Is Your Disappointment with God Affecting How You Worship?

Proverbs 20:27 says that the spirit within you is, “the candle of the Lord that searches the inward parts.” God knows how you feel toward Him, even in the depths of your spirit, even when you, yourself, don’t exactly know. He knows. If you feel disappointment with God – He already knows. There isn’t anywhere you can go to hide from His presence. (Psalm 139:7-12) Has your pain, your questions and struggles sucked away your desire to worship Him? He knows.

Everyone on earth was made to worship the Lord whether or not they acknowledge or understand it. Worship is a primary source of your spiritual and emotional strength, but what many misunderstand is this: You don’t worship God because life is good. You worship God because He is good.

Yet, your season of living in this fallen world will present you troubles, traumas and turmoil on every side. Jesus said it would be so. (John 16:33) But because of Jesus Christ, who overcame the world, you can walk in a supernatural, overcoming victory in spite of all you experience in the natural world. You don’t have to exist in a perpetual state of anger or disappointment with God. Worship will help break the chains that bind you.

Is it Wrong to be Disappointed with God?

Many, many believers struggle with feeling disappointed with God because they expected a different outcome of life’s many pains and challenges. The difference between victory and victimhood is found in those moments when you turn toward God in your pain instead of turning away from Him. The Lord is already aware of how you feel, so you may as well be honest with Him.

Job had every reason in the world to be angry and disappointed with God – and he was! Job had lost all of his children. He had lost his business and all of his money. He had a terrible, painful illness. Job shook his fist and challenged God. He shouted and cried out words of agonizing pain.

It is not wrong to feel angry and disappointed with God. In fact, it is right to take that anger, pain, disappointment and bitterness to Him – it is wrong not to.

Have you ever felt this way, as Job did?

• “God has unstrung my bow and afflicted me…” (Job 30:11)
• “Terrors overwhelm me; my dignity is driven away as by the wind, my safety vanishes like a cloud.” (Job 30:15)
• “In His great power God… throws me into the mud, and I am reduced to dust and ashes.” (Job 30:18, 19)
• “I cry out to you, God, but You do not answer; I stand up, but You merely look at me. You turn on me ruthlessly. With the might of Your hand You attack me.” (Job: 30:20-21)
• “My lyre is tuned to mourning, and my pipe to the sound of wailing.” (Job 30:31)

Why Worship a God You’re Disappointed With?

When Job first heard the devastating news of his family, his first response was to worship. (Job 1:20-22) But why worship a God you’re disappointed with? Because worship is a spiritual strength and you’ll need that vital, living connection with God’s presence if you’re going to be able to move ahead in your life.

God is always good, even when life is hard. The ‘rules’ of the fallen world give Satan access into people through their sinful choices – that is why the world has death and suffering and pain and harm of every kind. The world needs Jesus Christ, the Savior of the World! But until everyone chooses to follow Christ as Lord, sin will abound and you walk through dark valleys. Yet, Paul wrote, where sin increases, “grace much more abounds”. (Romans 5:20)

GOD IS GOOD. Don’t let the enemy tempt you to doubt that. Disappointment is a feeling. Your reasons are valid, but reasons don’t invalidate how you manage your feelings in faith. Remember, even when you’re disappointed with God, the point of origin for all worship is gratitude. What do you have to be thankful for? If you’re still alive – start there. Worship, at its core, is a ministry of thanksgiving to the Lord.

Although He will always be faithful to minister to you in worship, your connection is built upon a living sacrifice – you – ministering to a good, faithful, just and merciful God.

• Psalm 22:3 says that the Lord dwells within the praises of His people
• Psalm 16:11 says that in His presence is fullness of job
• Nehemiah 8:10 says that the joy of the Lord is your strength

True worship is not a natural experience, which so many seek after. Praise and worship are supernatural faith actions. They are battle positions. They are signs of life and hope in the Lord.

“Set Aside Every Weight and [Disappointment] That Entangles You”

In 1 Samuel 30, David was struggling with deep distress after his city had bee burned to the ground and his wife and children had been kidnapped. His own friends had turned on him in anger, but he took his pain to the Lord:

“…David was greatly distressed, for the people talked of stoning him, because all the people were bitter in spirit, each over his sons and daughters. But David encouraged himself in the Lord his God…”

True worship is not a natural experience, which so many seek after. Praise and worship are supernatural faith actions. They are battle positions. They are signs of life and hope in the Lord.

~Alicia Purdy

During this painful season, when he was constantly afraid and on the run, David wrote many Psalms to the Lord, some expressing anger, others hurling questions at God, some lamenting in his pain, yet every one also expresses his hope in the Lord. How could he do that? Because David knew the Lord was his only hope of ever seeing anything good ever again. There was no other help or hope.

