Healing From DisappointmentSample

Kids think that adults have it all together. When I was a kid, I remember thinking that my parents had all of the answers, knew what they were doing all the time, and could solve any problem. How little did I know then!

I'd like to tell you that my naive thinking ended in my teenage years, but I had many illusions even in my twenties. I wanted to be the leader in charge, with all the power and authority to make the big decisions. How little did I know!

When I got into a senior leadership role in my thirties, I discovered how painful leadership could be. I deeply resonated with the words of an author named Samuel Chand. He wrote, "Reluctance to face pain is your greatest limitation. There is no growth without change, no change without loss, and no loss without pain."

I read those words as I studied Romans 8 for the first time. I knew Paul experienced much suffering, but I was surprised to learn that creation suffered, too. In Romans 8:19-24, Paul describes how God's creation feels pain, from humanity to animals to trees and rocks.

Growing up, I heard messages about how creation didn't matter. "After all, when the end times happened, it was all going to burn anyway." With my deficient view of creation, I was surprised to read Paul spent so much time talking about how creation felt the consequences of sin and how God would one day redeem and restore it. Reading Romans 8 led me to 1 Corinthians 15 and Revelation 21-22, where I saw how God intended to honor and restore all He made in the beginning.

Paul talked about what happened with our salvation and how receiving the Holy Spirit was just a taste - the first fruits - of what God had in store for all of His creation. Yes, there is pain and disappointment in the world. But there is hope, too! We are experiencing suffering and pain in the world as we navigate one disappointment after another. But we will share in God's glory one day and look forward with hope as we anticipate that day.

Paul wrote about our groanings and yearnings for the redemption of our bodies. No matter how many supplements you take, how rarely you miss a workout, and how much focus you give to your diet, your body eventually breaks down. Age catches up to us, and we remember that we live in a body subject to sin and death. On those days when we sleep wrong, and we feel terrible neck pain, or we get an update about a loved one fighting aggressive cancer, God reminds us that our hope is not in this world. Our hope is in the promise of what God will one day do in us and for us.

Pain reminds us that this life is not the end and that we cannot find true fulfillment in this world. When we lower our hopes to the level of this world, disappointment and pain remind us that God made us for more. Only God's glory and our eternal life with Him can satisfy our souls.

Stay tuned for day four of this plan, where we will examine how we can live while waiting for our hopes to be fulfilled. Since very few of us would describe ourselves as "patient," this is a message we need desperately!