Bounce Back, Evans Olang

Daniel 3:17&18, “17…our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and He will deliver us from your hand, O king. 18, But if not, let it be known to you, O king, that we do not serve your gods, nor will we worship the gold image which you have set up.”

Once in a while in life you will experience disappointments. As I’m put this message together, someone has been disappointed in the last few days. If you’ve never been disappointed, I guess you haven’t hit puberty yet. Disappointed in your job, relationship, boss, children, church, friends. Either you will disappoint someone or they will be disappointed by you, that is a fact of life. Disappointment simply means a feeling of dissatisfaction that results when your expectations are not realized.

Disappointments go hand in hand with shock because it just darned to you that what you had hopes for, worked for, groomed, expected has turned out to be something else. Shock leads to lock in, being extra careful, cautious and not ready to go through the same path again because of what you experienced last time. Often times disappointments leave people disoriented, confused leading them to want to do something they will regret later. It could lead to trying to frustrate the person who has disappointed you so as to get even with them or lead you to stay away. How can one deal with disappointments? I really don’t have a concrete answer but let me share with you how God has taught me to deal with them.

First lets look at three men Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego. These men were brought from Israel to serve in the land of Babylon but not as slaves. Men required for the job had to be, Daniel 1:4, “young men in whom there was no blemish, but good-looking, gifted in all wisdom, possessing knowledge and quick to understand, who had ability to serve in the king’s palace, and whom they might teach the language and literature of the Chaldeans”. By looking at what was needed, these men had all the qualities. They saw themselves living in the king’s palace, serving in the high ranks and they did until one day a decree was passed that everyone was expected to bow to an idol. I can imagine them being disappointed because what they hoped for had changed. They came to serve the king but not his gods, they had a God whom they were serving and living for. They had been faithful to the Almighty God, why would they be in a place of disappointment at this time? After a while, it was explained to them of the furnace heated seven times just for them if they did not bow but this was their response, Daniel 3:16-18, “…, “O Nebuchadnezzar, we have no need to answer you in this matter. 17, If that is the case, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and He will deliver us from your hand, O king. 18, But if not, let it be known to you, O king, that we do not serve your gods, nor will we worship the gold image which you have set up.” Why would they speak in this manner in a situation like this?, They had shock absorbers. Unless you have shock absorbers, disappointments will ruin your life. What are shock absorbers? Shock is a violent collision or impact, simply a heavy blow what disappointments are. Absorbers means enduring or accommodating. Cars have absorbers to help steady the impact on the bumps and pot holes it might or will hit. Shock absorbers help level what is already there and that is what the three young men did. I believe they looked at what the Lord had done in their lives. The qualities and the abilities they had that some other young men did not have and that became their shock absorbers. Though disappointed in one area, what had been done could not be compared to what lied a head of them. Because of that, they were able bounce back with a new message, “Our God whom we serve is able…”, their shock absorber was on what God had done and what God could do, “…But if not…”, you can not make a statement like this without having your shock absorbers on. These men’s minds were made up, their disappointments could not keep them down. Would you allow your disappointments to keep you down when you have your shock absorbers on?

Bounce back, shake it off, get right back on the track, move on, put everything that has happened in the past only carry what can boost you a head. Let it go, let it fade in the dark. If you got to cry, swim through your tears, dry it out and kiss it goodbye because God has given you shock absorbers. Don’t allow your disappointments to dictate what you can be, you can use them to create new appointments. For the three men, their disappointments allowed them to see God in a new dimension because they created appointments out of them, and in that was God glorified. If you’ve been disappointed, find your shock absorbers and bounce back on the track. Blessings Ev.