(Part 1) Handling Disappointment with Circumstances

In our last series of blogs, we considered how disappointment can visit spiritual servants through the actions and attitudes of other people. Sometimes, however, our disappointments come from a different direction—our circumstances. When we’ve committed ourselves to being spiritual servants of Christ and His church, we often begin that journey with idealistic notions that seldom include a declining church with little impact in a struggling economy. We picture success and a measure of appreciation and even honor for our great contributions to people’s lives. If only…

Often, however, those of us in ministry are in a far different place than what we imagined when working our way through Bible college or seminary. We find ourselves in a difficult place with limited resources and inadequate salaries, and we wonder how we got there. From that perspective, it becomes easy to see other pastors (usually people we consider less qualified, less gifted, and less committed than ourselves) experiencing more success, more recognition, and more honor than we have in our difficult place. And we become disappointed—largely because of our circumstances.

In dealing with this kind of hurt, we must recognize that, fundamentally, being disappointed with our circumstances is, in a sense, arguing with God about His plans and purposes for our lives and ministries. It’s saying that we deserve more, or better, or other. It is saying that, essentially, we know better than God. We don’t usually think this way when we’re in our right minds, but we can think this way when we are disappointed with our life and/or ministry circumstances. The question is: How do we respond? We’ll discuss that in our next two articles.