"You turned my wailing into dancing; you removed my sackcloth and clothed me with joy, that my heart may sing your praises and not be silent. Lord my God, I will praise you forever" - Psalm 30:11-12 (NIV).
According to the English Cambridge dictionary, "a disappointment is something that is not what you hoped for!" Disappointments are a regular reality of life but what ultimately counts is how one reacts to them. Two instances can highlight how our reaction to disappointments does affect consequences.
First, there was Judas who in handing over Jesus had a certain expectation of a huge monetary reward (Luke 22:5-6). However, that turned out to be a disappointment once it dawned on him he had handed over an innocent man. "So Judas threw the money into the temple and left. Then he went away and hanged himself" (Mathew 27:5).
The reaction of Judas contrasts to that of David who once pleaded to God to save a son of his from death as a result of judgement brought on him after some folly. "David pleaded with God for the child. He fasted and spent the nights lying in sackcloth on the ground. The elders of his household stood beside him to get him up from the ground, but he refused, and he would not eat any food with them" (2 Samuel 16-17).
In spite of all the child died. And "David’s attendants were afraid to tell him that the child was dead, for they thought, “While the child was still living, he wouldn’t listen to us when we spoke to him. How can we now tell him the child is dead? He may do something desperate" (vv 18).
Yet they were mistaken. "But when David saw that his servants were whispering together, David understood that the child was dead. And David said to his servants, “Is the child dead?” They said, “He is dead.” Then David arose from the earth and washed and anointed himself and changed his clothes. And he went into the house of the Lord and worshiped. He then went to his own house. And when he asked, they set food before him, and he ate" (vv19-20).
How David reacted to a huge disappointment reveals his faith. When it mattered he cried to God to save his child; but once the child died, the first thing David was to worship God! He did not start finger pointing, blame himself or turn to witchcraft with a plea to return his child's life back.
For this the Lord would reward his faith with yet another son: "and they named him Solomon. The Lord loved him; and because the Lord loved him, he sent word through Nathan the prophet to name him Jedidiah" (verse 27).
Prayer for today: Lord Father God of heaven and earth, as disappointments are part life, and in instances where I encounter such, may the example of David inspire me not to lose faith in you, but wait upon you, for an even greater reward!
