Amelia Church of Christ - Christian Church in Amelia, OH near Cincinnati in Clermont County

Welcome to the second week of our series called Identity Theft. Here’s what this series is about. Here is the entire series in a sentence…Satan wants to rob you of the identity that God has given you. Jesus tells us that Satan is a master thief. He is out to rob you of your identity in Christ.

That identity is found in Galatians 3:26. “For you are all children of God through faith in Christ Jesus.” (Galatians 3:26, NLT)

If you are a disciple of Jesus, then this verse is your identity. Through your faith in Christ, you are a child of God. God sees you as His pure, holy, perfect son or daughter.

So why don’t we see ourselves that way? Because we’ve allowed our identity to be stolen. We allow our true identity to be taken away and then we replace it with a view of ourselves that is far, far less than God ever intended for us. We get angry with ourselves. We get frustrated with God. Our spiritual life stalls out. In extreme cases, some of us will even walk away from our faith entirely. And it all started when we allowed Satan to slip in and steal our identity away from us.

Last week, we talked about a potent weapon that Satan uses to steal our identity: guilt. Today, we’re talking about another powerful tool that he uses…but this one is a bit more subtle. The second thief we’re going to uncover in this series is the thief of disappointment.

Last Sunday after church, my family went out for lunch. We had already been to our extended family Easter gatherings earlier in the week, so after church Sunday, we had no plans. Our little boy, Ryan, said that he wanted to go to Skyline for lunch. Sounded good to us, so away we went.

Ryan had his sights set on a cheese coney, followed by a York Peppermint Patty. Because anybody who lives in Cincinnati knows you can’t eat Skyline chili without a Peppermint Patty chaser. And I feel sorry for all of you who don’t like Skyline. You’re going to be really disappointed when you sit down at the banquet table in heaven and find a 3-way in front of you.

So we pulled into the Skyline parking lot last Sunday, and it was empty. No cars anywhere. We drove up and looked in the window and figured out that they had closed for Easter.

No big deal, right? Let me tell you…to a four-year-old little boy, that was a BIG deal. Ryan immediately started crying those tears that every parent hates to see…the tears of disappointment. He fought it. He tried not to cry. But he just couldn’t hide his disappointment.

Some of you have cried tears of disappointment recently…but it’s a lot more significant than discovering that a restaurant is closed for a holiday. Your tears come from the disappointment of a job loss. Or the death of someone you dearly loved. Or a marriage that seems to be going down in flames. Or a child who has strayed from God. Or a life that was never supposed to turn out this way.

You can relate to Job, who said, “My days have passed, my plans are shattered, and so are the desires of my heart.” (Job 17:11, NIV)

Did you even realize that a verse like that is in the Bible? I thought the Bible was all about how God automatically fixes everything in your life. You’ve got a problem? God will fix it. You’ve got a disappointment? God will heal it. And it all happens instantly, as soon as you become a Christian.

No. Not even close. Job was a righteous man of God, and yet he experienced disappointment on a mammoth scale. He lost his job when all his livestock died. He lost his family when his children died. He even lost his own health. And instead of faking it, instead of pretending like everything was alright, Job looked at his life and said, “This sucks. My plans are shattered. My dreams are dead. The desires of my heart are gone.”

That’s a brutal honesty that a lot of us aren’t comfortable with. But whether we like it or not, it’s in the Bible. And it’s not the only example of this kind of honest expression of disappointment in Scripture.

Did you know that approximately 1/3 of the Psalms express disappointment, discouragement, anger, and fear? Have you ever read some of the things that the prophet Jeremiah wrote in his books? Large portions of the Bible give us incredible, gut-level honesty about the disappointment that these men of God were feeling.

So what is the takeaway from all of this? Disappointment is normal. Even for God’s people. That might be the first thing you need to come to grips with…if you’re disappointed, you’re normal.

But just because disappointment is normal doesn’t mean that it isn’t dangerous. It is. Disappointment is normal. But it can rob us of our identity in Christ because we’ve convinced ourselves that the exact opposite is true.

