Disappointment
Now there was a famine in the land, and Abram went down to Egypt to dwell there, for the famine was severe in the land. (Genesis 12.2)
Abram had done what God directed him to do, he had left his family and his father’s house and gone to the place God showed him. And what happened? Nothing! Sarai did not get pregnant, he didn’t own any land, and after a time the very land itself stopped producing and there was famine in the land he had come to.
So Abram left the land he’d been told to go to. He went traveling on to Egypt,
We know the end of the story but Abram didn’t. What did Abram think as he journeyed away from the place he had journeyed to? We know Abram believed God; scripture emphasizes this. Was his faith mixed with disappointment that day, as he left the land behind and journeyed towards Egypt? We are told that he was apprehensive as he entered yet another strange country. He was afraid he would be killed and was thinking he would perhaps give away this woman who was his unproductive wife.
How does this apply to us? It certainly applies to me because for many years I was bewildered and disappointed.
Let me tell you about the disappointment, it is part of the reason I have chosen to think and write about Abram, to encourage myself. The best sermon a pastor can preach is the one he/she preaches to himself so don’t think it selfish of me to write for my own sake.
There has been a purpose in my life since the time I was six and half, it became a passion that possessed me, and it has been moderately fulfilled but not wonderfully fulfilled – hence the disappointment.
When I was six and a half I returned home from the service where I had become aware of Christ’s friendship. While my parents bustled about seeing to fires and food I went into the dining room alone and addressed the presence I had felt in church. “What a lot of happiness,” I said, talking about myself. A thought came into my mind with a clarity that caused me to know God had spoken to me. “There are a lot of unhappy people in this world, you must tell them about me so they can have the same happiness you have.” From that day on I talked of Jesus, and began preaching when I was 13 years old. In my teen years a picture was always in my mind, it was of the father of the prodigal son standing by his house looking down the road longing for his absent son to return. I began to understand that God suffers, I began to feel his pain and I became passionate and driven by my desire to tell people about Jesus.
David and I gave our possessions our time and energy to help affect reconciliation between God’s absent children and the Father who longs to make them happy. We had many moderate successes, but the numbers we reached were not the numbers we longed to reach, and for that reason we both experienced disappointment. We were so disappointed, that often we thought of ourselves as failures. That is why I wonder if Abram ever felt disappointment. I think of the promise God made to Abram that he would have descendants as innumerable as the stars, and I contrast that with the facts that when Abram was a hundred his wife gave birth to one son. Just one.
Philip, our second son, has been a great help in reminding me of the things David and I did together; the churches we served, the people we encouraged, the integrity and honesty with which David served. The disappointment is lessened and I begin to entertain a lot of hope. Because although the results of our labors (and I mean labors) were small compared to what some other pastors have had; perhaps in the same way that God gave Abram millions of descendants from only one son maybe the results of our labors will be more than we realize. David was content to do his best and leave the rest to God. I never was, I prayed and prayed to be made more effective and wept with disappointment because I wasn’t.
There may be other people out there who feel a similar disappointment about their own lives, hopes that weren’t realized, and dreams that didn’t come true. So I encourage myself and I encourage them. God kept on keeping his promise to Abram through Abram’s descendants, and through their descendants. God hears and answers our prayers and is faithful to the promises he makes. We haven’t seen the end of the story yet.
Abram had done what God directed him to do, he had left his family and his father’s house and gone to the place God showed him. And what happened? Nothing! Sarai did not get pregnant, he didn’t own any land, and after a time the very land itself stopped producing and there was famine in the land he had come to.
So Abram left the land he’d been told to go to. He went traveling on to Egypt,
We know the end of the story but Abram didn’t. What did Abram think as he journeyed away from the place he had journeyed to? We know Abram believed God; scripture emphasizes this. Was his faith mixed with disappointment that day, as he left the land behind and journeyed towards Egypt? We are told that he was apprehensive as he entered yet another strange country. He was afraid he would be killed and was thinking he would perhaps give away this woman who was his unproductive wife.
How does this apply to us? It certainly applies to me because for many years I was bewildered and disappointed.
Let me tell you about the disappointment, it is part of the reason I have chosen to think and write about Abram, to encourage myself. The best sermon a pastor can preach is the one he/she preaches to himself so don’t think it selfish of me to write for my own sake.
There has been a purpose in my life since the time I was six and half, it became a passion that possessed me, and it has been moderately fulfilled but not wonderfully fulfilled – hence the disappointment.
When I was six and a half I returned home from the service where I had become aware of Christ’s friendship. While my parents bustled about seeing to fires and food I went into the dining room alone and addressed the presence I had felt in church. “What a lot of happiness,” I said, talking about myself. A thought came into my mind with a clarity that caused me to know God had spoken to me. “There are a lot of unhappy people in this world, you must tell them about me so they can have the same happiness you have.” From that day on I talked of Jesus, and began preaching when I was 13 years old. In my teen years a picture was always in my mind, it was of the father of the prodigal son standing by his house looking down the road longing for his absent son to return. I began to understand that God suffers, I began to feel his pain and I became passionate and driven by my desire to tell people about Jesus.
David and I gave our possessions our time and energy to help affect reconciliation between God’s absent children and the Father who longs to make them happy. We had many moderate successes, but the numbers we reached were not the numbers we longed to reach, and for that reason we both experienced disappointment. We were so disappointed, that often we thought of ourselves as failures. That is why I wonder if Abram ever felt disappointment. I think of the promise God made to Abram that he would have descendants as innumerable as the stars, and I contrast that with the facts that when Abram was a hundred his wife gave birth to one son. Just one.
Philip, our second son, has been a great help in reminding me of the things David and I did together; the churches we served, the people we encouraged, the integrity and honesty with which David served. The disappointment is lessened and I begin to entertain a lot of hope. Because although the results of our labors (and I mean labors) were small compared to what some other pastors have had; perhaps in the same way that God gave Abram millions of descendants from only one son maybe the results of our labors will be more than we realize. David was content to do his best and leave the rest to God. I never was, I prayed and prayed to be made more effective and wept with disappointment because I wasn’t.
There may be other people out there who feel a similar disappointment about their own lives, hopes that weren’t realized, and dreams that didn’t come true. So I encourage myself and I encourage them. God kept on keeping his promise to Abram through Abram’s descendants, and through their descendants. God hears and answers our prayers and is faithful to the promises he makes. We haven’t seen the end of the story yet.
posted by Jessie Coates at 12:26 AM
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