Addressing Disappointment
“In every department of life [disappointment] marks the transition from dreaming aspiration to laborious doing. [God] takes this risk because He has a curious fantasy of making all these disgusting little human vermin into what He calls His ‘free’ lovers and servants–‘sons’ is the word He uses...” – The Screwtape Letters | C.S. Lewis
Screwtape urges his nephew, Wormwood, to heighten the man’s [over whom Wormwood is charged] disappointment in the Christian faith. It does not matter really what the disappoint is over, but the focus is to be placed on the incongruence of the initial dreamy aspirations which have given way to the “laborious doing.” (We might call this “laborious doing” the persevering in the faith. The long obedience in the same direction.) The temptation is for Wormwood to insinuate that the incongruence–the disappointment–is a sign that this Christian life is not really worth it.
As humans, we all face disappointments of various kinds. We all have dreamy aspirations of one sort which, at some point, give way to the harder, yet still good, work of perseverance through the disappointment. When it comes to the Christian life, maybe one’s aspirations were that life would get easier; or that all–or at least most–of life’s problems would be sorted out. Maybe one has assumed that quite quickly after coming into the Faith, all affection for sin would immediately stop. So, when such things are not one’s immediate reality, disappointment creeps in. It can be exasperated all the more when one becomes aware that, to make headway in these areas of life, there is a “laborious doing” in which one needs to engage. A putting the hand to the plow. Or as St. Paul has said: “Do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and your members to God as instruments for righteousness.” (Rom 6:13)
Why, we might ask, does God not simply snap his fingers together–or whatever the divine equivalent might be–and simply do away with all disordered affections? For certainly if that was how God ran things, there would be little if any risk of one walking away from the Faith. Screwtape instructs us: “[God] takes this risk because He has a curious fantasy of making all these disgusting little human vermin into what He calls His ‘free’ lovers and servants–‘sons’ is the word He uses...” For our good and to the glory of God, he desires relationships with those who have received the blessing of being made in his image. And, so that this may be an honest and loving relationship–not an abusive one–the Lord desires “free lovers.” Disappointment, when left unchecked, can wreak havoc in this relationship. And, to make clear that the Lord is no prude, one simply needs to read–and ought to pray–the Psalms. They are chock-full of one’s disappointment. That disappointment is, at times, directed at God. But, they also shine a light forward: disappointment gives way to faith, hope, and love, just as the darkness of night gives way to the dawn of the morning. Or, in the words of Screwtape, the Psalms provide us a way to move from the initial dreamy aspirations into and through the laborious doing of the Faith.
Jesus, the true human, also leads us in this way. “Look to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured from sinners such hostility against himself, so that you may not grow weary or fainthearted.” (Hb 12:2-3) When disappointments surface, those unmet expectations and aspirations, look to the Psalms and take up their prayers. For they are given to the Church to lead her through the darkness. And, when disappointments surface, look to Jesus. For he, too, as man, faced disappointments of many kinds. And he persevered through them by the aid and grace of the Holy Spirit.