Have you ever had one of those “little” moments of disappointment that brought you to tears? By “little” I mean not life changing – just one of those day-to-day things that go totally wrong and for lack of a better word just stink? And as unimportant as it may be in the grand scheme of life, and certainly in comparison to the real problems in the world, you are totally bummed. What does the Bible say about those moments? What are God’s promises for those disappointments?
I had a moment like that recently that brought me to tears. I wished God had intervened to change the outcome. To have helped me avoid the sting of disappointment I felt. Of course, the moment passed and life went on without much more then a little hiccup. But it left me wondering. I rely on plenty of promises from the Word of God when “big” things happen – so where do I go when it’s just a relatively insignificant bummer?
Interestingly, as I searched for a word from God to answer my question, I found that the same verses that bring me peace in the big things apply in the little ones, too. God cares about all my sorrows!
You keep track of all my sorrows. You have collected all my tears in your bottle. You have recorded each one in your book. (Psalms 56:8 NLT)
All my sorrows. All my tears. That’s a pretty big bottle!
He heals the brokenhearted and bandages their wounds. (Psalms 147:3 NLT)
This brought a smile to my face. And I could just picture him bandaging my wound and telling me he loves me. And he’ll be ready with a band-aid for the next “skinned knee”, too.
…I spill out all my complaints before him, and spell out my troubles in detail. (Psalm 142:1, 2 MSG)
I do this! I hope it doesn’t come across as whining, but it’s refreshing to know that King David – a man after God’s own heart (Acts 13:22) – brought all his complaints before The Lord, too.
And then I ended up face-to-face with one of my favorite verses. The promise that has always given me hope.
That’s why we can be so sure that every detail in our lives of love for God is worked into something good. (Romans 8:28 MSG)
“Every detail”. All the experiences we go through. Big life changes… Little bummers… Times of joy… Times of sorrow… All of those things are being worked into something good.
Now I just need to remember this the next time I’m bummed out!