Disappointment
Just in case you didn’t notice, something happened this past Monday night that struck the hearts of so many Seattle Mariners fans, fair-weather fans included. It was disappointment, and it hit hard. We missed our dream of reaching the World Series.
Why was it so disappointing?
We have never been to the World Series…48 years and counting!
We are the only team that has never reached the World Series.
Our defense suffered some costly errors in Game 6, and our offense grounded into multiple inning-ending double plays, leading to a 6–2 loss.
We went to Game 7 of the ALCS and lost by only one run, 4–3.
We led the final game 3–1 until the bottom of the 7th inning.
Reliever Eduard Bazardo threw a 96 mph sinker right over the middle of the plate to Toronto’s George Springer, who already had two home runs in the series, and Springer smashed a 3-run homer to put the Blue Jays ahead 4–3, the eventual final score.
We had to watch the final out of the 9th inning be a strikeout of one of our best players, Julio Rodríguez.
We lost to a Canadian team in an American sport (patriotic disappointment).
To top it off, the bottom of our lineup (7th, 8th, and 9th batters) combined for a disappointing .153 batting average (13-for-85), leaving fewer RBI opportunities for hitters 1–6 throughout the playoffs.
All the fireworks ready to be ignited for a historic victory are now back in the garage, awaiting the New Year.
Disappointed? Sure, but it’s just a game of baseball with overpaid athletes…here today and gone tomorrow. But what about the real disappointments that matter like the sorrow of infertility, the betrayal of an unfaithful spouse, the shocking news of a terminal disease, the sudden loss of a loved one, the pain of an unforgiving friend, the nagging distress of loneliness?
Two Questions to Consider
What is it that disappoints you? Have you ever stopped to examine what tends to disappoint you? As believers, our hearts are often drawn toward disappointment over things that matter to us—but not necessarily to God. Do my disappointments revolve around things not going my way? Consider Jonah: God called him to bring a gospel message of salvation to the godless Ninevites, yet Jonah was bitter, angry, and deeply disappointed that God would show compassion to undeserving enemies. He even declared he’d rather die than see God forgive such sinners. Ask yourself: Are your disappointments inconsequential, self-centered, idolatrous, trivial, or life-altering? There is a difference between disappointments caused by sin and those related just to personal momentary preferences.
What is it that disappoints God? For me, the worst disappointment in life was hearing my dad say, “Son, I am very disappointed in you,” and it was for good reason. I hated hearing those words, so I tried to avoid ever hearing those stinging words again. But what about God? We might think nothing can disappoint Him because He is perfect, all-knowing, and never surprised. While it’s true that God providentially works all things according to His will, not all disappointment is sinful. God is disappointed when we sin, when we fail to trust Him, when we do not love, serve, or worship Him as He desires. It is healthy to reflect on how your life is being lived before your Savior and Lord, who desires to see you live to please Him. Reflect upon these sobering truths:
Deuteronomy 32:5–6: “They have acted corruptly toward Him, they are not His children, because of their defect; but are a perverse and crooked generation. Do you thus repay the LORD, O foolish and unwise people? Is not He your Father who has bought you? He has made you and established you.”
Psalm 78:40–41: “How often they rebelled against Him in the wilderness and grieved Him in the desert! Again and again they tempted God, and pained the Holy One of Israel.”
Jeremiah 2:11–13: “Has a nation changed gods when they were not gods? But My people have changed their glory for that which does not profit. Be appalled, O heavens, at this, and shudder, be very desolate, declares the LORD. For My people have committed two evils: they have forsaken Me, the fountain of living waters, to hew for themselves cisterns, broken cisterns that can hold no water.”
Malachi 1:6–10: “‘A son honors his father, and a servant his master. Then if I am a father, where is My honor? And if I am a master, where is My respect?' says the LORD of hosts.… “‘Oh that there were one among you who would shut the gates, that you might not uselessly kindle fire on My altar! I am not pleased with you,' says the LORD of hosts.”
Matthew 23:37: “Jerusalem, Jerusalem, who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, the way a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were unwilling.”
Ephesians 4:30: “Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.”
It was a big bummer when the Mariners came so close and yet lost, but my disappointment is pretty much over—because their loss does not define your life or mine… or at least it shouldn’t. Instead, let’s strive to be the answer to Paul’s prayer in Colossians 1:9–10: “For this reason also, since the day we heard of it, we have not ceased to pray for you and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, so that you may walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, to please Him in all respects, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God.”
Pastor Jeff
Foundational Faith Statement #6: How can we glorify God?
We glorify God by enjoying Him, loving Him, trusting Him, worshipping Him, and by obeying His will and commands (Deut. 11:1; Rev. 15:4).