Hope Deferred

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

Are people heart sick because they don't have what they want yet or because they don't want what they already have?

I think it's both. If you spend any time with older people they treasure what they had and remember their youth and middle age vividly. It's like those times come into focus for them. Some fictionalize their past, others have deep regrets but there are others that appreciated things in the moment and then look back with appreciation and insight. The stories they tell about what happened to them in the past instruct a younger generation on what is happening in the present.

Yesterday we spoke about Jesus being the embodiment of hope and I'm looking at this verse in Proverbs in that context. I understand what it is like to live in a battle that rarely seems to end and suffer heartbreak after heartbreak. I know what it's like to want something and have that thing postponed again and again until you don't want to want it anymore but you can't change your heart's desire.

'But God...'

He Is what we have (if we have believed in His Son). Do we want Him?

He wants us.

"The LORD thy God in the midst of thee is mighty; he will save, he will rejoice over thee with joy; he will rest in his love, he will joy over thee with singing." - Zephaniah 3:17 KJV

We can enter into His love and have a present hope that is not postponed.

"Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ;" - Titus 2:13 KJV

Yes He Is coming later but His appearing is also the day of His visitation.

"For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I among them." - Matthew 18:20 ESV

People talk about living in the moment and I understand that but that falls short in so many ways because unless that moment is eternal it will turn to dust. Time does that to biological things because of the fall.

Hope is living in the eternal mind of the One who has won the victory over death and Hell. It is a tree of life and trees reproduce in multiplication as they give nourishment.

You may not have what you want but do you want what you have? We are stewards of hope. If we appreciate and take care of what we have God may just give us more to take care of.

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