Proverbs - Hope Deferred

Proverbs 13:12

Hope deferred maketh the heart sick:

but when the desire cometh, it is a tree of life.

                                                                                        

Our nature is to want and get something immediately.  Something within us tells us that we deserve it and we deserve it now.   When we have a hope or wish for something and it just isn’t coming right when we can taste it, we can feel rather unsettled, agitated or disturbed.  Our culture has developed things like credit to attempt to cure this sickness of the heart not having its desires met in the timing it desires.  The option of stealing is another remedy for this sickness.  Whining and complaining to our husbands or parents might also be another anecdote for this sickness of the heart.  The Lord knows that our fleshly nature wants things and it wants them now.  The problem is that our old man is kind of like a child in the store demanding the candy bar because he wants it and he wants it now.  Just as if we give in to the tantrums of a child, if we give ourselves everything we crave when we want them, we create a self-centered, impatient and even more demanding character.  When we desire something, we can present this before the Lord who satisfies the soul of every living thing.  Our Father can determine when or if this desire is a good thing for us. No good thing will he withhold from those who walk uprightly.  We bring these desires before Him, trusting His wisdom and love.  He is a good Father.  We seek Him for wisdom and a plan if the desire is out of our reach financially.  We give Him control to build our lives as He sees best.  We surrender our ‘bratty’ nature to the control of the wisdom and providence of our God.  Then, if that desire is met, we find ourselves closer to Him and glorifying Him more than the desire itself.  Our Father reveals Himself as our Provider and the one who blesses and the desire becomes a tree of life inviting everyone to know the God who so perfectly and graciously provided for us.  Let us delight ourselves in Him and allow Him the opportunity to give us the desires of our hearts.