DISAPPOINTMENTS by H. A. St. John

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Aug 13, 1902

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 28, No. 33.

DISAPPOINTMENTS.

By H. A. St. John

THE world is full of disappointments. They come to individuals, to families, to States, to churches, to kingdoms, and to empires. Disappointments are often the result of false hopes, and are the common experience of mortals, largely, if not wholly, on account of sin.

The first disappointment came to the mother of all living, who expected to obtain greater exaltation by transgression, by believing and acting a lie, but found instead, humiliation, degradation, and death, the sad end of which is not yet reached. That wrong laid the foundation for every other disappointment to the present day.

A second disappointment came to the first human pair when their first-born son, whom they fondly hoped would be the promised Seed, proved to be, instead of a Saviour, a murderer, a fratricide.

On the eve of a lovely day in the spring-time when the passover season was at hand, when five thousand men, besides women and children, were on the point of laying hands upon Jesus to make Him king, it was a great disappointment to the disciples to be sent across the sea, and to the multitude to be sent to their homes, while Jesus, all alone, went to the mountain to pray.

Later, at another passover season, when Jesus rode into Jerusalem on a colt, and glad disciples spread their garments in the way while others strewed his pathway with branches of trees, and the mighty host cried, "Hosanna, our King cometh," it was a sore and almost overwhelming disappointment to, a few days later, see the same Jesus, instead of being crowned and seated upon the throne of Israel, crucified and dying on Calvary.

This is June 26, 1902. One of the greatest nations on earth had fixed this day for the coronation of their new king, Edward VII. Without sparing expense, the preparations long under way are completed. London, the greatest city on earth, the capital of this mighty kingdom upon whose possessions the sun never sets, is gorgeously arrayed. The representatives and dignitaries of all nations have arrived. All is in readiness for the grandest coronation that has ever occurred on earth since the fall of man. Now, who can measure the extent, the expense, the bitterness of the disappointment that comes from the message, "King Edward's life is trembling in the balance. The Coronation must be postponed for a time." (And it may be for all time.) Human projects and prospects hang upon the brittle thread of human health

and life, and hence are liable to be dashed to pieces at any moment.

In 1844, thousands of good people scattered abroad in the earth were sadly disappointed. They confidently expected to see the Lord come in glory to set up His kingdom, and then they would reign with Him in glory. But He did not come at the time they appointed, nor has He yet come. But when He does come, as He surely will at no distant day, kings and captains, and mighty men, and rich men, and nations, and kindreds, and tongues, and peoples, will be wofully disappointed. They have not believed He would come at all, hence are unprepared to meet Him, and are doomed to destruction by the brightness of His appearing. The saints are not destroyed, nor are they disappointed, for they are looking for Him, and will look up and say, "Lo, this is our God; we have waited for Him, and He will save us." And they are saved with an everlasting salvation.

There is no such word as disappointment in the vocabulary of those who abide in the love of God, even in this world. The sting and sadness is all taken out of the word by substituting the letter h for the letter d, in the spelling. Then it becomes His appointments instead of disappointments. And the recognition of this change makes a world of difference in the way things that come to us affect us. Now if it be true that "all things work together for good to them that love God," then how else can we regard the seemingly objectionable and unpleasant things that come to us, but as the appointments of an all-wise and loving heavenly Father, intended for our best good, and His highest glory; and it is well-pleasing to Him that we receive them as such, and instead of mourning over disappointments, to cheerfully accept them as His appointments, and go on our way rejoicing. H. A. ST. JOHN.