Tuesday, September 07, 2010
Hope deferred maketh the heart sick:
but when the desire cometh, it is a tree of life. Proverbs 13:11
Have you ever had your heart set on something and that "something" did not happen? I
remember being a kid and hoping my parents would take my sister and I to the fair. We wanted to go, but we did not get to go. I felt brokenhearted.
Sometimes the same thing happens when we get married. We are hoping for a match "made in Heaven", only to find out that we haven't married an angel! Some people can never get over that realization that Mr. Perfect is NOT perfect and it makes them literally heartsick.
God's Word tells us that we have a lively hope (I Pet. 1:3), a better hope (Heb. 7:19), and a blessed hope (Titus 2:13). There are things worth hoping for! Our faith in Jesus Christ is our hope! He will not disappoint us! He's coming again and of that we can be certain.(I Thess. 4:13-14; I Jn. 3:2-3)
So, my question to you today is, what are you hoping for? If your hope is in Christ Jesus, you will serve Him with your life (I Jn. 3:3). If your hope is in Him, you may get discouraged, but you will not be defeated for long. (Ps. 42:5, 11) There may be times and circumstances that keep you down, but look to God and trust Him. Praise Him as long as you have breath because He is worthy to be praised.
The last part of our verse says, "but when the desire cometh, it is a tree of life" (Prov. 13:11b). There is a "tree of life" in the New Jerusalem. The Bible tells us in Revelation 22, "In the midst of the street of it, and on either side of the river, was there the tree of life, ..." You cannot eat of the tree of life if you are not in the new city. You cannot go to the new city if you are not washed in the blood of Christ.
When you place your hope ("Confidence in a future event; the highest degree of well founded expectation of good; as a hope founded on God's gracious promises; a scriptural sense."~Webster's 1828) in Christ, when He (our desire) comes, you will find a tree of life. Think about that! He is our HOPE!