““Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but a longing fulfilled is a tree of life.”
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I have a dog named Astro, he's a great dane, he's a BIG guy!! When he was a puppy he didn't understand waiting for his food, he would whine, he would beg, he would jump, he would puppy pout... he didn't understand we had to mix the food, it needed to be prepared for him... dinner was on its way but it just wasn't ready yet.
Hope by its very nature means "not yet"... "hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what they already have? But if we hope for what we do not have, we wait for it patiently." Romans 8v24-25
At one time in my life I "hoped" to meet a beautiful woman, fall in love, get married and have a family... today I am living in the reality of that "hope", I have a beautiful wife and four great kids, I am no longer hoping to have a family... but there are other things:
I Hope for my children's future.
I Hope for enough money to retire.
I Hope for beautiful grandchildren one day (far, far, away).
I Hope for the future of my church community.
I hope for what I do not have... that is the problem with hope, its not yet. Between "hope promised" (the seed) and "hope fulfilled" (the Tree of Life) is "deferred hope" (not yet) and my heart gets sick. I am discouraged, doubtful and even apathetic... my heart is sick because I'm waiting on hope, waiting for the tree of life to come.
What are you waiting for? How long has it been? Is your heart sick over it? Here is the good news... hope is prophetic. Hope is a seed planted in our hearts, a prophetic pointer to what is coming. If the hope is from God... it will always come to pass!
Your hope needs to be tested, is this Gods seed in my heart or my own self will or ideals? Ask yourself a couple of questions:
1. What do I want? Do I even know whats in my heart? Could I express my hope to others?
2. What does scripture tell me?
3. What do wise advisers tell me?
4. What is God saying? (this is by far the most difficult question to answer)
Once you have identified your Hope and are confident it is Gods desire for you. Now the only thing between me and my Hope is time. Time is the most difficult part of Hope. When Hope is deferred, the doubts set in, time passes, people and circumstances make our hearts sick.
I'd love to hear what you do while you're waiting for Hope to arrive? Share your thoughts, contribute to the conversation, lets have a blog talk!