Tackling DisappointmentSample

Only God Fully Satisfies

In the age of social media, we are all susceptible to falling into the comparison trap. We see pictures of friends vacationing at an all-inclusive beach resort and watch videos of parents being served breakfast-in-bed by obedient, smiling children. We scroll through what seems like other people’s endless achievements and adventures. And we look at our own lives and we see ordinary, we see mundane, we see messes, we see brokenness. 

We buy into the idea of “If only.”

It goes something like this: If only I had X amount in my bank account. If only I could buy a house with X number of bedrooms. If only I had X number of followers on my Instagram account. If only I could travel to X country. If only I could get X job….then I would be happy. Contentment seems to be just out of our reach, something that we follow around like a dog chasing its tail.

Maybe you’re disappointed because the “if only…then” theology has defined your life.

But today God may be prompting you to look away from other people’s lives and even your own life and to look up to Him.

As we read today: “Delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart.” (Psalm 37: 4). When we’re so captured by the beauty and majesty of God, our foremost and highest desire becomes Jesus himself. 

In the Bible, we meet Leah, a woman whose greatest desire was her husband Jacob’s love. His attention was her “if only.” But God sees Leah, even if her husband doesn’t. He notices her disappointment. He lovingly perceives her pain. And He blesses her with children. From Leah’s womb comes the lineage of the Savior – something Leah herself could never have predicted. Through the story is God teaching us not to put our hope in the fleeting affection of man but in the sure unconditional love of our Father? 

The world sells us the idea that when we achieve our goals, when we get our “if onlys,” then we will be completely fulfilled. But no one but God can satisfy our heart’s deepest need and longing. Today, as you battle discontentment and disappointment, remember this truth: God “satisfies the longing soul, and the hungry soul he fills with good things.” (Psalm 107:9)