---
title: You may be carrying two different struggles
description: Disappointment is painful enough on its own. The deeper struggle begins when it starts speaking for God's goodness too.
author: Alvin Ellefson
site: Learn Bible Wisdom
language: en
published: 2026-07-07
canonical: https://www.learnbiblewisdom.com/practice/carrying-two-different-struggles/
---
# You may be carrying two different struggles

## The question disappointment keeps answering for us

You tell yourself you're struggling with disappointment. But late at night, when the distractions fade, the real question surfaces: What does this say about God? Sometimes disappointment wears a second face, and it's easy to mistake one struggle for the other.

You may be carrying two different struggles and calling them by the same name. One is disappointment over what didn't happen. The other is the quiet uncertainty that begins asking what that disappointment means about God.

## Scripture

> You will keep whoever's mind is steadfast in perfect peace, because he trusts in you. 
>
> - Isaiah 26:3 (WEB)

Not every question about God's goodness begins as a theological question.
Many begin as heartbreak.
Something hoped for never arrived. A prayer remained unanswered. A door stayed closed. At first, the pain seems simple enough. But disappointment rarely stays confined to the event itself. Over time, it starts asking larger questions. If God is good, why does this feel so empty? Why is His care so difficult to recognize?
The shift is subtle. We begin measuring God's goodness through outcomes we can understand. Without realizing it, trust starts looking for evidence in explanations, answers, and visible results.
Yet the promise of peace in this verse rests somewhere deeper. Peace comes from a steadfast mind because trust has found an anchor beyond circumstances. The verse does not promise that every disappointment will make sense. It points to a kind of trust that remains steady even when understanding does not.
An unanswered desire is painful. But pain is not the same thing as abandonment.
Sometimes the deeper struggle is not the disappointment itself. It is the belief that goodness must arrive in recognizable forms before it can be trusted. And that belief often steals peace long before disappointment ever does.

## One Principle

Disappointment becomes heavier when we assume goodness can only be trusted after it appears in forms we understand. When trust depends on explanation, peace becomes fragile.

## One Practice

Reflect on a disappointment that still feels unresolved. Beyond asking, "Why didn't this happen?" ask, "What conclusion about God's goodness have I attached to this outcome?"

The most difficult questions are often the ones hidden beneath the obvious ones. As you reflect this week, pay attention to where disappointment ends and the assumptions about God begin.