January 19, 2007
Article from The Online Chaplain
Principle # 1 Realize You Are In Good Company:
I was listening to a preacher once in seminary. He made the statement, “98% of all families are dysfunctional.” Ha! Who here as ever met any one who is part of the 2%? There is no golden life. The rich and the poor, the common and the famous, presidents and paupers all deal with disappointment. No matter who you are the mountain of expectation can tumble down. Everyone has been “dissed”. Take this man for example...
At the age of 7 his family was forced out of their home. He worked to help support them.
At the age of 9 his mother died.
At the age of 21 he failed in business.
At the age of 22 he ran for the legislature and lost., and lost his job was turned down when he applied for law school.
At the age of 23 he started another business on borrowed money, by age 24 was bankrupt.
At the age of 25 he was engaged to be married and his fiancé died.
At the age of 26 he had a nervous breakdown and was in bed for six months.
At the age of 28 he was defeated as speaker of the state legislature.
At the age of 33 he ran for congress and lost.
At the age of 38 he ran for congress again and lost.
At the age of 44 he ran for the US Senate and lost.
At the age of 46 he tried for his parties Vice President nomination. He received less than 100 votes and lost.
At the age of 48 he ran for the US Senate again, and lost.
At the age of 50 was elected to be the President of the United States of America.
It was this man of consistent failure which God called on to preserve a constitution, which is now the oldest governing constitution in the world. It was this man of failure God called upon to preserve a way of life which is the envy of the world. It was this man who failed in business time and time again, that God called upon to go about the business of preserving a “government of the people, by the people, and for the people, which shall not perish from the earth,” as he so eloquently described in the Gettysburg Address.
Even Abraham Lincoln had his share of disappointments.
Yep, the 1BCT got “dissed.” When you expect to go home in about six weeks and learn that it will be about six months you can’t help but be disappointed. But, just as hundreds of thousands before us, we will turn our disappointment into opportunity. And just like the hundreds of thousands before us we realize we are in good company.
Principle #2 Whine like Crazy
This isn’t the advice you thought you would get. But, my advice to you is this when you are disappointed with life whine. However, do not whine to me, not to your neighbor and certainly not to your family. If you are going to whine, whine to God. Frankly there is quite a little of it in the Bible. In the Old Testament they don’t however call it whining. They call it lamenting. Laments are the great “why’s” of the Bible. It is when we turn to God and say, “I’m thirsty God, and I want to know where my water is?” “Why me, God? It isn't fair!” I’ve been dissed Lord.
Life certainly seems to be filled with a great deal of disappointment from time to time. We wonder if there is any sense to anything in those times when we feel thoroughly crushed, when we don't know if we can bear the pain any longer, when there seems to be no hope at all. And it is in these times that we begin to wonder if God really cares.
The person who wrote Psalm 88 clearly felt like he had nothing but bad luck and let God know about it. Day and night he cried out to the Lord, about his plight and his sense of being forsaken and alone and without escape. And what answer does he get from God? Nothing! “O Lord, Why does thou cast me off? Why does thou hide thy face from me?” “Why are you making it so cotton picking hard to make a living these days.
That the psalmist whines, but what is amazing is that he whines to God. Even in his despair, (or perhaps, because of it), the psalmist displays an extraordinary trust in God.
We too seem to be in a situation similar to that of the psalmist. We too can justifiably complain to God. We can ask, “Where are you God?” We can ask, “Why me, God?” The psalmist does not find any answers, nor do we find simple solutions. Indeed, we have no easy answers.
So what do we have? The psalmist had a God in whom he could trust even in his greatest despair. We do too.
Article from The Online Chaplain