Delivered, Not Disappointed!

Our fathers trusted in You; they trusted, and You delivered them. They cried to You, and were delivered; they trusted in You, and were not ashamed.
~Psalm 22:4-5, NKJV

There I was: eyes closed, hands raised, completely absorbed in the worship and the amazing spiritual atmosphere of the church. A powerful move of God had hit this place, and I was determined to press in and get my healing. Full of faith, I prayed in the Spirit. Others also prayed for me. The Presence of God was so strong in that meeting. It was unlike anything I had ever seen. And then...

Nothing happened. 

​I mean it. Nothing happened. 

I remember sitting on the floor after the meeting ended, sobbing into someone's arms. I was so disappointed. God was there! How could He not heal me? I had faith! I had prayed! And even if I had no faith, others were praying for me. What happened? 

It was a hard lesson to learn, and it took me several years to recover. Years. Because I thought God healed. (He does.) And I had hoped He would heal me. But He didn't. Not that night.

Dealing with Disappointment

If you're human, you probably have a story similar to mine. Or know someone who does. The death of a loved one, the loss of a job, or a healing not received can do serious damage to our faith. Many Christians turn their backs on God after such events, and it's easy to understand why. 

It's disappointing when God doesn't come through for us like we hope He will. Life rarely turns out as we expect, but it's especially difficult when what we're hoping for is something God says He will do in the Bible. What then?
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Unmet Expectations Lead to Disappointment

At the time of that meeting, if you had asked me, I would have told you that I was in a place of complete faith and trust in God. I had every confidence that God would come through for me; after all, healing is a part of the atonement. (See 1 Peter 2:24.) It wasn't until years later that I realized my trust was not in God, but in my idea of what I thought God should do that night. Apparently, He and I had different ideas about what was going to happen! 

Any counselor will tell you that anger and disappointment are rooted in unmet expectations. When I compared my expectations to God's for that night, I came up short. It was God's will to heal me, but not at that time, nor in that way. In fact, He was healing something else I didn't even know was broken: my misplaced trust.

A Decision to Trust

Take Naaman, for example. This commander of the Syrian army heard that there was a prophet in Israel who could heal his leprosy. (2 Kings 5:1-14.) He took a servant's advice and traveled, with the king's permission, directly to the door of the prophet Elisha, in Israel. 

To his surprise, Elisha did not even come to the door, sending a messenger to him instead. "Go and wash in the Jordan seven times, and your flesh shall be restored to you, and you shall be clean." (2 Kings 5:10, NKJV.) 

Sounds easy, right? Just take a few baths and you're healed! But Naaman became furious. Look at his reaction: "Indeed, I said to myself, 'He will surely come and stand and call on the name of the Lord his God, and wave his hand over the place, and heal the leprosy.'" (2 Kings 5:11.) In fact, Naaman was extremely angry that Elisha would expect him to wash in an Israelite river, instead of the "superior" waters of Syria! 

Naaman's elaborate idea of what God should do got in the way of his healing. Unmet expectations gave way to anger and pride, and had his servants not intervened, Naaman's story would have ended without a healing, too. Thankfully, he repented and did as Elisha asked. When he followed God's plan, he was healed immediately. The key was his decision to trust God's plan instead of his own.
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​Delivered from Disappointment

Romans 5:5 tells us that God-centered hope does not disappoint us because of His love for us. That's a pretty powerful statement from Father God to His children! God is love, and His plan for us is one that includes deliverance from disappointment. So how do we reconcile what we read in His Word with our life experiences?

​Like Naaman, we need to shift our expectations. When anger and disappointment rise up on the inside, we need to take a better look on the outside to see what God is really up to. Disappointment is a signal to us that something is not right, that our trust is in something other than God. (New reader? Subscribe here to get free downloads of Bible verses on faith and trust from the Subscriber Resource Library.)

If you are a Christian, you are appointed to celebrations of deliverance, to the joy of answered prayer, and to godly, fulfilled dreams! (See John 15:16, Leviticus 23, and Habakkuk 2:3.) When God commanded Israel to celebrate annual feasts, He EXPECTED that they would have something to celebrate! Whether it was their deliverance from slavery, the annual harvest, the Sabbaths, or a Jubilee year, the fact that these feasts were to be celebrated perpetually tells us that God has good plans for us  ALL the time! ​
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Detours to Deliverance

In the early 1990's, I went through an extended period of intense healing and deliverance. For roughly two years, God worked a major overhaul in my life, rooting out sin, dealing with wrong beliefs, walking me through forgiveness, and yes, healing a lot of disappointment. 

During that time, my spiritual mother and father would often surprise me by "kidnapping" me. (It's not what it sounds like, I promise!) To break the intensity of the work, they would pack their car with snacks and drinks, put my weary body in the back seat, and drive to an "undisclosed" location. Sometimes it would be a castle or a state park; other days we'd visit the ocean; longer trips might take us North to lunch at a country store. 

I never knew where we were going until we got there, and my constant guessing only added to the fun! These were all-day trips, and the travel time in the car became trust-building time. Often mom would fall asleep on the way home, and I remember having long, deep spiritual conversations with my father that could really not have happened any other place. I grew to love these times, because I trusted my spiritual dad implicitly and knew that I'd come back refreshed from our "adventures." 

If we encountered a detour, forgot the food, or had problems along the way, my parents would always say, "That doesn't matter. What matters is that we're together." 

As I've grown, I've come to realize that when life deals us detours or disappointments, our heavenly Father is often wanting to give deliverance to His kids,too. He's longing for us to get out of the driver's seat, move to the back,  and let Him navigate. He's looking for the deeper conversations where we share our bitter disappointments, our harder questions, and even our angry weariness with Him. It is in this way that our trust in Him is built and deliverance is secured.

God has both the destination and the plans for your life in His hand. Because He loves, you, He doesn't want to disappoint you; His goal is to surprise you with a deliverance you could never dream of yourself! When Israel left Egypt, they didn't just run for their lives; they ran off with all the Egyptians' silver and gold, too! When we let God write the story, He gets the glory! 

If you are struggling with disappointment today, please pray this prayer with me, expecting your deliverance! 

God, I come to you weary, disappointed, and very lost. I thought I knew what You were doing and where we were going, but I really didn't. Please take the wheel of my life and get me back on course: YOUR course! I believe that no matter how far off the map I've gone, You know the way home, and it doesn't matter anyway. What matters is that we're together. Forgive me for taking control and crashing into disappointment! Help me to rest as You bring me to a better place. I choose to trust You, and I ask You to help me sort out all my questions along the way. I believe You have a great deliverance for me, one that will bring You honor and me joy. I believe Your blessing makes me rich, and there is no sorrow added to it. I trust You with my life. Amen. ​

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"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

Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us. 
~Romans 5:5, NKJV

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c. Deborah Perkins / His Inscriptions

Deborah Perkins is an author and the founder of His Inscriptions, a ministry focused on life-giving communication with God. Through her website, inspired teaching and a weekly blog, Deborah offers discipleship to those who want to grow their relationship with God. A ministry leader for over 25 years, Deborah is an experienced prophetic counselor, marriage mentor, and prayer warrior. She's also fond of her hubby, 3 sons, and dark chocolate - in that order! ​ To purchase her newest Bible Study, click here.