"Hope deferred maketh the heart sick: but when the desire cometh, it is a tree of life." Proverbs 13:12
I read this verse yesterday and it stuck out to me more than other times when I have read it. Maybe it’s a verse you have read many times before. Yesterday I felt like the Lord laid this thought on my heart, and it encouraged me so I wanted to share it on the blog.
The word “deferred” means postponed or delayed. So Solomon was saying that when hope is postponed or delayed, it makes the heart sick. And we know what the general meaning of “desire” is, but I went a little deeper into the word and it means a strong feeling of wanting, a yearning or craving, a need. In other words, delayed hope makes the heart sick, but when the yearning comes, it is a tree of life.
The book Proverbs: Ancient Wisdom for Today’s World, by Daniel L. Segraves is a commentary on the book of Proverbs. I actually have it linked on the Apostolic Resources page if you would like to purchase it. I really liked Bro. Segraves’s commentary on Proverbs 13:12, it is as follows, “Disappointment comes when expectations and desires are delayed, but joy comes when they are fulfilled.” (Page 127).
This verse and commentary had me thinking about times when I became disappointed or discouraged when my expectations and desires were delayed. Times where I questioned God wondering if I was really in His will or wondering when a certain door would open. Because if we are honest, we have all experienced a time when God did not meet our expectations (which is not a bad thing because it means He has something better). Or when life in general brought upon disappointments. And that hope we placed in our expectations and desires fails because our plans were delayed. We became so discouraged because things did not go the way we expected. So we put hope on the spiritual “back-burner” and wallow in our deferred hope. Solomon warns that delayed hope makes the heart sick.
However, there is hope because hope deferred makes the heart sick…BUT WHEN DESIRE COMETH, it is a tree of life. Bro. Segraves continues his commentary of verse 12 saying, “Those who wish to gain their goals quickly are discouraged by waiting. But when a person learns to wait patiently while working honestly, his desires will be fulfilled at the right time and in the right way. And properly fulfilled desires are positive and satisfying, like the tree of life.“ (Page 127).
I love how he says when a person learns to wait PATIENTLY and continues working HONESTLY that our desires will be fulfilled in God’s time. If we are in our flesh we will wait impatiently and work dishonestly when our desires are not being fulfilled in our time. But there’s hope! God knows our desires, He knows our disappointments, He knows why you have been discouraged. And in His time, if we continue serving Him waiting patiently, and working honestly, our desires will come to pass. And they may not be in the way we expected, but God’s ways are higher than ours and His thoughts higher than ours.
For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts. Isaiah 55:9
In that same chapter of Isaiah, verse 11 the AMP version says,
So will My word be which goes out of My mouth; It will not return to Me void (useless, without result), Without accomplishing what I desire, And without succeeding in the matter for which I sent it. Isaiah 55:11
When God speaks, things change and when He desires something it shall come to pass. So just remember we have hope, because when it’s God’s time, He will answer our prayers according to His desires. So don’t be discouraged that things didn’t go as planned, God already knew what would come to pass and He allowed it for a reason. Don’t allow deferred hope to make you sick, but keep the desires God has given you, for when they come to pass it will be like a tree of life.
Thank you so much for reading! Maybe this post was just for me, but I love and appreciate you all! I hope you’re having a wonderful week. God bless 😁
A Love For Truth 