We needed to go to a few places today. The first stop was a pharmacy to collect Jen’s medication. The second was to a bank to sort out the passcode for the bank account. The third stop was to a fruit shop and lastly we went to a food shop. A nice, face mask, sanitized outing!
At the fruit shop, there are about six or seven checkout points. We always aim for a particular checkout that has a very friendly lady. We normally laugh and joke together. As we were approaching her checkout, she was completing helping a client and shut the till down. I asked jokingly why she “did not want to serve us”. She said she was hungry and going off on lunch (which we understood). However, we were disappointed that she could not serve us. She is extra friendly!
Disappointment could be sin! “I feel miserable because I can’t get my way.” “I really want to do something and the door closes on that desire.” We could easily mention other environments, but these two will suffice. When disappointment is sin, it will result in you feeling bad because you have sinned against God! What many people fail to grasp is that God speaks to this situation.
The Israeli tribes that chose not to enter the Promised Land, and instead settled on the Eastern Side of the Jordon River, agreed to go with the rest of the tribes and assist them to conquer the land by fighting against the peoples living there. Although Moses permitted their request to remain on the Trans-Jordon side, he gave them this warning:
Nu 32:23 … if you fail to do this, you will be sinning against the LORD, and you may be sure that your sin will find you out.
When you sin (yes, even today), rest assured that “your sin will find you out”, or as another translation says: “your sin will catch you out.” That is, you will be disappointed before God.
Most people do not consider this or don’t realise that sin finds you out. This even applies to the Christian Church. We need to pray that we will be sensitive to any form or shape of sin as it comes close to the eye, ear, mind, mouth, feeling, desire or deed … so that we might, through prayer, by the Holy Spirit’s assistance not sin. If we do, we will be found out and we will be disappointed before our Father in Heaven.
In Proverbs 10:9 we read:
Pr 10:9 The man of integrity walks securely, but he who takes crooked paths will be found out.
The first part of the Proverb is saying that if you practice what you preach you will be sure-footed and trusted. The second part implies that if we don’t, we will be found out and discredited … disappointed. It’s quite simple … there are two ways you can live life. There is your way and there is God’s way. God’s way, even though hard at times, always leads to victory, and the glory is God’s. Your way will certainly lead to disappointment.
The Psalmist captures the essence of following God’s way:
Ps 22:5 They cried to you and were saved; in you they trusted and were not disappointed.
Be it trusting God for salvation (saved from sin for heaven–the initial belief for salvation) or be it trusting God in a certain situation (saved from sin for holiness–the ongoing struggle with sin), you will never be disappointed.
Dear God, thank You that Your way is always right and good and productive. Forgive me for wandering from it so often resulting in disappointment. Help me, Lord, to love Your ways so much that I willingly chose it first, all the time. Amen.