by Mike Read, Director of Student Ministries @ MBC Loudoun

I’m learning more and more that this earthly life is inevitably filled with disappointments. Our friends will disappoint us, our co-workers will disappoint us, and even our families may disappoint us. But many of God’s greatest servants experienced deep disappointment as they strived to be faithful to God. Joseph, after spending years as a slave and in jail for crimes that he didn’t commit, revealed deep disappointment when he was forgotten another two years in prison. John the Baptist, when awaiting execution, doubted whether Jesus was even the Christ because he was sitting there awaiting his death. Elijah, losing all hope and depressed to the point of death, asked God to take his life in the desert. And you have Peter, who left his fishing business and invested three years of his life only to watch his Savior crucified! Could you imagine the disappointment as he wondered whether the purpose of those three years could even be justified?

These times of disappointment in our life burden our souls. But, we are always left with a choice: we can cling to Jesus our not cling to Jesus. There are times when clinging on to Jesus is the only thing we can do and it’s all that He wants us to do.

There is only one answer to life’s disappointments. Jesus. More of Jesus. More of our Savior. More intimacy with Him. The Psalmist knew it well when he said “Find rest, O my soul, in God alone; my hope comes from Him. He alone is my rock and my salvation; He is my fortress, I will not be shaken” Psalm 62:5-6.