Instead of seeing it as a normal part of life, we’ve come to believe that disappointment is abnormal if you’re a Christian. If you are a Christ-follower, then you should always be up, always be happy. Nothing should ever get you down. You should never be discouraged. You should always walk around smiling like Joel Osteen.

The problem is that you can’t support that belief with Scripture. (And by the way, I’m sure even Joel gets down occasionally.) You can’t find one Scripture that tells us that God’s people are never allowed to be discouraged or disillusioned or disappointed. Actually, the evidence swings in the exact opposite direction.

The Bible seems to tell God’s people to prepare for a huge dose of disappointment in this life. But if we’re not careful, that disappointment will rob us of our identity in Christ because, if we’re disappointed in something, that must mean that we are somehow a second-rate Christian. The really solid Christians are so mature, they are so super-spiritual that they don’t even feel disappointment anymore.

That is absolutely, positively not true! Disappointment doesn’t mean that you don’t have real, authentic faith. It simply means that you are a human being who lives in a very imperfect world.

But now, let me muddy up the water for a minute. Let me show you a couple of verses that, on the surface, sound like they contradict each other.

We’ve already read this verse from Job. Job said, “My days have passed, my plans are shattered, and so are the desires of my heart.” (Job 17:11, NIV)

Now, compare that Scripture to this one from Psalm 37. “Delight yourself in the LORD and he will give you the desires of your heart.” (Psalm 37:4, NIV)

Anybody else see the problem here? Both verses talk about the desires of our heart. One verse said that God will give us the desires of our heart. But in the other verse, Job, who was a very righteous man, said that the desires of his heart had been shattered.

Which of these two verses do you connect with? Which sounds like a more accurate description of your life? Which sounds like where you are right now? I’m not going to, but if I asked for a show of hands, I kind of think the Job verse might win.

Honestly, I’ve struggled with this. I really had to wrestle with these two verses this week. How do you rectify these seemingly competing principles? Both are in the Bible, which means that both are true. How is that possible?

I’m going to go out on a limb, here. I believe that Psalm 37:4 is one of the most dangerous verses in the entire Bible. Seriously. This verse is very easy to misinterpret and misunderstand. If you go home and Google some sermons on this verse, you’re going to hear a lot of junk theology. A lot of junk theology that can ruin you.

It’s easy to believe that this verse from the Psalms is a promise that God will give us whatever we want. Using this verse as our proof text, we believe that the Bible says that God will bless our lives and give us whatever we want.

Now, what happens when the reality of your life is incongruent with what you believe you see in this verse of Scripture? What if God doesn’t give you everything you want? What if you experience disappointment?

You believe that God promised to give you everything you want, and if that doesn’t happen, then that means that there is either something wrong with you or there is something wrong with God. Either way, do you see how disappointment can rob us of our relationship with the Lord? And it’s all based on what we think the Bible says. Not what it actually says.

Look at Psalm 37:4 again. Only this time, divide the verse in half. “Delight yourself in the LORD / and he will give you the desires of your heart.” (Psalm 37:4, NIV)

Which half of this verse normally gets our attention? The second half. God will give me the desires of my heart. That’s the fun part. That’s the part that gets slapped on a bumper sticker and sold in a Christian bookstore. That’s the part that we want to hear.

But which half of this verse is the most important? The first half. Delight yourself in the LORD. Delight in what delights God. Focus on pleasing Him instead of pleasing yourself. Actually, this verse isn’t about getting what you want at all. It’s about seeking to give God what He wants…which is your love, your devotion, your obedience, your worship. This verse is about self-sacrifice, not self-indulgence. This verse is about getting to a point in your life where you can honestly say, “If it delights God, then it delights me. I have no stake in this at all. I’m all about what God is all about. It if pleases him, then it pleases me.”

How do you explain the promise that God will give you the desires of your heart? If you delight in God, then the desires of your heart are actually the desires of God’s heart. The more God becomes your passion and your purpose, the more that God will purify your desires. You will begin to desire the things that God desires. And when that happens, God will be thrilled to give you the desires of your heart.

But that still doesn’t mean that you’ll never be disappointed in your life. Jesus was. Right before he was arrested and condemned to death, Jesus agonized in prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane.

