Some of our disappointments we can understand. Some have come as the inevitable harvest of our foolish planning. Some disappointments come because we are weak or wicked or both. But there are others that are bewildering and apparently senseless. We do not seem to deserve some of the hardships we are forced to face. No matter the reason, every man has his Gethsemane and his Calvary. This note echoes and reechoes in the figures of the Bible. Adam had his moment of weakness and his bitter sentence of expulsion from Eden’s pleasant garden. Abraham had his long-deferred hope of Canaan. Isaac had his disappointment of deception by Jacob. Jacob had his disappointment of having to wait seven additional years for Rachel, his wife. Moses had his disappointment of never being able to set his footprint in the land of promise. David knew the disappointment of never seeing the temple rise while he reigned in Israel. Paul, the flaming herald of Calvary’s tidings, had his disappointment of some strange and chronic malady. Writers of Mr. Lincoln’s life tell of his sadness in the death of a child and the strange mental quirks of his wife, Mary Todd. Every man, every woman, either now or in some decisive tomorrow, must face the shadow of great disappointment.
To be continued…