Hope deferred makes the heart sick; but a fulfilled longing is a tree of life.
Hi, I'm Joni Eareckson Tada and that’s a pretty insightful verse from Proverbs 13. It really describes life as it is, doesn’t it? Because how many times have you gotten your hopes up and then… something ambushes everything and your hopes come crashing down. Makes your heart sick, doesn’t it?! You just feel awful. I remember feeling this way shortly after I got out of the hospital from the diving accident in which I became paralyzed. I wanted back use of my hands and legs! Once I got home, I prayed and prayed that God would miraculously heal my body. And I really believed He would. I was calling friends up on the telephone, telling them to watch out for me, because soon I knew I would be walking and I’d come skipping up their driveway! Surprise! But as months passed, and after all the prayers and the anointing with oil and the confession of sin and one healing service after the next, it was clear that my healing was not meant to be. My hopes were dashed! It was then I stumbled across Proverbs 13:12 and boy did it resonate. Hope deferred does make the heart sick.
But wait a minute. Stop! Read that verse again. It doesn’t say hope crushed makes the heart sick… it says hope deferred. For some reason back many years ago, I somehow missed that word “deferred.” Because you see, we all know that often the Lord does say "No" to some of our requests for good and godly things. But is that to say our hope for that good thing is dashed forever? For that matter, is there any purpose to the ongoing wish that we might yet receive those good things for which we hope? Is there any redeemable value to the wistfulness of reflecting on unfulfilled longings? I think there is. Why? Because the word "deferred" is very different from “denied”. God is not about to, in the end, deny me a request that is good and godly. And as a child of God I am quite sure that I could not possibly have a good or Godly hope or a Christ-honoring desire that I will not find, in some way, completely and eternally fulfilled in heaven.
In other words, friend, my hope for a healing of my body was only postponed… it was only deferred. I will yet see that hope fulfilled. One day I will have my body back in working order… better yet, a far greater body than the one I lost in that diving accident, because the Bible promises me in I Corinthians 15 that in heaven I will be given a new glorified body. God will one day give me what I have hoped for all along, and much more. And yes, my heart may be mildly sick and, true, disappointed; but in a way, this heart sickness is really home-sickness for heaven. My disappointment is really only a disappointment with earth – earth that never can satisfy; it can never keeps its promises. Hopes will find their fulfillment in Heaven! Heaven… where the tree of life is planted and where all of our desires and longings, great and small alike, will finally be fulfilled in our eternal joy as we bask in the presence of Jesus.
Friend, I'm sure you’ve experienced the heartbreak of a godly hope dashed to pieces. And today I’d like you to take a minute to read Proverbs 13:12 for yourself: “Hope deferred does make the heart sick, but a longing fulfilled is a tree of life.” Be encouraged by that word “deferred.” Let it point you to heaven where God's got a good reason for having postponed it in this life. Let every disappointment you feel in this world lift your sights to the world to come… where Jesus Christ, the Blessed Hope, will fulfill your every longing.
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