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Have you ever felt that you disappoint God? You know the nagging feeling that there is one, or perhaps several sins, that you just can’t quite overcome. There are certain behaviors that you just can’t correct. You feel like you can never quite get things right. And because of that God is disappointed in you. You wish you could be more patient with your spouse, more patient with your children. And you oftentimes wonder if God is happy with what you’ve made out of your life. And you’ve gotten to a place where you feel like you need to work harder to please God; so as not to disappoint Him. You might also be thinking in the back of your mind that the storms you are currently facing are because God is disappointed in you. In this three part blog post I want to dispel those thoughts, and share with you over the next two weeks how God is not disappointed with you.
Several years ago, Philip Yancey wrote the hugely popular book called “Disappointment with God”. If I’m honest I am frequently disappointed with God, because He never does what I think He should do. Do you ever feel like that? If you’re like me, you’ve got things figured out right? You know why you deserve that job, or that house, or that person to be your spouse. So why doesn’t God see what you see? At times we all get disappointed with God, don’t we? But the question that I often ponder is, “Does God get disappointed with me?”
Just for the fun of it I recently asked the question of some of our church staff, “Do you ever feel that you disappoint God?” I probably asked this question of a dozen people. So just a small sampling. Church staff, people who have been Christians for anywhere from just a few years to over 50 years. A couple of them felt that they disappoint God because of bad teaching they experienced when they were younger. Pastors, or teachers would try to scare the hell out of them, sort of scare them into Heaven. And because of this “turn or burn” approach to God’s Word they feel as if they are constantly coming up short and don’t measure up to what they think God expects of them. I’m sure that many of you have experienced that also.
One person talked about the influence of parents. And this is big because we oftentimes project onto God the things that we experience with our parents when we were younger. This of course can be either good or bad. Because of the influence of parents some experts say that a parent should never say that they are disappointed in their child because of the weight that comes with that kind of statement. A child can then feel that “well if my dad is disappointed in me then God must be disappointed in me also.” A couple other staff said that God is disappointed in them because they don’t keep up with the disciplines of Christian living; prayer, reading the Bible, going to church. A few of them also mentioned shame. I thought that was interesting because shame is powerful isn’t it? It’s a close cousin of disappointment. If someone is disappointed in you then you will probably also experience some degree of guilt and shame that go along with it. and who wants any of that right?
Whenever I dive into a topic, I always go to my favorite Bible study tool; blueletterbible.org. It is a great tool that has dictionaries, and commentaries and other tools. I find it to be a really helpful resource. It has a nice feature where you can type in a word and it will tell you how many times that word appears throughout Scripture. So, for the heck of it I typed in the word “Disappoint” using the NIV translation. Guess how many times the word Disappoint appears in Scripture? Zero? Zero results turned up. I’m thinking that can’t be right. So, I tried the New American Standard translation? One result:
“And hope does not disappoint because the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us.” (Romans 5:5)
Hope does not disappoint. Nowhere in Scripture does it say that God is ever disappointed in us. So, as you go about your day today remind yourself that God loves you more than you will ever know. Come back next Friday to read part two of this three-part post.