TLIC PROVERBS. JUNE 10: HOPE.

Proverbs 13:12. Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but a desire fulfilled is a tree of life.

Deep inside our hearts everyone has hopes, things we want to have happen in order to bring us joy and peace. This is not a bad thing at all. God wants us to hope. That’s why God is fundamentally a promise making and promise keeping God. He wants us to want things to happen. In fact, without hope we wouldn’t really have much reason to ever do anything. Why do we do everything we do? Because we hope that in the end it will pay off with glory, joy, beauty, and love – all the transcendent graces of God.

The word deferred here means drawn out, or dragging on. Have you ever thought something was going to happen much sooner than it did?

I should be married by now.

Why am I still not well?

When will I ever be out of debt?

Why won’t my son turn to Christ?

I’m still waiting for them to change.

The psychological effect of this extra-long waiting for things to happen is heart sickness. Disappointment, frustration, anger, sadness. The complete inner man is impacted. The thoughts are confused. The will is exhausted. The emotions are depressed.

But when a desire is fulfilled the complete opposite happens. It’s like being back in the Garden of Eden, eating from a tree of life. Shalom rules the soul and life is good (at least for a moment).

It’s easy to see the two sides of this proverb as two distinct states. Your hope is either deferred, or your desire is fulfilled. But the Christian lives within both sides of this proverb at the same time. Every believer is living with deferred hope. The long, drawn out waiting for Christ to return, for justice to reign, for the presence of God to be with man, for all glory to be fulfilled, and all evil to be destroyed. This is and ought to be making us heart sick to some degree. Consider how Paul describes our deferred hope in Romans 8.

Romans 8:22-26. ²²For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now. ²³And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. ²⁴For in this hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what he sees? ²⁵But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience. ²⁶Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words.

Notice that though our hope is deferred until the adoption as sons and the redemption of our bodies, yet, at the same time the person who has the Spirit in them, is having their desires fulfilled in Christ, by his love, joy, and peace, the firstfruits of the Tree of Life. 

Now we can wait patiently, because our hope, though deferred, is very much alive. Christ in us, the hope of glory.

You: What are you hoping for these days? Has it been deferred? Are you heart sick?

You in Christ: How can you let your deferred hopes be swallowed up by a greater hope of Christ’s return?

Christ in you: Are you able to recognize how Christ in you satisfies your deepest desires?

Pray: Jesus, you are my living hope. Be my tree of life today as I wait for your return. Amen.