DEALING WITH DISAPPOINTMENT:
How to Know Joy When Life Doesn’t Feel Great
By John Hindley
The Good Book Company. 141 pages. £7.99
ISBN 978 1 784 981 204
What disappoints you? This short, chatty book looks at why we are disappointed (it’s a fallen world, we are sinful people), what we are disappointed in (ourselves, ministry, situation) and what to do about it (true perspective, thankfulness and a focus on Christ’s return). It is simple, direct and kind.
Some challenge is necessary: we have unrealistic expectations; we are ungrateful; we are selfish. When we moan about our lot we are disappointed with God – and that’s serious. Hindley draws lessons from Jeremiah where the people of Israel forsake the LORD and dig their own (broken) cisterns, and from Asaph (Psalm 73). The admonishment is telling, but delivered with gentle, self-deprecating humour. Such fellow-feeling takes a surer aim than much finger-wagging.
