Disappointment
It goes without saying, we all face disappointment. Sometimes it's just small things, like your favorite sports team losing or the grocery store being out of your favorite ice cream. But other times we get hit hard in our personal lives. Relationships go bad, our job, finances, school, our and our family's health, all of those things can go south quite fast, and you're left wondering what happened. Even when our lives are going good, the world encroaches to make good days go bad. The economy, elections, natural disasters... things don't turn out the way we had hoped. And many people are often left asking that famous question, "Why, God?"
When I consider the subject of disappointment, I often like to think of the life of Corrie ten Boom, who was a devout Dutch woman who helped rescue Jews during World War Two in the early 1940s. Corrie and her family helped save hundreds of Jews from the Nazis in the Amsterdam, Netherlands, area before the ten Boom family was arrested (Corrie was 51 years old at the time) in 1944 and ultimately sent to the Nazi concentration camp of Ravensbruck in Germany with her sister, Betsie. They were able to sneak a small Bible into the camp, which the Nazis would have destroyed if they'd found it, and Corrie prayed and ministered to the other prisoners, leading quite a few to Christ. Betsie died in the camp, along with most of the other prisoners, but God's grace was such that a clerical error freed Corrie after about a year's imprisonment, and she went on from there to serve God all over the world for decades before she died in 1983.
Corrie exemplifies what it means to be faithful to God even in the worst of all situations, and maybe she had 2 Corinthians 4:16-18 in her mind as she went through her time at the camp.
"So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. 17 For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, 18 as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal."
Jesus wants us to be faithful to Him through the good times and the bad, and there is an eternal reward for being faithful. Luke 12:42-44 says:
"And the Lord said, “Who then is the faithful and wise manager, whom his master will set over his household, to give them their portion of food at the proper time? 43 Blessed is that servant whom his master will find so doing when he comes. 44 Truly, I say to you, he will set him over all his possessions."
There is eternal reward for our faithfulness in this life. This is different from salvation, which we cannot earn and is through grace alone; however, eternal rewards are based on what we do in this life. Jesus tells a parable in Luke 19:11-27 of a nobleman who gave his servants varying amounts of money to invest while the nobleman traveled to a far country. One servant received 10 pounds and made ten more, one received five and made five more, and one received one pound and hid it rather than doing anything with it, so he did not return to the Lord anything more than what he began with. The first two servants were given authority to rule over cities in the nobleman's kingdom while the other servant actually had what was given to him taken away and given to the faithful servant who had originally been given the 10 pounds. Jesus will reward us in His kingdom depending on our level of faithfulness to Him during this life. Some will be given great rewards, others will not, though they will still be saved. Remember, salvation and eternal life are through grace alone and faith in Christ's sacrifice on the Cross. Rewards in His kingdom are based on our faithfulness in this life. Maybe you've heard it said that this life is "training for reigning" in Christ's kingdom. I think that is a true saying.
I say all of that with the full knowledge that we can go through terrible losses and disappointments in this life. In some things all we can do is trust God knowing this from Psalm 34:17-19:
"When the righteous cry for help, the Lord hears
and delivers them out of all their troubles.
18 The Lord is near to the brokenhearted
and saves the crushed in spirit.
19 Many are the afflictions of the righteous,
but the Lord delivers him out of them all."
God will get you through your disappointment and loss, even if it leaves a life-long scar.
We have to hold to the truth of Galatians 6:9:
"And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up."
There will be incredible reward for the faithful in Christ's kingdom even if in this life we suffer loss. Corrie ten Boom suffered the Holocaust for helping to save innocent Jewish lives, but she did not grow weary in serving God, and I know that her reward is unimaginably great despite the loss she faced in this life. The same will be true for us as we obey Him and are faithful to what He calls us to in this life.
If you'd like to read more about Corrie ten Boom, you can do so here.
When I consider the subject of disappointment, I often like to think of the life of Corrie ten Boom, who was a devout Dutch woman who helped rescue Jews during World War Two in the early 1940s. Corrie and her family helped save hundreds of Jews from the Nazis in the Amsterdam, Netherlands, area before the ten Boom family was arrested (Corrie was 51 years old at the time) in 1944 and ultimately sent to the Nazi concentration camp of Ravensbruck in Germany with her sister, Betsie. They were able to sneak a small Bible into the camp, which the Nazis would have destroyed if they'd found it, and Corrie prayed and ministered to the other prisoners, leading quite a few to Christ. Betsie died in the camp, along with most of the other prisoners, but God's grace was such that a clerical error freed Corrie after about a year's imprisonment, and she went on from there to serve God all over the world for decades before she died in 1983.
Corrie exemplifies what it means to be faithful to God even in the worst of all situations, and maybe she had 2 Corinthians 4:16-18 in her mind as she went through her time at the camp.
"So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. 17 For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, 18 as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal."
Jesus wants us to be faithful to Him through the good times and the bad, and there is an eternal reward for being faithful. Luke 12:42-44 says:
"And the Lord said, “Who then is the faithful and wise manager, whom his master will set over his household, to give them their portion of food at the proper time? 43 Blessed is that servant whom his master will find so doing when he comes. 44 Truly, I say to you, he will set him over all his possessions."
There is eternal reward for our faithfulness in this life. This is different from salvation, which we cannot earn and is through grace alone; however, eternal rewards are based on what we do in this life. Jesus tells a parable in Luke 19:11-27 of a nobleman who gave his servants varying amounts of money to invest while the nobleman traveled to a far country. One servant received 10 pounds and made ten more, one received five and made five more, and one received one pound and hid it rather than doing anything with it, so he did not return to the Lord anything more than what he began with. The first two servants were given authority to rule over cities in the nobleman's kingdom while the other servant actually had what was given to him taken away and given to the faithful servant who had originally been given the 10 pounds. Jesus will reward us in His kingdom depending on our level of faithfulness to Him during this life. Some will be given great rewards, others will not, though they will still be saved. Remember, salvation and eternal life are through grace alone and faith in Christ's sacrifice on the Cross. Rewards in His kingdom are based on our faithfulness in this life. Maybe you've heard it said that this life is "training for reigning" in Christ's kingdom. I think that is a true saying.
I say all of that with the full knowledge that we can go through terrible losses and disappointments in this life. In some things all we can do is trust God knowing this from Psalm 34:17-19:
"When the righteous cry for help, the Lord hears
and delivers them out of all their troubles.
18 The Lord is near to the brokenhearted
and saves the crushed in spirit.
19 Many are the afflictions of the righteous,
but the Lord delivers him out of them all."
God will get you through your disappointment and loss, even if it leaves a life-long scar.
We have to hold to the truth of Galatians 6:9:
"And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up."
There will be incredible reward for the faithful in Christ's kingdom even if in this life we suffer loss. Corrie ten Boom suffered the Holocaust for helping to save innocent Jewish lives, but she did not grow weary in serving God, and I know that her reward is unimaginably great despite the loss she faced in this life. The same will be true for us as we obey Him and are faithful to what He calls us to in this life.
If you'd like to read more about Corrie ten Boom, you can do so here.
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