Matthew 26 says, Jesus “fell with his face to the ground and prayed, “My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will.” (Matthew 26:39, NIV)

Jesus was fully God and fully human. In this moment, we see his humanity very clearly. Through His divinity, Jesus already knew that His crucifixion was near. Through His humanity, He didn’t want to go through it.

And so, Jesus Christ, the Son of God, prayed a very human prayer. “God, I don’t want to do this. God, isn’t there any other way?”

Now, the Bible never tells us of any kind of direct answer from God. It’s very possible that this prayer from Jesus was met with silence from heaven. That silence meant that there was no other way. Jesus would endure the cross, dying for your sin and my sin.

Now, here’s where we can really find a connecting point with Jesus. Jesus was the epitome of that verse from the Psalms. He delighted himself in the Lord. The desire of His heart was to please God. And so, when God told Him to go the cross, He went. But don’t think for a minute that Jesus wasn’t disappointed.

When Jesus prayed, asking God if there was another way, the divine side of Him knew that there wasn’t. But the human side of Him was desperately hoping that God would unveil a last-minute Plan B. When Plan B never materialized, Jesus was obedient…and He was disappointed.

And that is a hallmark of God’s people. Obedience in the midst of disappointment. Can you still obey God when you’re disappointed in God? I know, initially that sounds sacrilegious. It sounds heretical to even suggest that we could be disappointed with God.

And some people are just far too religious to ever admit that God disappoints them. But, if you want to be real instead of religious, then you’ll be honest enough to admit that there have been times when it felt like God let you down. The question is, can you still obey Him, can you still follow Him, can you still love Him when He disappoints you?

I want to share a couple of truths that God is teaching me in my life. These are critically important truths to remember during disappointing seasons in our lives.

The first truth is that God is sovereign. God is the sovereign Lord of heaven and earth, and because of His sovereignty, because of His supremacy, God doesn’t owe me anything.

In Romans 11, the Bible asks this question. “Who has ever given to God, that God should repay him?” (Romans 11:35, NIV)

God doesn’t owe me anything. No matter what I do for Him…no matter how much I give Him…God is not indebted to me for anything. I can never be good enough, I can never do enough to tip the scales in my favor. There’s nothing I can do where I can look at God and say, “Hey, did you see that? Man, you owe me big time!”

God is almighty. God is omnipotent. God is sovereign. Which means that He doesn’t owe me, and He doesn’t owe you, anything.

I’ve read this verse in Romans before, but it hit me this week like never before. This verse messed me up. You want to know why? Because for this first time, I made this connection. When the Apostle Paul wrote this verse in Romans, he was quoting from the book of Job.

In Job 41, God asked Job, “Who has given to Me that I should repay him?” (Job 41:11a, NASB) Job had lost everything…his job, his kids, his health…and so he finally lashes out at God. And God responded with this question. “Who has given to Me that I should repay him?”

And here’s the takeaway from these words that God spoke to Job. God doesn’t owe me a good life, good money, or good health. God doesn’t even owe me an answer when I question what He’s doing. When Job asked God why all this bad stuff was happening, God responded with questions. He never once gave Job a direct answer.

God doesn’t owe me an answer. God doesn’t owe me an apology. God doesn’t owe me an explanation. He is God. I am not. And that means that God doesn’t owe me a dang thing. If you think that God owes you something, you’d better get over yourself and get off that pedestal of pride before God knocks you off of it.

This is why disappointment can rob us of our identity as God’s children. Because we believe that, since we are God’s children, He should automatically give us whatever we want. Let me ask you something, parents. Do you give your kids everything they want? I hope your answer is, “No!” And do your kids always understand why you don’t give them everything they want? No. And sometimes, they just need to accept the fact that you are dad or you are mom, and move on. You don’t give them everything they want…and you don’t always owe them an explanation as to why. They need to learn to trust you.

That’s the second truth that I’m learning. God can be trusted. God is my Father. He doesn’t give me everything I want. He doesn’t owe me an explanation about that. But through it all, He is my dad. He has promised that He is working for my ultimate good. He loves us, and He ultimately wants what’s best for us.

