My daughter was about to embark on her graduate school journey when everything changed. Because of the pandemic, she had to attend classes virtually instead of in person. Her excitement at having earned a place at a top university in her field turned into disappointment. I felt her sadness and knew she was one of many students facing this situation.

Stories from the Bible have proven to be helpful when I’ve prayed about disappointing situations. For example, before entering the Promised Land, the Hebrew nation wandered in the wilderness for forty years. Throughout that time, God was supplying the people with protection, provisions, and direction. Biblical descriptions of their experiences indicate that their clothes and shoes remained intact, their feet did not blister or swell, manna and quail fell from the sky, water was drawn out of a rock, and a column of cloud and another of fire guided them day and night. But the journey was not without its challenges, and at those times the Hebrews complained that maybe life had been better as slaves under the Egyptians. 

In the Christian Science textbook, Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy incisively pinpoints the flaw in the people’s thinking during this experience: “In national prosperity, miracles attended the successes of the Hebrews; but when they departed from the true idea, their demoralization began” (p. 133). The “true idea” refers to the understanding of the unalterable relationship of God and His children: God as all-powerful, ever-present, all-knowing divine Truth and Love, and man as God’s image and likeness. This is a powerful antidote to disappointment.