“I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”
Why did I never take “Disappointment 101”?
I entered an educational marathon post-high school: thirteen years, five institutions, and four degrees. My courses shaped me and sharpened me, but they did not give me everything I need. Most days, I still feel woefully “uneducated.”
Maybe that’s because I never took the time to learn about coronaviruses, world pandemics, or the financial implications (measured in trillions of dollars) when the apple cart of industry topples. More pressing, and closer to home, is the challenge of handling the life-altering slap in the face and emotional fall-out that coincides with a world in crisis.
My lifetime encompasses the Bay of Pigs, Kennedy’s assassination, Reagan’s bullet to the chest, 9-11, the wars before and after, the recession of 2008, and more. Yes, misfortune has visited my doorstep. I know I am not alone. The COVID-19 virus is leaving many with more questions than answers and more dark clouds than sunny skies. I appreciate the candor of one of our students (no doubt echoing many):
Right now, if I’m being honest, I’m not really seeing the way forward. I’m sad. I’m angry. I’m disappointed. I feel stuck. Trapped. Depressed. Anxious. Afraid. Confused. Even purposeless. Suddenly, it feels like every aspect of my life has been turned completely upside down.
Victoria is not alone. Christie Bruffy owns a coffee shop in Ohio. She said,
I’m struggling to process it all. It’s surreal. Emotions are all over the place. It’s the unknown that’s the worst. Every time a breaking news report comes on, I am sick to my stomach.
Watching the headlines, listening to the news, sensing the hurt . . . it all has me thinking, “My army of Alma maters has failed me.”
While academia may have proved less than sufficient for dealing with disappointment, God has not. In fact, God has given me a front-row seat to His heavenly classroom. His instructor is uniquely qualified: Disowned by family, ridiculed by the masses, betrayed by friends, and ignored by God himself. Yes, he knows a thing or two about disappointment. Not surprisingly, one described him as, “a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief.”
Despite this deluge of disappointment, our Teacher’s life orientation is joy. His promise is peace. Read his words closely for Jesus delivers a crash course on handling life’s disappointments.
“I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”
Jesus spoke those words to his disciples on the eve of his crucifixion. Read the beginning of the chapter. Jesus pulls no punches. “Guys, this is not going to be Disney!”
All this I have told you so that you will not fall away. They will put you out of the synagogue; in fact, the time is coming when anyone who kills you will think they are offering a service to God. They will do such things because they have not known the Father or me. I have told you this, so that when their time comes you will remember that I warned you about them. John 16:1-4 NIV
Read their faces, feel their tension, and gauge their mood. I am sensing fear, anxiety, and disappointment. I wonder if they are thinking,
“I didn’t sign up for this. This is not what I expected!”
Jesus does not abandon his friends in their sea of angst. He will not let them drown in their disappointment. He will not. He cannot.
Appearances to the contrary, Jesus is still in control. In fact, he has already won. He wants them to know this. So before turning to the Father in prayer (chapter 17), he turns his eyes to them and says,
“I have said these things to you that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”
As I listen to our Lord, I realize I have just enrolled in his course, Disappointment 101. Here are the Cliff Notes:
Disappointments come!
As Jesus said, “In this world you will have trouble.” The word, “trouble” refers to the pain of childbirth. I have watched Shannan give birth to all six of our children. I can attest that it was painful (for her, I had the easy part). Look deeper at the word, “trouble.” It conveys the kind of pain that leaves one pressured, feeling “locked in,” and with no escape.
That sounds like these Coronavirus days to me.
If your life hasn’t been upended by COVID-19, your certainty shelved, and your plans washed down the drain, then perhaps you are reading this from heaven. “Man was born for trouble as surely as sparks fly,” Job moaned. To which we all shout, “Amen!” To live is to experience trouble. To experience trouble is to be disappointed. That is the first lesson of “Disappointment 101.” Disappointments come.
Disappointments do not have to leave you down!
“Take heart!” Jesus urges. “I have overcome the world.” Jesus’ admonition in the face of the disciples’ anxiety is just what I need. Men, respond to this with unflinching, radiant courage!
Yes, pep talk! Get-in-their-face half-time speech. Suck-it-up soldier moment!
Not really. What we need to understand is this: Jesus’ challenge has nothing to do with who they are and the grit inside of them. It has everything to do with who He is and what He has done on their behalf. His rationale for their courage is this:
“I have overcome the world.”
“Overcome” is battle language. Interestingly, this is the only time the word is used in the gospel. We object: “But wait a minute, Jesus is saying ‘I HAVE overcome,’ but he hasn’t yet traveled the Golgotha road. He hasn’t yet hung on the cross, paid the price for our redemption, and risen from the grave. What gives?”
Oh, but he has. Jesus is “the lamb slain from the foundation of the world” (Revelation 13:8). Remember what he said earlier in John’s gospel, “No one takes my life from me, but I lay it down of my own accord” (John 10:18). Jesus uses the perfect tense, a grammatical nugget that conveys a past action with continuing or lasting results. He has and always will overcome the world.
Jesus’ gift, not our grit is the reason disappointments don’t have to leave us down. He has already overcome the world, which means — in HIM — we have also overcome. It is his dominating victory not my temporary disappointment that is the final word.
Understanding that is a game changer. That’s why I appreciate Victoria’s post I referenced above. You read her disappointment, now you need to read her conclusion:
I’m thankful that I have a God who sees and who knows. Who understands my pain right now. Trusting is super hard right now, and I have a lot of questions. But God can handle those. And He wants us to bring our hurts to Him. And I’m reminding myself of this just as much right now – maybe more than – I’m reminding anyone else. Even in this, He is still in control. I don’t understand, and I’m not exactly at the point where I can say, “yet I will rejoice in the LORD,” (Habakkuk 3:18) as Habakkuk says after listing a whole bunch of things that were going wrong. Or Job “though he slay me, yet I will trust” (Job 13:15).
Disappointments do not have to leave you down when you know how to look up.
Disappointments diminish as I reorient my life toward Jesus.
While I have saved it for last, Jesus begins with this, “I have said these things to you that in me you may have peace.”
Life orientation makes all the difference. There are two: “In me” or “In the world.” The world promises peace it cannot deliver: Travel to this place. Enjoy this music. Find these friends. Put on this mask.
These things are not wrong, they simply cannot guarantee that they will put your heart at rest. Jesus can. Of course he can. He has overcome the world and all its problems.
“Peace” traces its roots to the Hebrew shalom. That word is ultimately messianic. It conveys that sense of everything is as it should be: whole, complete, in harmony and at final rest. It is the culmination of the biblical narrative in one word, a word made possible because of one Savior, the King of kings and Lord of lords. The One who comes riding in on a white horse (Revelation 19:11-21), and making all things new (Revelation 21:5). This is the promise of the great I AM, the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End (Revelation 22:12).
As I draw strength from that Vine my disappointments are no less real, but they begin to dissipate and disappear.
The cost for this course has been paid!
Like most courses, “Disappointment 101” comes with a price. Jesus has paid, that we might enjoy the benefits of it. The Coronavirus and its consequences are real, as is the destruction to life and home and nations. But so is Jesus! So is his promise!
We cannot ignore the former (COVID-19). We must rest in the latter (Jesus).
Notes:
“I’m struggling to process it all . . .” from “Small Businesses in Midwest Hurting, Worried About Unknown,” by Charlotte Cuthbertson for The Ephoch Times. Thursday, March 19, 2020. VOL. XVII| NO.2,665. Page A1.