Disappointment And Delight

Life is full of disappointments.

 

Oranges with more pips than flesh.  Trains being delayed.  Computers crashing and losing your work.  Rain after you have straightened your hair.  Photocopiers jamming when you're in a rush.

 

And it's not just things that can disappoint us.  People can too. 

 

We can feel let down by other people and by God.  They let us down, or they don't pull through for us.

 

But the worst feeling of disappointment is disappointment in ourselves.  We feel that we haven't just let ourselves down, but have let other people down, too.  It's like we have to feel the disappointment twice.

 

I've just been enjoying another dose of The Gilmore Girls. Rory doesn't get an internship that she was really hoping for and, as well as being disappointed herself, she feels that she has disappointed everyone else too.  And that feeling is worse than just being disappointed in herself.

 

Similarly, we can feel that we have disappointed other people too.  Or, even worse, we can feel like God is disappointed in us.

 

Yesterday, I wrote about how God's love for us depends on what He is like and what He does, not what we are like or what we do.

 

But it goes further than that.  God doesn't just tolerate us because that's His nature.  He loves us and delights in us.

 

        "For the Lord your God is living among you.
        He is a mighty saviour.
        He will take delight in you with gladness.
        With his love, he will calm all your fears.
        He will rejoice over you with joyful songs.”

 

        [Zephaniah 3:17 NLT]

 

 

When she doesn't get the internship, Rory's mum comforts her, saying,

"You could never be a disappointment to me. Ever. Never ever. Never ever ever."

 

And God says the same to us. 

 

Delight.  Not disappointment.