“Many are the plans in the mind of a man, but it is the purpose of the LORD that will stand.” Proverbs 19:21
Jessie Synan had just graduated from college with her new shiny Business Degree, when a perfect job opportunity with a good salary opened up in a nearby educational software company. The owner of the company was very interested in hiring her; she met all the qualifications and the interview went fantastic! Upon arriving home from the interview, she thanked God for His gracious provision of this new job! But the job never materialized!
Each of us face disappointment in life! Some are the very small annoyances of life, such as the toaster burning your toast, or a shoelace breaking at an inconvenient time. Others may be more serious setbacks, or even heart-wrenching disaster. In His humanity, Jesus certainly faced disappointment: Peter denied Him, Judas betrayed Him, and all the disciples forsook Him in the end! Disappointment, to one degree or another, seems to be the lot of every human!
In a poem entitled “If”, Rudyard Kipling includes these lines: “If you can dream—and not make dreams your master; If you can think—and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster, And treat those two imposters just the same….Yours is the Earth and everything that’s in it, And—which is more—you’ll be a Man, my son!” Is that the answer then, to facing disappointment – just man up? Treat disappointment just the same as you would success?
Thankfully, Scripture provides a much more hopeful answer for the believer! God is absolutely sovereign over all His creation and because of that glorious truth, whatever He purposes will always come to pass! However, God is not only Sovereign – He is also love! All that He does is for the good of His children and for His glory! What seemed likely to be disappointments even to the human nature of Jesus, were being arranged by a Sovereign God to manifest the greatest love the world has ever seen – salvation, full and free, in the cross of Calvary!
Both the small and the large disappointments in our lives are meant to serve as reminders of our God’s sovereignty and of His love! When we can’t trace His hand, may God enable us to trust His heart! It is in trusting Him, and loving Him, and worshipping Him, that our disappointments fade!