Hope that Doesn't Disappoint

'. . . those who hope in Me will not be disappointed."
                                                       -Isaiah 49:23

Usually when I start a post with a Bible verse, I'm looking at the larger context of the verse in trying to understand it. I know that context is important when talking about Scripture, but this time, my thoughts are specific to these 9 words of this one verse. I believe the concept I'm talking about is supported by the whole of Scripture.

We all hope in something. Whether we realize it or not, we've all placed our hope in something or in many things. The reality is that we could probably all list a few things we are currently, or have in the past, put our hope in.

As we've probably all realized at one point or another, the thing(s) we're placed our hope in does disappoint and we discover that our hope was misplaced. Anything or any person we place our hope in on earth will disappoint us eventually. Any circumstance we place our hope in will disappoint us.

It's only when we put our hope in God that we won't be disappointed.

But, how do we reconcile the times we feel disappointed with our hope being placed in a God Who says, if we hope in Him we'll never be disappointed?

I don't think we can guarantee we'll never be disappointed about something, even when we're choosing to place our hope in God. I think, the difference comes in how we handle those feelings of disappointment. We can feel disappointed, but we're not lost in despair because it's not where we ultimately place our hope.

Even when things go wrong.
Even when things aren't happening the way we think they should
Even when we're longing for something that hasn't happened yet

We feel disappointed over these things, but when our hope isn't placed in them, we know that's not the end. The disappointment lasts only a moment, because that's not where we have placed our hope.

Where have you placed your hope?