Febraury 24, 2001

Does God disappoint us and let us down?  Do you ever feel neglected and left out by Him?  At times we feel we need God to do a certain thing for us.  We may be looking for a certain ‘behavior’ from God to be done in a certain way at a certain time.

If we feel God has disappointed us it means we’ve "appointed" Him to do something for us and He failed to meet that "appointment".  When that happens we may feel He has let us down.

We have a need—a miracle, healing etc.  And we want God to meet that need but it’s vital that we realize God can’t confine Himself to act in our situation how we expect Him to or even "need" Him to. He has spoken and what He has spoken He does.

This doesn’t mean God doesn’t want to meet our needs.  It doesn’t mean He won’t meet our needs.  But it does mean that we need to seek Him for every situation we are faced with.

Martha wanted Jesus to be there when Lazarus was sick so he could be healed.  She knew he would have been healed and wouldn’t have died if Jesus had been there.   But she expected her brother’s healing to be done in a certain way and she was disappointed.  God didn’t keep her ‘appointment’.  But He did not neglect them either.

Even now.  Even after he was dead she still had hope and faith.  And that is what He needs from us for God to be glorified in our lives.  He doesn’t need our plan or our ‘appointments’.  He needs our hope and our faith.

If we feel God has disappointed us, it’s important to respond to Him in hope and faith.  How?  How do you respond with hope and faith when you feel you’ve been let down?  We can by coming to Him and receiving His love, His comfort and His words.  Martha had been in the house where there were other people there trying to comfort her and Mary.  But when she heard Jesus was coming she went and met Him.   She expressed her disappointment but then she went on and spoke words of hope and faith.  And after she did, Jesus gave her words she could hang on to.  He gave her a word from God that would bring the glory of God into the situation.

Jesus said, If you will believe you will see the glory of God.  Her hope and faith was resurrected when Lazarus was resurrected. If you’ve suffered a disappointment God wants to resurrect your hope and your faith.  He wants to speak a word to you that will bring the glory of God in your life.  If there is a situation in your life that has ended in disappointment, if you will receive His presence into the situation, if you will set aside the disappointment and speak words of hope and faith, if you will receive His words of comfort and whatever word He gives you, you will see the glory of God come from that situation.  It won’t have been in vain.  Your hope and your faith will be resurrected!