No dis-appointment

The counter fact to any disappointment in our lives is the spiritual fact that God's man, generically, can never be dis-appointed because God has appointed us—and His appointment is always good and cannot be reversed. For that reason, I came to the conclusion some years ago that appointment is the antidote to disappointment, and have embodied that fact in my thinking and living ever since—to good effect.

The Bible has many references to God’s appointing. For instance: “Who, as I, shall call, and shall declare it, and set it in order for me, since I appointed the ancient people?” (Isaiah 44:7 ).

In Proverbs 8:29, 30 , Solomon says that when God “appointed the foundations of the earth: then I was by him, as one brought up with him: and I was daily his delight, rejoicing always before him."

It’s recorded that God not only appointed His “people” as a whole, but also appointed specific people for particular posts and tasks, as when He appointed Moses to lead the children of Israel out of Egypt and Aaron to help him. Then in the book of Numbers we read that God told Aaron, concerning the Kohathites, that he and his sons should go into the tabernacle “and appoint them every one to his service and to his burden“ (4:19 ).

Of course the most important biblical appointment of them all was Christ Jesus, who Mary Baker Eddy said was “appointed to speak God’s word and to appear to mortals in such a form of humanity as they could understand as well as perceive“ (Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, p. 332 ). Jesus went on to appoint 12 disciples, telling them to “heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out devils“ (Matthew 10:8 ), and then he appointed another 70, sending them “two and two before his face into every city and place, whither he himself would come“ (Luke 10:1 ).

We have the right and ability to reject any sense of dis-appointedness as not part of God’s agenda for us.

But you might ask what all this has to do with handling disappointment in our own lives? As I see it, the more appointed and authorized we feel to express God and the Christ in our everyday experience, the more worthwhile and purposeful we feel, and the easier it is to throw off any sense of unworthiness or invalidity, including physical weakness. This is borne out in many testimonies in the Sentinel where depression and dis-ease of all sorts have been healed by gaining a better sense of self-worth as God‘s appointed. To see yourself this way brings a spiritual boost in any situation, as I have found in my own life, including my family relationships and my church work. It‘s easier to claim a permanent sense of “appointedness“ when we realize that “appointment“ is as much a God-given quality as any other spiritual quality we express, though not always recognized as such.

Whatever work we do in our lives or churches, we have the right and ability to reject any sense of dis-appointedness as not part of God‘s agenda for us as we step forward as His happy appointees. Mrs. Eddy, who appointed many people in her home and in the course of her founding of The Mother Church, said that God “appoints and He anoints His Truth-bearers, and God is their sure defense and refuge“ (Retrospection and Introspection, pp. 90–91 ).

When we are appointed to any position, the work is best done when we realize that God alone makes such appointments. Disappointment at the human level sometimes comes from unrealistically high expectations, often combined with impatience. But we can always be sure that God is working out His own wonderful plan and purpose for all of His worthy appointees, ensuring their success and bringing blessings upon all.