Faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see (Hebrews 11:1). And later in that chapter of Hebrews (v 6) it says that without faith it is impossible to please God. And Jesus said that with faith, we can tell a mountain to fall into the sea (Mark 11:23).
The difficulty with faith is that it can lead to an expectation. Not that expectations in themselves are wrong, I think that faith gives you an expectation of a certain outcome. And while faith is good and it pleases God, we can translate that faith into an expectation. Sometimes that expectation is not God's but ours.
So we have faith for something to happen (which leads to an expectation), and we even have a promise that we know is from God.
If that expectation is not met, it leads to disappointment, and disappointment can be a killer... we get angry with God and we begin to shut him out, and pretty soon we are frustrated and irritable. And if we don't deal with that anger, it can become bitterness. Then we are in serious trouble! Yes, you know what I am talking about, we've all been there.
So how do we deal with things when our expectations are not met?
Firstly, my wise friend Gordon has taught me to have it out with God. Find the car park he says, and get out that anger and disappointment. This it perfectly biblical - in Isaiah 1:18 God asks us to come and reason with him, so that he can cleanse us. Sometimes we need to forgive God... not because he did something wrong, but because he didn't do what we thought he would. We also need to forgive ourselves for getting mad at God.
It's important to identify what you feel, and put a name to it. Once we have acknowledged our feelings, we can give them over to God, and let his forgiveness cleanse us.
Secondly, and I just got this this week reading Grahame Cook's 'the nature of God,' is to say ok God, my expecation was not met. But just because the expectation wasn't met, that doesn't mean that what ever I had faith for isn't going to happen, it's just not going to happen the way I thought it would. So you turn it on its head and say, hmmm, I am curious now... if God isn't doing it the way I expected, then I wonder how he is going to do it? We need to become fascinated about what God might do.
I am going to keep my eyes on him and watch how he will deliver. We don't know what to do, but our eyes are on you (2 Chronicles 20:12 - in fact read the whole chapter, it's amazing and faith building).
Because if we have a promise from God, then his word does not return void (Isaiah 55:11). It will come to pass. He is our provider.
Russ