Disenchanted With Life?

Disenchantment is the feeling of disappointment over something because it didn’t pan out to be what we expected. We might eventually become disenchanted because we didn’t see the big picture at the start, the segment we’ve focused on is a very small representation of the whole, or a smoke screen covered the truth of a situation or person.

But to be disenchanted we must first have been ‘enchanted.’ Being ‘enchanted,’ according to Strong’s Concordance (Ex 7:11), is to be wrapped in a cloak of the enemy’s influence and blinded to the truth or reality of a situation. That doesn’t mean we’re demon possessed or evil, but that ‘wrapping’ begins as a surreal or magical feeling of warmth and comfort, giving a person a sense of excitement and security which lures them in deeper. The result is that the enemy keeps us shrouded from the entire truth of a circumstance until he can turn up the flame and slowly scorch us with frustration, distraction, disgust and a multitude of other feelings as we begin to see the bigger picture.

We can also become disenchanted if we expect to find a ‘pot of gold’ in every circumstance or relationship, hoping this will be the ‘thing’ which finally makes us fulfilled and happy. In this way we put expectations on others to fulfill our desires when God instructs us to first be fulfilled in Him, whereupon He will give us the desires of our purified hearts.

This tells us that we are vulnerable to enchantment/disenchantment issues because of matters of the heart. Jumping in too quickly, jumping from place to place, jumping from job to job – these may be symptoms of deeper wounds and strongholds that the enemy is using to repeatedly enchant and disenchant God’s people, making us feel like we are on a circus-like carousel of failures with up and down feelings of excitement and disappointment.

But God is able to stop the carousel and put us on a straight path if we are willing to lean into the wisdom and counsel of the Holy Spirit (Acts 13:9); be careful not to jump at anyone’s prompting or enticement before seeking God and getting His approval (Eph 5:17); and look to Him for fulfillment in life (John 14:6). When we are content and fulfilled in Christ we are less vulnerable to the powers of the enemy which promise ‘pie in the sky’ experiences but wind up being ‘pie in the face’ scenarios.

“You will guard him and keep him in perfect and constant peace whose mind [both its inclination and its character] is stayed on You, because he commits himself to You, leans on You, and hopes confidently in You” (Is 26:3 AMP).