In Jeremiah 29, God told His people, “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” (Jeremiah 29:11, NIV)

God said this to His people during their captivity in Babylon. It was a very difficult, very disappointing time for the Israelites. Granted, they were in this mess because of their own stupidity and sinfulness…but it was still a very tough, very dark time.

God promised His people that He hadn’t forgotten them. He was going to work for their good, not their harm. But they would have to trust Him, because this wasn’t going to happen overnight. He didn’t say these words in Jeremiah 29 and then spring them free from slavery the next day. Their deliverance was still years away.

God never promises us a life free of disappointment. And, because He is the one and only sovereign God, He doesn’t have to explain why.

But, while we will experience disappointment, God also promises that he has our ultimate good in mind. He knows and works for what is best for us. But a lot of times that work is happening behind the scenes. If you’re in the middle of a disappointing, frustrating, difficult season in your life, just because you can’t see what God is doing doesn’t meant that He isn’t doing anything.

I love the way The Message paraphrase reads in Isaiah 45:15. “Clearly, you are a God who works behind the scenes, God of Israel, Savior God.” (Isaiah 45:15, The Message)

Disappointment can rob you of your identity as God’s child because you can begin to believe that God has given up on you. God doesn’t care about you. God doesn’t love you.

Listen to me. Just because you can’t see what God is doing doesn’t mean that He is doing nothing. Just because you don’t understand what God is doing doesn’t mean that He has given up on you. We’ve got to learn to trust that, even when we don’t understand, even when it doesn’t make sense…God is working behind the scenes for our good.

God can see past your disappointment. He knows how it all turns out. You don’t get that luxury. All you get is the promise that God is on your side. All you get is the promise that He will never leave you and he wants what is best for you. Is that enough? Yeah. That’s enough.

God has promised that He loves us. God has promised that He will never leave us. And God has promised to come back for us. Jesus is coming back. Heaven is in our future. And here’s what that means.

Disappointment is temporary. There are a lot of hurts, a lot of struggles, and a lot of disappointments in this room right now. For some of you, I know what you’re going through. For others of you, I have no idea what you’re going through. But I do know this. Any hurt, any trial, any struggle, any disappointment you are experiencing in your life, you can slap this label on it…temporary. It is not going to last forever.

In 1 Peter, the Bible says that we are “aliens and strangers in this world…” (1 Peter 2:11b, NIV)

In Philippians 3, the Bible says, “But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ…” (Philippians 3:20, NIV)

We do not belong in this world. We are aliens and strangers here. Our citizenship is in heaven, not here.

And here’s what that means…we should expect disappointment in this world because we were not designed for this world. This is what makes disappointment such a dangerous weapon of Satan. Disappointment can cause us to focus only on the problems we have in this world. It robs us of our identity because we forget that we don’t belong in this world.

We get consumed with our problems, our struggles, and our pain. Instead of temporary, we begin to believe that it is forever. Instead of remembering that we have a better future ahead of us, our current disappointment becomes the center of our world. And when that happens, Satan wins. He has robbed you of your joy. He has robbed you of your hope. He has robbed you of your identity.

Listen to these amazing words from 2 Corinthians 4. “Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all.”

Anything you are experiencing right now, any trial, any disappointment, Paul says that it is a “light and momentary” trouble. That sounds pretty harsh and unfeeling at first. It doesn’t feel light and momentary to you. But that’s because you don’t know what’s in store for you. Paul said that, compared to the eternal glory that’s waiting on us, anything we experience here in this world is insignificant. It lasts a moment and then it’s gone.

Now, listen to what he says next. “So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.” (2 Corinthians 4:16-18, NIV)

Every disappointment that you experience is temporary. God will bring it to an end. Because of Jesus’ death on the cross, the price of our sin has been paid. If you are in Christ, you can know that you’re going to heaven for sure. And you can have the hope and the joy that comes from knowing that all the junk you experience in this life is temporary.

Don’t let temporary disappointment rob you of your identity. You are God’s child. You have a Father who is with you in good and bad times. You have a Father who will eventually bring disappointment to an eternal end. And it will all be worth it when you get to see Jesus face-to-face.

Mike Edmisten

Tags: disappointment, heaven, hope, Identity Theft, Job, suffering