Misplaced disappointment has an interesting way of camouflaging itself.

It rarely looks like, “I’m disappointed.”

It looks like jealousy or insecurity, bitterness or unforgiveness, maybe anger or rage, a critical spirit, callousedness, apathy, or maybe even addiction.

Disappointment in people. Disappointment in events. Disappointment in ourselves. Disappointment in facts. Disappointment in life.

If you look hard enough at baggage, misplaced disappointment may be hiding somewhere under there.

For whatever reason, it feels more palatable to bury disappointment under complicated layers than to deal with it.

But.

But God is big enough to hear our gut-honest laments.

Indeed, He is the only One big enough to handle them. He is the only One that can actually carry them for us.

Nothing is wrong with feeling disappointed. It’s what we do with it.

So we go to battle.

We war against the baggage of misplaced disappointment.

We take the same deep disappointment to Jesus over and over and over and over.

And then we do it again.
An hour later.
A day later.
A month later.
A year later.

We war.

Like a soldier training for battle, sometimes we pray the same thing one hundred times over.

Take it, Jesus. Here it is. I’m so disappointed it went this way, Jesus. I thought today would look like this, and it doesn’t. Carry this, Jesus. I’m gripping onto my disappointment like a secret security blanket. I want to change it. I don’t want to deal with it. I can’t, Jesus. Help me cast it onto You, Jesus.

To do anything less with our disappointment is to keep it around for tomorrow.

“The righteous cry out, and the Lord hears them; he delivers them from all their troubles. The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit.”

‭‭[Psalm‬ ‭34:17-18‬ ‭(NIV‬‬).]