Surprised by Joy!
“Weeping may spend the night, but there is joy in the morning.” Psalm.30:5.
What a distinctive and intriguing difficulty it was for Jesus’ disciples to struggle with disappointment, reluctant to believe in case what they were believing proved untrue.
They were grown men whose lives had been far from sheltered and protected– yet the experience of the Crucifixion had been more harrowing than any of them ever cared to face again.
Over and over again during the days in which Jesus lay in the grave– they must have racked their brains to try to find some explanation for why His life had ended on a grisly cross.
Doubtless, in the closing hours of that fateful weekend– their thoughts must have turned naturally toward how they might go about restructuring their lives.
Then, suddenly, Jesus appeared to them.
His appearance was everything they wanted– but such was the disappointment already in their hearts that they considered it too good to be true.
Thus they protected themselves against the risk of being disappointed again.
This is the tragedy of disappointment – it can, unless looked at and dealt with, reverberate inside us and hinder us in our pursuit of God.
When disappointment is put into its proper perspective and when faith comes into its own, far from being too good to be true, one discovers that there is nothing else so good and nothing else so true.
God proves Himself to be not just better than our worst fears, but better than our greatest dreams.
No longer believing in joy is quickly followed by being surprised by joy!
“Gracious and loving heavenly Father, give me insight into what I have been looking at today, and show me how to press through all disappointments in the knowledge that beyond the hurts, I shall be “surprised by joy.” Amen.”
(PR)