Tuesday, April 19, 2016

April 19, 2016
Proverbs 13:12

Hope deferred makes the heart sick,
but a dream fulfilled is a tree of life.

I don't often write on the Proverbs, but this little one makes a great deal of sense to me. The definition of deferred according to the dictionary is:

adjective
1. postponed or delayed.
2. suspended or withheld for or until a certain time or event

Without hope we just resign ourselves to undesirable people, places and things staying the same. We may often feel that circumstances are out of our control, which most are. Without hope and even putting it aside, our hearts become sick indeed and heavy with fear, anger, sadness and frustration.

Hope is needed to give us strength and tenacity to know that everything that we lift in prayer to the Lord will eventually have an outcome. Hope and trusting in God's grace brings forth dreams fulfilled and makes us a tree of life. A tree blossoming with joy, love, forgiveness and all the good things that the Lord wants for His children. Below are some verses teaching that hope and waiting on the Lord go hand in hand. So while we wait and pray, hope should be ever present and never deferred.

Waiting on the Lord, Hoping in the Lord

I will wait on the LORD…and I will hope in Him…
Wait on the LORD; Be of good courage, And He shall strengthen your heart; Wait, I say, on the LORD!…
Be of good courage, And He shall strengthen your heart,
All you who hope in the LORD. (Isaiah 8:17; Psalm 27:14; and 31:24)

AMEN!