Psalm 42-43; 9:10

APPOINTED FOR DISAPPOINTMENT

ANTHONY D. CLINKSCALES
Psalm 42-43; 9:10

My brothers and my sisters, I shall never forget the summer of 2008. 2008
was a very critical time in my life. I had just completed 2 semesters at the
Interdenominational Theological Center and I was in the process of furthering
my academic and spiritual journey. One Friday in August, I found myself in
the wrong place at the wrong time. While visiting a friend, I was a witness to
and a victim of a home invasion where also, I was car-jacked by the same
teenage perpetrators armed with semi-automatic weapons. I stared down
the barrel of a gun for the first time, and thought about how pissed-off
everyone would be if I suddenly met my demise. Long story short, it wasnt
my life that they wanted. I thanked God for my life, and I wore sunglasses to
work. Folks made comments about the glasses thinking I was trying to be
fresh, you know style and profile, but I was trying to hide the blood in my
cornea, because they pistol-whipped me. My car was recovered a week later
by local police. Twenty days later my home was burglarized while I was
attending classes on the first day of school. Thieves took several thousand
dollars worth of personal and business items.
So, this psalmist is speaking out of a predicament that is familiar to me. The
psalm itself reads like the sob of a wounded heart. Something in the mans
life has gone wrong. Whatever the affliction, the poor soul over whom the
waters have passed has not found his trouble to be easy. Whatever the pain
of the psalmists spirit might be, it is not a light and easy matter blown all
out of proportion. There is reality here, and there is agony. God, Im longing
and thirsting for you. I want to walk worthy of the calling that is on my life.
But, right now I feel like throwing in the towel. Why are you downcast, Oh
my soul? He talks to himself as though he were two men. His faith reasons
with his fears, his hope argues with his sorrows. The truth of the matter is
that many, especially we who are called to do ministry, find ourselves
sounding like this psalmist. No matter how successful we are, we all face
challenges, struggles, and times when things do not go our way. We have all
felt overwhelmed by the circumstances of life at one time or another. When

Psalm 42-43; 9:10

grievous afflictions occur, some people immediately think they have done
something wrong, that God must surely be punishing them
I just had high spirits. Just the other day, I was the life of the party. Andy
somebody else was having a hard time, and God you gave me a Word of
encouragement for them. But, all of that seems irrelevant now. I know how
to formulate my sentences, and put words together to help somebody else.
But right now Im so vexed; my soul is downcast. God I need a Word from
you. It hurts like hell! Im your servant, and I need you to come and lift this
yoke. God my mind is perplexed. I have been violated. My space has been
infringed upon. The people who look like me, who I want to be a blessing to,
have messed up my whole situation.
And can I tell you something? In the midst of it all, once you get to that point
where you cant hold it in, you are actually where you need to be. The
psychologist calls it optimal frustration. In other words, there is an optimal
level of frustration with having your needs provided and providing them for
yourself. This optimal frustration is what you need for encouragement to
take over, for yourself, what others have been doing. For without this
optimal frustration, we will not move forward, but will stay stagnant if we
dont have a healthy image and idea about ourselves. In other words, when
youre not getting the empathic responsiveness that you want from anybody,
you will be motivated to go and do for yourselves. This is very real, and is a
good thing for the growing/maturing child to learn to do. At some point and
time, you got to get up and do something for yourself to help yourself. Can I
get a witness?
And, interestingly enough, one theologian wrote that suffering may prepare
your spirit for an encounter with God just like meditation. Suffering will make
you talk to the Lord. God, why did you do this to me? Why am I punished? I
dont deserve this. And on and on it goes, repeating the same theme.
Because we cant figure out what God is up to, we tend to put the focus on
ourselves. And the thing about suffering, I found out that we are not always
the cause for our suffering. Seemingly, God deliberately causes a famine, or
refuses to shift things in our favor, or hardens the heart of your oppressor.
Gods thoughts are not ours, and Gods ways are not ours. Maybe God uses
suffering to move us when we are dealing with a slack hand. Maybe God has
to press upon you in order to get you to move when the future of so many
people is depending upon your work. I know I aint the only one that God has
had to stretch out his hands against me in order to stretch me into the image

Psalm 42-43; 9:10

that God had of me before the foundations of the world. Do I have a

witness?
So if I can help somebody today to know..and I know it sounds clich-ish,
that you are anointed for disappointment. You can be appointed for a
disappointment that was anointed by God! But all that really means at the
end of the day is that if youre still living, then you can come up out of the
storm. When seemingly, God permits chaos to inundate us, then God can
also bring peace and harmony to your situation. So the first thing I want to
leave you with is that when you have your appointment with disappointment,
you have the capacity to pray to a God who will listen.
We ought to pray and faint not. I know I got one witness. Its alright to get
mad and begin to question the purpose of living. Its alright to think about
what happened and what I could have done differently. But, you cant stay
there. Trying to pinpoint fault is not the best way to deal with your suffering.
Recall the model prayer that Jesus taught his disciples. He said to pray,
Deliver us from evil.
The second thing I need you to know is that when we pray, God can shift that
thing on your behalf. While were having our pity-party, after you done
cussed everybody out, after you done felt like giving up and throwing in the
towel. Begin to talk to God, in your secret place, in your own way. Tell God
all about your troubles and expect your change to come.
And the final thing that Im led to leave you with is that if God dont shift
things around on your behalf, when you pray, God may empower you to be
able to shift things for yourselves! The answer to your situation may be in
the way you handle the affairs of life. When we pray, we are really edifying
ourselves. We are building ourselves up. Our faith is increasing when we
pray. It may be the whole matter of you looking at the situation differently. If
I can reframe this thing, then I can see God working some things out. If I can
reframe this thing, and look at it from a different point of view, then I may
see myself as being better, stronger, or wiser. Right now, my soul may be
downcast and disquieted within me, but if I begin to pray and talk to the
Lord, and take another look, I know I will see the bright side somewhere.