Disappointment with God?

Disappointment with God?

Was reading the book of Acts all over again... and what happened on the Day of Pentecost struck a chord in my heart.

Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but a desire fulfilled is a tree of life. - Prov 13:12

Disappointment with God comes when what we hope for is either delayed or does not come to pass. We yearn for what we hope and pray for to be fulfilled. But to think that God is the One who fails to fulfill His promises is to have a wrong understanding of Him, since He does not lie (Heb 6:18).

So what is really happening?

Since Jesus is the Tree of life (Jn 1:4; 10:10) and the Desire of all nations (Hag 2:7), when we delight ourselves in Christ alone (Ps 37:4), our desires will be fulfilled ---- 'a desire fulfilled is the tree of life.'

It does not mean that the 'name of Christ' alone is our complete fulfillment. If that is the case, you should just attain enlightenment and chant 'Christ, Christ, Christ' in a secluded mountain alone forever. 

But it does mean that in Christ alone, all promises of God are "Yes" (2 Cor 1:20). Christ IS all our sufficiency (Phil 4:19; Matt 21:22).

𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐤𝐞𝐲 𝐭𝐨 𝐛𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐤 𝐚𝐰𝐚𝐲 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐝𝐢𝐬𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐨𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐢𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐝𝐢𝐟𝐟𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐝𝐢𝐟𝐟𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐛𝐞𝐭𝐰𝐞𝐞𝐧 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐆𝐨𝐝 𝐡𝐚𝐬 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐦𝐢𝐬𝐞𝐝 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐚𝐥𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐲 𝐟𝐮𝐥𝐟𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐝, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐇𝐞 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐦𝐢𝐬𝐞𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐲𝐞𝐭 𝐟𝐮𝐥𝐟𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐝.

Because God has no obligation to fulfill the promise that He has already fulfilled and completed.

When the day of Pentecost arrived, they were all together in one place. And suddenly there came from heaven a sound like a mighty rushing wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. - Acts 2:1-2

The Bible did not say that the disciples were praying at that moment. We assume that they were because of Acts 1:14. As a result, we think that the Pentecost Outpouring of the Holy Spirit was in response to the disciples' prayer. This is not true.

I know this might offend some. But we need to understand the truth and the grace of God. Whether they were praying or not, God was not moved by them. God was moved by His promise.

He commanded them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐏𝐫𝐨𝐦𝐢𝐬𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐅𝐚𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫, “which,” He said, “you have heard from Me; for John truly baptized with water, but you shall be 𝐛𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐢𝐳𝐞𝐝 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐇𝐨𝐥𝐲 𝐒𝐩𝐢𝐫𝐢𝐭 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐲 𝐝𝐚𝐲𝐬 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐧𝐨𝐰. - Acts 1:4-5

He didn’t command them to pray while waiting so that God can send the Holy Spirit. God has promised the Holy Spirit and He fulfilled it on the Day of Pentecost in Acts 2. That was entirely grace on His part. He is moved by grace, not by works. Even if the disciples were not gathered in the Upper Room, but in the streets, He would STILL FULFILL HIS PROMISE of the Holy Spirit.

Today, 2000 years later, we don't ask God to fulfill His promise of giving us the Holy Spirit. A new believer simply receives by believing. He accesses the fulfilled promise by grace through faith.

Similarly, most of the promises of God including providence/abundance, health, healing, peace, joy, purity, etc had already been fulfilled in the Tree of Life and the Desire of all nations ---- Christ Jesus!

By His stripes, you WERE healed (1 Peter 2:24). That was fulfilled 2000 years ago.

We access His fulfilled promises by grace through faith (Rom 5:2), not by thinking, "God, You haven't fulfilled Your promise to me yet. I'm disappointed with You." 

He has no obligation to fulfill what He has already fulfilled. For He wasn't moved by us. He was moved and had moved by and through Christ (Col 1:16-17; Rom 11:36).