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

I think we have all, at some time during our lives, experienced the truth of this morsel of Solomon’s wisdom.  Waiting patiently for something we really long for is not easy, and ‘makes the heart sick’ is probably an accurate description of the effect it has on us.

But there is an interesting truth about the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ that we can easily miss: it is that the ‘Eternal Life’ we are promised simply by trusting in Jesus ‘by grace through faith’ (Ephesians 2:8) is a present reality and not just ‘pie in the sky when we die’, but ‘steak on the plate while we wait’.  King David understood this reality: “I remain confident of this: I will see the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living.  Wait for the LORD; be strong and take heart and wait for the LORD” (Psalm 27:13-14) and “For you, LORD, have delivered me from death, my eyes from tears, my feet from stumbling, that I may walk before the LORD in the land of the living.” (Psalm 116:8-9).  The Hebrew verb ‘to wait’ in Psalm 27:14 means much more than just patiently enduring a time interval – it carries with it the idea of certainty of expectation.

In John 3:16 – “whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” the verb ‘to have’ expresses a present reality not a future hope and this is confirmed in John 3:36 (“Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life”) and 5:24 (“whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life” and “has crossed over from death to life”).

We hear of young people saying that they want to postpone ‘putting their trust in Jesus’ and ‘becoming a Christian’ until much later, after they have ‘enjoyed all that this world has to offer first’.  There are three major problems with this philosophy of life:

(i) none of us knows just when we are going to die;

(ii) the book of Hebrews warns us about Esau who, “when he desired to inherit the blessing, he was rejected, for he found no chance to repent, though he sought it with tears” (Hebrews 12:17 ESV); but, most importantly of all

(iii) actually experiencing and living the Christian life, here and now, is infinitely better than the very best the world has to offer!  Jesus truly meant it when he said, “I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full” – here and now.  I would like to challenge all such young people: “Taste and see that the LORD is good; blessed is the one who takes refuge in him.” (Psalm 34:8)

Yes, ‘hope deferred does make the heart sick’, but trusting Jesus here and now, far from being ‘a hope deferred’ is ‘a longing fulfilled’ and it truly is a ‘tree of life’.  “What truth can calm the troubled soul?  God is good, God is good.  Where is his grace and goodness known?  In our great Redeemer’s blood. Who holds our faith when fears arise?  Who stands above the stormy trial?  Who sends the waves that bring us nigh unto the shore?  The rock of Christ!  Oh, sing hallelujah, our hope springs eternal; Oh, sing hallelujah, now and ever we confess Christ our hope in life and death.” (‘Christ Our Hope in Life and Death’, Matt Boswell, Matt Papa, Keith Getty, Matt Merker, Jordan Kauflin)

– Bruce Christian