(Part 2) Handling Disappointment with Circumstances

When our circumstances feel overwhelming, how are we to respond? Out of any number of possibilities, we will focus on two—one today and one next time—both from the experience of Paul.

The first (which is a prerequisite to the second) is that we must (and I do mean must) rekindle our trust in the ability of our God. In 2 Timothy 1, Paul recounted to his young protégé the sufferings he was enduring for the cause of Christ—the harshest of circumstances as he was imprisoned in the Mamartine prison of Rome in the bleakest of conditions. His response?

“For this reason I also suffer these things; nevertheless I am not ashamed, for I know whom I have believed and am persuaded that He is able to keep what I have committed to Him until that Day” (2 Tim. 1:12).

He endured with confidence and without shame because he utterly trusted in the ability of God to accomplish all of His good purposes, even through horrifying and unjust circumstances. When we are discouraged, we begin to view our circumstances through a thoroughly horizontal lens and can easily lose touch with the vertical dimension of our situation—the dimension that reminds us that God is engaged and concerned about all that we’re facing. He knows, understands, and cares about our hurts and disappointments, and He has not abandoned us to them. In fact, He can use these things to show His sufficiency in our lives all the more clearly. When facing dark and disappointing circumstances, our first response must be to spend serious personal time with our God, so that our confidence in Him is restored.

Next time we will explore a second response, which flows out of that confident trust in God.