Turning A Broken Story Into God’s Glory
Many of us reading this journal today have carried great dreams and expectant hopes. However, instead of ‘signs and wonders’, we have witnessed our desires unravel in unconventional and unfamiliar ways. This unfamiliar response has left us feeling disappointed. Disappointment is more than just a fleeting feeling: It is a state of being. Disappointment is the loss of expectation and hope’: It is the state of becoming ‘obsolete’, which means to feel outdated, inadequately equipped and irrelevant. The enemy delights in using our disappointments to create a battlefield of disorder in our minds, as this then leads to frustration and havoc in our lives. It is a type of chaos that often results in negative thought patterns, harmful behaviours and hurtful outcomes.
King David experienced many such disappointments in his life: turmoil of the mind, and disorder in his family and kingdom. Yet, he was known as ‘a man after God’s own heart’, (Acts 13:22). Though David failed so many times as a leader, and experienced countless moments of ‘losing heart’, David declared in Psalms 27:13, ‘I would have fainted (lost heart) unless I had believed to see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. Therefore, I will wait on the Lord and be of good courage, for He strengthens the heart’. David’s confidence in God was the force or strength that prevented him from collapsing under the weight of disappointment. The Hebrew meaning of that saying ‘good courage’ denotes might to prevail; to be valiant; to wax strong; and stand resolute.
How have these words kept me strong. They remind me that disappointment does not have the final word. I know what it feels like to cradle dreams, only to see them shatter. I know the sting of expectations that once seemed certain, now lying in pieces. Yet, I also know that disappointments, when surrendered to God, can become a ‘divine appointment’; an opportunity to grow in wisdom; a force that pushes us to go deeper in our relationship with Him; and the unexpected fire that empowers us to stand resolute in His promises, and so I encourage you, do not to lose heart, but ‘believe that you will see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living’, (Psalms 27:13-14).
PROPHETIC PRAYER
– Lord, I lay before You every disappointment, every broken dream, and every unfulfilled expectation. Teach me to trust Your timing and Your ways above my own. (Proverbs 3:5-6)
– Father, just as David declared in Psalms 27:13-14, help me believe that I will see Your goodness in the land of the living. Strengthen my heart when I am tempted to give up.
– Holy Spirit, turn my disappointments into classrooms of wisdom. Teach me patience, self-control, and endurance, that I may grow in character and hope. (Romans 5:3-4)
– Lord, protect my mind from the enemy’s attempt to use disappointment to sow bitterness, doubt, or fear. Replace every lie with Your truth. In Jesus’ Name. (John 8:32)
– Father, cultivate in me the fruits of patience, and peace, so that I respond to disappointment with wisdom instead of despair. (Galatians 5:22-23).
– Lord, open my eyes to see that what feels like a ‘set-back’, is actually a ‘set-up’ for a ‘step-up’ for something greater in Your plan. (Jeremiah 29:11).