The Wish Hammer

(Proverbs 13:12 KJV)  Hope deferred maketh the heart sick: but when the desire cometh, it is a tree of life.

Again, a first reading gives a strange idea.  At first I thought this was a statement against delayed gratification, an encouragement to get it all now.  The second half still gave me that impression.  I know the Bible well enough to know that such an understanding does not fit.  You may have had that experience when working a jig-saw puzzle.  You have a piece that should work, but it just doesn’t fit.  You can get a hammer and force the issue or you can keep looking.  The hammer approach doesn’t work well for people seeking truth.  Let’s try to keep looking.

“Hope” (8431) is a key word.  We need to understand this from the Bible view, not as a political promise that has been used by so many politicians.  Most of the world lives with a hope that is a wish.  That is based on the promises of politicians and manipulators.  As believers we live with a hope that is an assurance.  That hope is based on the character of God.  It is an assurance because of the actions of Jesus on the cross and out of the tomb.  I think that must be what we are looking at. 

So do you live in hope?  Are you on the tree of life?  Or are you one of those who keep finding your hope deferred because you are placing your trust in temporal expectations.  The economy is tanking.  Terrorism is alive and well.  Iran may get the bomb.  I know it.  You know it.  I hope you have the assurance in the middle of all that.