DISAPPOINTMENT A DESTROYER
23rd Jul 2025
Recently, I was listening to a testimony that was part of a teaching about the challenge of waiting, when you know the Holy Spirit has given you a promise, but it has yet to become a reality.
The lady speaking acknowledged that fear can be an enemy of faith, but disappointment is also a tool the enemy uses to erode and destroy faith. I began to reflect on what she had said and asked the Lord to show me how disappointment can destroy faith.
I started to look at Michel, King David’s first wife. She loved David and helped him escape her father, Saul’s anger and death threats. She saw his friendship with her brother Jonathan, and was probably aware that Samuel had anointed David as the future King of Israel. Maybe she imagined herself as queen beside David.
Disappointment eroded these dreams as she saw how David was a fugitive and Saul was intent on destroying him. She was then taken from David and given to another man, only to be returned later, as David insisted that she be restored to him, as he was about to take up his responsibility of ruling the nation.
When David brings back the Ark to Jerusalem, Michel is watching as David worships God with dancing and singing. Disappointment has turned love and loyalty into mocking and despising. She has lost all focus in her life, and the result is that she becomes barren and childless.
Disappointment erodes faith in a slow but very definite way. It may start with life situations, but ultimately, it will colour the way you think of God, cause you to stop believing in His promises, and possibly lead to doubt about God's character.
Psalm 34:18 says, “The Lord is close to those who have suffered disappointment. He saves those who are discouraged.”
Confess areas of disappointment and ask God to give you hope, to remove lies and expose false images. Ask God to speak into areas where you have allowed disappointment to rule. And begin again to trust and walk with your loving, trustworthy Heavenly Father.
Read Michel’s story in 1 Samuel and 2 Samuel.
by Joyce Sibthorpe