• “It is better to trust in the Lord than to put confidence in princes.” (Psalm 118:9 MEV)
• “I believe I will see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. Wait on the Lord; be strong, and may your heart be stout; wait on the Lord.” (Psalm 27:13-14 MEV)
• “You have pushed against me, that I was falling, but the Lord helped me. The Lord is my strength and song; He has become my salvation.” (Psalm 118:13-14 MEV)

Worship is Decision, Even in Disappointment and Pain

Many people suffer a shipwreck in their faith when they are disappointed with God. Many people distance themselves from His healing presence. Many curse God and turn their backs on His help. Many claim to doubt He exists when, in fact, they know He does (Romans 1:19-20) – they are just angry because of their unmet expectations and hopes. These raw, painful feelings are what makes worship a true sacrifice – and God understands true sacrifice. That’s what He did for the very people who curse Him.

The truth is that God is good and “there is no darkness in Him”. (1 John 1:5) You cannot trust in your feelings of disappointment, but you can trust in the Lord who knows you’re disappointed and angry – and only He has the answers you seek.

“Where were you…? (Job 38 through 42) The Lord asked this question to Job because He knew Job hadn’t been at creation when He spoke the world into existence as Yahweh the Almighty Ancient Elohim – and Job knew it as well. Yet Job accused God. (Job 30:20) Job was still angry and disappointed with God. He questioned God. He denied Him. He called God names. and yet he still worshipped.

When he took his pain to the Lord, God reminded Job of His greatness because Job had taken his eyes off Him. Worship will refocus your body, mind, soul and spirit back onto the only One who can help you. If you aren’t sure where you lost connection, God will remind you, as He did for Job. Go ahead and ask! He knows exactly where you are- and how to bring you back.

If you aren’t sure where you lost connection, God will remind you, as He did for Job. Go ahead and ask! He knows exactly where you are- and how to bring you back.

~Alicia Purdy

Paul wrote:

“Five times I received from the Jews forty lashes minus one. Three times I was beaten with rods; once I was stoned; three times I suffered shipwreck; a night and a day I have been in the deep;  in journeys often, in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils by my own countrymen, in perils by the Gentiles, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils among false brothers;  in weariness and painfulness, in sleeplessness often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, and in cold and nakedness…” (2 Corinthians 11:24-27 MEV)

Yet, Paul and Silas worshipped in chains. (Acts 16:25-26) Daniel worshipped the Lord right into a lion’s den. Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego refused to worship anyone but God while the furnace of their doom got hotter. Job worshipped God because, like David, he knew God was his only hope and he would not turn his back on God – he turned his face toward God and worshipped in spite of his pain. He knew desperately needed God’s help – and God answered Him.

Thought for Today: God Sees You Struggling, Can You See it?

Psalm 62:8 says, “Trust in Him at all times; you people, pour out your heart before Him…” (MEV) There may be areas in your life where you are sinking in your faith to the feelings of disappointment and anger with God – He knows, and so does Satan.

Your enemy wants to keep you trapped in eternal disappointment, bitterness and anger. He wants your soul and your spiritual worship connection broken. He wants to see you in pain. He wants you to turn your back on God – because he knows God is your only hope and your enemy wants you hopeless. God wants to set you free. Your connection to God in worship is based in faith, not feelings.

What Job ultimately discovered was that man’s troubles are unrelated to God’s goodness, and certainly cannot diminish His greatness.

~Alicia Purdy

No one knows all the answers to all of the questions you have – except God. Worship creates a spiritual atmosphere where God’s presences dwells with you in a unique, dynamic way that your spirit needs to revive from God’s living water after a long, drought season.

What Job ultimately discovered was that man’s troubles are unrelated to God’s goodness, and certainly cannot diminish His greatness. Don’t seek “answers” – Pour out your heart in prayer, encourage yourself in God’s Word and seek the God to has all the answers. Your ministry to God in worship is the action of faith and sacrifice that produces in you the supernatural power of endurance you’ll need to keep going – don’t let the enemy stop you from worshipping!

Encourage Yourself in the Lord as David did:

“Finding Hope in the Lord Through Praise and Worship”

“The 5 Secrets of Burning: How Shadrach, Meshach and Adednego Faced the Fire”

Don’t forget to pick up a copy of The Way of the Worshipper on Amazon – and AVAILABLE NOW you can also purchase The Way of the Worshipper: A Devotional Workbook for deeper study, personal examination and spiritual growth!