been taught that by the Holy Spirit in that problem; it was inspired by something else. It was an effectual goad to us to try our best, and the desk got through the door, but it was not faith in God. It was human faith, and inspiring human faith, at that.

We would like to say that God has something more than that for us. There is a faith that works by divine love, by a nestling under the great outstretched wings of the Most High that far supersedes the farthest reach of human imagination and fleshly inspiration, is without strain, and is appropriate and healthy for the soul in every direction. When we find this path in trusting God, “The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much,”* (James 5:16) and it is easy and natural to confess our faults to each other and pray for each other. This faith in Him is what we need when God decides that our expectations must be denied, and it is time for us to undergo the anguish of disappointment.

“Although the fig tree shall not blossom, neither shall fruit be in the vines; the labour of the olive shall fail, and the fields shall yield no meat; the flock shall be cut off from the fold, and there shall be no herd in the stalls: Yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in the God of my salvation.”* (Habakkuk 3:17-18)

Here is the child of God’s answer to disappointment.