hope deferred

​Hope is a beautiful thing.  It is the catalyst for faith. “Faith is the substance of things HOPED for…” (Hebrews 11:6). 
 
But what about when hope is met with unfavorable expectations or not met at all?  Proverbs 13:12 tells us that “Hope deferred makes the heart sick”.   Deferred means “drawn out, prolong, to be postponed, drag”.
 
Joseph sat innocently in prison for a total of 10 years.  I’m sure his hope grew when he asked the butler to put in a word for him to the king.  However, as the weeks, months, and eventually years passed, Joseph remained in prison.  Was his hope deferred at any point during that decade of imprisonment?   
 
The lady that hemorrhaged for 12 years met several doctors for her illness, but it only got worse.  According to mosaic law, she was unclean. Anything that touched her was unclean as well, such as chairs, beds, people.   Was her heart sick from hoping for years?  Did she long for human touch, perhaps a hug?  No doubt she grew weary of being ostracized as unclean, weary of people steering clear of her. 
 
Then, there was the man whom had an infirmity of 38 years who sat by the pool named Bethesda, which was reputed for healing properties when the water was stirred.  Perhaps his hope arose when the waters were stirred the first hundred times.  At what point in his YEARS of sitting by the waters did his hope become deferred? 
 
Perhaps your hope has been deferred.  Maybe you have had multiple miscarriages, or illness, or financial issues, or struggles with sin, or a difficult marriage, or an estranged child…the list goes on. 
 
At one time or another, our hope hits a brick wall, and this is where some of us wrestle with God.  This is where we reach out to grab hold of the hem of His garment. There must be more.  There must be a breakthrough.  Are you really the God that heals?  That brings life?  That delivers?  That provides?  How long, Lord?  Fortunately, God welcomes our emotions and questions.
 
God sometimes uses prolonged hope to draw us towards intimacy with Him.  The more and more that we get to know Him and His character, the more we can trust Him when we do not understand. We learn that He is faithful and that His ways and thoughts are higher than ours (Isaiah 55:9), that He who began a good work in us will carry it on to completion (Phil 1:6), and that He will not forsake us (Deut 31:6). 
 
We cling to His promises written in His word like we cling to the hem of His garment.  Desperate, hopeful, and trusting.  As those promises take up space in our mind and heart, and we see Him faithful in other situations, our perspective shifts from temporal to eternal, and peace, joy and contentment grows.  Contentment that, even if we do not get what we hope for, the ultimate prize is HIM.  Eternity with Him.
 
The second part of Proverbs 13:12 says “but when the desire comes, it is a tree of life.”  God wants us to hope.  And when we don’t get what we want when we want it, we get God!  The ultimate fulfillment of ALL our longings.  As Katie Davis Majors writes in her book Daring to Hope, “Our hope is our offering to Him, our sacrifice.  And in our hope, He is shaping us, molding us, drawing us to Him.  We will know Him here, friend.”