Weight of Disappointment

Content library Weight of Disappointment
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Southeast Christian Church

May 11, 2022

A simple equation for discouragement is disappointment plus time equals discouragement. When you're disappointed and the same things keep happening or that same person keeps letting you down, it can feel frustrating and overwhelming. Maybe it feels like it’s been that way for so long that you've run out of hope that things could ever change. Samuel 1:7 shows us just how desperate things were for Hannah. The verse says that she was in tears and so upset that she wouldn't even eat. Hannah is experiencing emotional exhaustion, but it's turned into physical exhaustion that consumes her.

One of the reasons Hannah was especially discouraged was because she was living with these constant comparisons. Panina, her husband's other wife, was always there to remind her of how Hannah was less than because she didn’t have children. Most of us compare ourselves to others pretty regularly, whether we realize it or not. When we do this though, we tend to compare ourselves to the strengths of those people and inevitably that begins to cause discouragement in our lives. Especially if you, like Hannah, have somebody in your life doing that to you, who thinks that they might be helping you by pointing out your weaknesses and comparing you to someone else; hoping it will make you realize some places you need to grow. But their criticism and comparison only adds to the level of discouragement we feel and oftentimes leaves us feeling incredibly lonely.

DISCUSSION/REFLECTION QUESTION: Who in your life do you compare yourself to? What are the strengths and skills they have that you find yourself comparing?

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