Disappointing God

A question for anyone who might be bothered to ponder it...

Can we disappoint God? Can we let him down?

We can certainly fall short of his wishes for us and we seem to be in constant rebellion against him, but those are the things we do or fail to do. Those are our failings, they do not dictate his response to us. When we are let down by a loved one, our disappointment is our response to an unmet expectation. We thought they were going to do something and they did not or we thought they were not going to do something and they did it. The disappointment is what we bring to the table when expectations are not met.

Here is an example...Three Nails (the community that I am a part) is having a potluck dinner and I send out an invitation (usually an evite) asking people to respond and include what kind of dish they are bringing if they plan to come, thus ensuring that we will have a variety of food. Now, if this is the first time I have planned a potluck, I might expect everyone who is coming to respond to the evite and include a dish and then I might assume that everyone who come is going to bring that dish. The reality may be that only half of the people who come had responded and of those people only 75% brought a dish and only half of those were actually dishes that people said they were bringing. At this point I have been let down and I am disappointed and frustrated with much of the community that has gathered. On the other hand if this is the 20th time I have organized such an event, I would have no such illusions as to the outcome and would be planning on some folks not bringing a dish or bringing something other than what they had said they would bring. I would be much less likely to feel disappointed or let down in this case.

So the question now becomes, "Does God expect anything more that what we have to offer?"

I believe the answer to that question is a simple "no." He loves us and we respond to that love, nothing more. He knows what we are bringing nothing to the table, that is why he sent his son to die for us.

I could springboard off of this and go on for hours, but I will spare you; I have already written quite enough. I will leave you with these thoughts and offer the conclusion that we cannot disappoint God and allow anyone who would like to comment to do so.