Dealing with Disappointment

Today I would like to draw your attention to the challenge of dealing with past disappointments and hurts by studying Jonah 4:1-11 (NIV).  Jonah 4:1 says that Jonah “was greatly displeased and became angry” with the Lord over what he believed was unfulfilled prophecy. The Message translation puts it bluntly: “Jonah was furious. He lost his temper. He yelled at God.”  As you look back on your life, have you ever yelled at God? 

Perhaps you might not have yelled out loud, but sometimes we end up yelling at God on the inside – especially when we think we have been treated poorly. Sometimes we pray to God in anger because we think our circumstances are unfair. We might say, “Lord, is this how you treat me after all I’ve done for you?”

Important Question: How do you react when God doesn’t respond as you expected?

As we know from Jonah chapter 3, the prophet was upset because God didn’t respond as he expected or wanted. What Jonah should have seen was that God was for the people of Nineveh as revealed by His character:

• God is gracious (v. 2)
• God is compassionate (v. 2)
• God is slow to anger (v. 2)
• God is abounding in love (v. 2).

And yet, it was a good thing that God didn’t do what Jonah wanted as it would have meant destroying the city of Nineveh and its 120,000 citizens.

Jonah’s response reveals a deeper issue: How should we handle disappointment?

When Arne Skagen was with us a few weeks back, he shared a picture of seeing the lock system at the Trent-Seven Waterway. He pointed out how the rear door of the lock must be closed before the front door can be opened to allow boats to move forward. Arne shared that as individuals, and as a church, we must close the door on the past before we can move on into the future. When I asked him in private what he meant, he said we must close the door on past disappointments and hurts.The word “disappoint” means “to fail to satisfy the hopes and expectations of.”[1] Inherit in our understanding of disappointment is that it includes some kind of failure that we wish had never touched our lives. Failure, as we know, can be hard to get over – but not impossible! How do we close the door on past disappointments?

1. Closing the door on past disappointments always begins when we see something better for the future.

2. We must see that every failure or disappointment has within it the seeds of a new opportunity for growth and blessing.

3. Ultimately, we must decide to move forward into a better tomorrow with God’s help.

[1] Webster’s New World Dictionary, ed. Michael Agnes (New York: Macmillan, 1996), p. 172.