‘The godly may trip seven times, but they will get up again.’ Proverbs 24:16 NLT
For the next few days, let’s look at five different types of disappointment.
Disappointment in yourself. This is the most energy sapping kind of disappointment because it can put you into a downward spiral that’s hard to recover from. Peter experienced it. He swore loyalty to Christ saying, ‘Everyone else may abandon You but not me. I’m Yours until death!’ (see Matthew 26:33). Yet he denied Christ three times. Later he remembered Christ’s words: ‘Before the rooster crows, you will disown Me three times.’ (Matthew 26:34 NIV) Peter, heartbroken by his failure, ‘went outside and wept bitterly.’ (Luke 22:62 NIV)
Is that how you feel today? Are you thinking, ‘Lord, how could You possibly use someone like me?’ Jesus wasn’t shocked. He was well aware of Peter’s flaws when He called him. But He also knew that His outspoken disciple had a tender heart, so He chose to extend grace to him rather than cast him aside. When Christ gave His post–resurrection orders to ‘tell His disciples and Peter’ to meet Him in Galilee, He reaffirmed His choice of His failed disciple (see Mark 16:7). The rest of Peter’s story is one of victory.
So when you sin, or fail and disappoint yourself, what should you do?
(1) Humble yourself and repent. Confess your sin; don’t excuse, rationalise, or blame circumstances and people.
(2) Receive God’s grace and forgiveness by faith, not feelings. Don’t let Satan convince you that you are beyond God’s reach and grace. You’re not.
(3) Don’t add insult to injury by letting disappointment trap you in hopelessness and despair.
(4) Get whatever help you need to get back on track —sooner, not later.
SoulFood:
Esther 4:13–5:3 ()
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13 Then Mordecai told them to reply to Esther, “Do not think to yourself that in the king’s palace you will escape any more than all the other Jews. 14 For if you keep silent at this time, relief and deliverance will rise for the Jews from another place, but you and your father’s house will perish. And who knows whether you have not come to the kingdom for such a time as this?” 15 Then Esther told them to reply to Mordecai, 16 “Go, gather all the Jews to be found in Susa, and hold a fast on my behalf, and do not eat or drink for three days, night or day. I and my young women will also fast as you do. Then I will go to the king, though it is against the law, and if I perish, I perish.” 17 Mordecai then went away and did everything as Esther had ordered him.
5:1 On the third day Esther put on her royal robes and stood in the inner court of the king’s palace, in front of the king’s quarters, while the king was sitting on his royal throne inside the throne room opposite the entrance to the palace. 2 And when the king saw Queen Esther standing in the court, she won favor in his sight, and he held out to Esther the golden scepter that was in his hand. Then Esther approached and touched the tip of the scepter. 3 And the king said to her, “What is it, Queen Esther? What is your request? It shall be given you, even to the half of my kingdom.”
Matthew 6:16–21 ()
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16 “And when you fast, do not look gloomy like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces that their fasting may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. 17 But when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, 18 that your fasting may not be seen by others but by your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.
19 “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, 20 but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. 21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
Mark 2:18–22 ()
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18 Now John’s disciples and the Pharisees were fasting. And people came and said to him, “Why do John’s disciples and the disciples of the Pharisees fast, but your disciples do not fast?” 19 And Jesus said to them, “Can the wedding guests fast while the bridegroom is with them? As long as they have the bridegroom with them, they cannot fast. 20 The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast in that day. 21 No one sews a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old garment. If he does, the patch tears away from it, the new from the old, and a worse tear is made. 22 And no one puts new wine into old wineskins. If he does, the wine will burst the skins—and the wine is destroyed, and so are the skins. But new wine is for fresh wineskins.”
The Word for Today is authored by Bob and Debby Gass and published under licence from UCB International Copyright ©