Hope Deferred

When hope is deferred, we can become hopeless. The scripture says, “Hope deferred maketh the heart sick...” I’ve experienced this and I’ve seen others experience it as well. It’s usually not that we lose our faith in God - but we can lose a bit of faith in what we believe He promised, when it doesn’t come to pass. It hasn’t happened, so it must not have been from God, we tend to think. However, our attitude determines everything.

So often, we lose our faith due to situations we find ourselves in, other people and sometimes even God, when we don’t see the fruit of our labor or the blessings God has promised in His Word. I think that must be a direct result of a lifestyle where everything comes quickly to us - a “microwave” society — and we’ve come to expect God to be the same --  an “Immediate-Answering-Father.” We’re so off base with that kind of attitude, as God knows us better than we even know ourselves, and whether we understand it or not, He always wants the best for us. Sometimes the “best” means those prayers are not answered – or not answered yet.

Patience has never been one of my strong suits, but as I look back now, I can clearly see that if God had blessed me with what I believed His Will was for my life at the time, I would have been so miserable indeed. He knew what was best for me, and it wasn’t what I thought it was. He actually protected and saved me from a situation that could have turned out oh, so wrong. 

So the older I get, the slower I become - not just in walking and talking, but also in expectation. The preacher spoke about “anointed expectation” last night, and I acknowledged and received the Word, just as if God was speaking it directly to me. What we expect, will come to pass in our lives -- whether for the good or for the bad. If I expect only negativity and nothing good, then that’s exactly what will happen. But if I expect good things -- a future of promise and blessing, then that’s exactly what will happen. By praying and preparing ourselves for those blessings, we are expecting God to bless and use us, just as we desire — and He does! It’s so very simple, really. 

So…I wait. With much more patience than I had when I was younger. I live the way I know I should and simply wait on God. And if God chooses never to answer the petitions I’ve put before Him, that won’t deter me -- I will never lose my faith in Him. I will simply continue on, striving to be the woman of God He has called me to be.

I’m fully aware that God’s mercy and grace has covered me since I was a very young child, and it continues to lead me into my future. I have an anointed expectation of my future and an excitement I can’t easily describe; because you see, the second part of that scripture in Proverbs says this: “...but when the desire cometh, it is a tree of life.” (Proverbs 13:12) That is the promise I’ve been waiting for, and although it may not have happened during the timeframe I was expecting, causing my “hope to be deferred,” it does come when God deems it to be so. 

The promises we read and pray about, and believe for, may take a week, a year or 40 years; but when God makes a promise, He will bring it to pass; our hope in Him is never in vain...