20th. April 2020. Daily Devotion.

Proverbs 13:12
Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but a longing fulfilled is a tree of life.

Waiting is never easy as the current lockdown is proving for all of us. The recent extension for the next three weeks has put back any immediate prospect of normality for so many people here and around the world.

Hope deferred can look like many things – a prayer for health, healing, blessing or change as yet unanswered; an agonising job search filled with endless interviews and rejections; the beginning of a project delayed; the long wait to begin work again or to be able to live normally. As we eagerly hope for something important, and it keeps being postponed, the longing we feel can make our heart sick.

One translation of this proverb is “When hope is crushed, the heart is crushed.” The heart” here means the whole person. Hope deferred can lead to depression, anxiety, and actual physical sickness and it can undermine our faith. It is not easy to resist disappointment and hopelessness

However, waiting is an opportunity to trust God and allow Him to work in our hearts and strengthen our character. Paul says to the Romans 8:25 But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently.

It takes a certain amount of courage to say with Paul: “but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; 4 perseverance, character; and character, hope. 5 And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.” Romans 4:3b-5; or to affirm Jeremiah’s words in Lamentations 3:25-26
25 The Lord is good to those whose hope is in him, to the one who seeks him;26 it is good to wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord.

Genesis 8:6-12
6 After forty days Noah opened a window he had made in the ark 7 and sent out a raven, and it kept flying back and forth until the water had dried up from the earth. 8 Then he sent out a dove to see if the water had receded from the surface of the ground. 9 But the dove could find nowhere to perch because there was water over all the surface of the earth; so it returned to Noah in the ark. He reached out his hand and took the dove and brought it back to himself in the ark. 10 He waited seven more days and again sent out the dove from the ark. 11 When the dove returned to him in the evening, there in its beak was a freshly plucked olive leaf! Then Noah knew that the water had receded from the earth. 12 He waited seven more days and sent the dove out again, but this time it did not return to him.

A Leaf of Hope

After seven days Noah again sent out the dove from the boat, and that evening it came back to him with a fresh olive leaf in its mouth. Genesis 8:10–11

An olive leaf! Noah would have been happy to have the bird, but to have the leaf! This leaf was more than foliage; this was promise. The bird brought more than a piece of a tree; it brought hope. For isn’t that what hope is? Hope is an olive leaf—evidence of dry land after a flood …

Don’t we love the olive leaves of life? “It appears the cancer may be in remission.” “I can help you with those finances.” “We’ll get through this together.”

What’s more, don’t we love the doves that bring them? When the father walks his son through his first broken heart, he gives him an olive leaf. When the wife of many years consoles the wife of a few months, when she tells her that conflicts come and all husbands are moody and these storms pass, you know what she is doing? She is giving an olive leaf.

We love olive leaves. And we love those who give them. (From Grace for the moment)

The second part of the proverb gives the opposite of hope deferred. But a longing fulfilled is a tree of life. The tree of life represents the renewal of life. When our hopes are fulfilled, we are refreshed. When our prayers are answered we are encouraged.

“A longing fulfilled is sweet to the soul.” Proverbs 13:19.

‘But now, Lord, what do I look for? My hope is in you. Psalm 39:7

19 We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure. It enters the inner sanctuary behind the curtain, 20 where our forerunner, Jesus, has entered on our behalf. He has become a high priest for ever, in the order of Melchizedek. Hebrews 6:19-20

Please pray today for those who are becoming discouraged and dispirited because of the disruption in their lives, their loss of income, their fears for someone they love, or the disappointment of hopes and expectations that are on hold. For yourself, pray that you can trust the one who is the High priest forever, who prays for his people always before God.

Prayers for Hope
Your hope arises with each dawn, pushing back the rubble of our lives. Each new day reminds us of your grace, you paint hope across our skies. Into the deafening cry of hopelessness, you whisper love. Love that catches us, holds us. There is no end, just new beginnings. No finish, just new starts. Into your resurrection we follow you to bathe in hope. You are alive! Not only in the world but in us. And so we carry your hope within our souls. Help us to lift our eyes and feel resurrection hope arise in our lives.

Almighty God, you reach into the darkness with hope, truth and light. Stretch out your strong hand in this situation, hold and rescue those who have suffered. Let your almighty love move mountains, cross seas and breathe life into the darkest places. Light that redeems. Light that restores. Light that heals. Light that protects. Light that saves. There is nothing higher, stronger or greater than your love. We trust in you. Amen

Lord Jesus, Hope overcomes, Hope heals, Hope restores, Hope inspires, Hope conquers, Hope frees. Hope is your gift to the world. Thank you. Amen.

Will your anchor hold?