Disappointment – The Christian Killer by Anthony Ricco

I had a question this morning that was bothering me: why do people who have seen so much of God’s power and majesty fall back into the World?

I was thinking of Israel – they saw God’s mighty hand so many times, when Moses was up on Mt Sinai they could even see Him on there, but when Moses was up there for a while they built the 2 golden calves and started to worship them.

Or Judas. He walked with Jesus for 3 years. He saw Jesus heal the blind and the deaf, he saw the dead raised and nature obey Jesus’ words – he probably performed miracles himself. What would make him turn his back and betray his Rabbi?

And then God hit me with it – you ready – disappointment and a refusal to be discipled. That’s the cause.

You see the Israelites thought they would go out of Egypt and straight away into a conquered promised land and all would be great, but they couldn’t. If that had happened they would have very soon forgotten about God and started worshipping Egypt’s Gods. They had to go through a Discipleship phase. This is never a fun phase, it usually breaks us and brings us to surrender to God, a place that is best for us but hard to get to because we have to constantly put our flesh under.

So this phase led to the Israelite’s disappointment, because a lot of them didn’t count the cost of following God. We think we say a prayer giving our lives to God and all the riches and blessings in the world drop into our laps. We forget immediately the words we prayed; “We give our lives…” We don’t own them anymore – it now becomes God’s life to do as He wills with it, sometimes that entails persecution, loss of property etc. Don’t be discouraged and turn back to what you used to follow – this is part of discipleship – it is opening doors for God to fulfil His plan in our lives.

See, Judas betrayed Jesus because in his mind he had an idea of what the Messiah would be and what the Messiah would do. He thought the Messiah had come to destroy the Roman oppression and make Israel rulers over the world. But this Jesus was telling him that he was to be a servant to all mankind. He became disappointed because the Messiah was not the Messiah he had pictured in his mind. He betrayed Jesus because He wasn’t whom Judas had dreamed about.

Be careful how much value we put on the dreams in our lives and how we picture what God will do through us. Be willing to surrender your dreams to God and to let God have His way to further the kingdom, or we could end up betraying God because He isn’t doing what we pictured Him doing.

So what I’m saying is don’t put God into our plans, live in His. Don’t be disappointed if He doesn’t do what you pictured Him doing.

Remember who God is and who is the teeny tiny little creation He made. Remember next time you get disappointed, just who God is and remember how easily Judas and the Israelites turned their backs. Remember it can happen to any of us. Guard you hearts, don’t let disappointment in and be open to discipleship. Don’t make your plans and dreams God’s – rather make His plans and dreams yours.