How to avoid disappointment

Have you ever been so discouraged that you decided to try to avoid disappointment by just not hoping for anything?

But what if there is a possibility that we sometimes experience disappointment because we are hoping for the wrong things?

The other day these verses just jumped out at me!

Isaiah 55:2 – “Why do you spend money for what is not bread, and your wages for what does not satisfy? Listen carefully to Me, and eat what is good, and delight yourself in abundance.”

What kinds of things do we spend our money on that don’t satisfy?

• clothes that go out of fashion?
• desserts that have empty calories?
• junk food?
• stuff that breaks or we get tired of it and we think we need something better and newer to replace it?
• entertainment?  We have a good time, but then we go home, and in the still of the night, that gnawing feeling that something is missing still plagues us.
• luxury surroundings?
• addictions?
• maybe you have other suggestions ….

Notice, God does want what is good for us!

But, as some other translations seem to indicate, that can only happen if we listen to Him.

If we listen to Him, to His Word, then He will tell us how we can be satisfied.

He wants to bless us abundantly!

But perhaps we have a different idea of what that blessing should look like than He does!

We need to make sure that we don’t make our false ideas about his goodness a foundation on which we build our faith. Because when that foundation is tested, the whole building will come crashing down.

Not that it can’t be rebuilt on a new foundation, the foundation of God’s truth.

But if we can manage to get the foundation right in the first place, we won’t be setting ourselves up for disappointment.

God says:

“When our characters are refined, we learn what it means to hope and anticipate God’s goodness.  And hope will never fail to satisfy our deepest need because the Holy Spirit that was given to us has flooded our hearts with God’s love.”  Romans 5:4b,5. Voice

Our deepest need can only be satisfied with the love and presence of God Himself. Nothing we can buy will fit that hole in our hearts.

“Seek the LORD while He may be found; call upon Him while He is near.”  Isaiah 55:6 NASB

 

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