God's Words:
When hope is crushed, the heart is crushed, but a wish come
true fills you with joy.
~Proverbs 13:12 (GNT)
Have you ever gotten your hopes up about
something that you thought was so perfect for you, totally in alignment with
your dreams, or seemed just the right fit for the talents God has given
you...only to have your hopes mortally dashed right before your very eyes?
Oh, the painful disappointment and heart-breaking
hurt of a wish unfulfilled; a lifelong dream left for dead. Dashed hopes
can literally make your heart sick. My preferred translation of the Bible
puts our key verse this way:
Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but a longing fulfilled is a tree of life.
~Proverbs 13:12 (NIV 1984)
At the beginning
of this post, I shared the Good News Translation of this verse because it so
accurately describes how I feel when a hope or dream doesn't come true when
or how I want it to, if at all. It feels like, just as my hopes are
crushed, so is my heart.
I've personally
experienced this heart-sickening disappointment way too many times already in
my life. I think my problem is that I get my hopes up too easily.
Especially when an opportunity comes along that really seems like something God
would want for my life. I mean, come on, it would be so awesome! A
perfect fit for me. Such a wonderful blessing! Why wouldn't God
allow me this hope fulfilled? I just get so frustrated when an
opportunity seems so right, but God doesn't allow it to happen. At
least for that specific time in my life, anyway. Can you relate?
Every time I see a perfect opportunity and get my hopes up about it, yet God in His all-knowing wisdom and
loving plan for my life doesn't allow it to happen, I struggle with a reaction
of huge disappointment and emotional let-down. And let's be honest,
probably even a little bitterness. When my dashed hopes are at their
worst, I might cry out to God (imagine a whiny voice), "But why
not, Lord?! Why couldn't You let me have this blessing right now?”
Or “Why aren't You allowing me to use the gifts and talents You've given
me for this awesome opportunity? You know I can do it! And I know I can do it...with You helping me, of course. So why not?!?"
Some pouting and pity-partying might ensue. What a spoiled brat I
can be sometimes.
Yet at the same time
my heart feels sick about a "lost" opportunity, deep down I know why
God doesn't fulfill each and every one of my hopes and dreams. Can you
guess why? Because He knows that not all of our wants and wishes are best
for us. And even if He does have some of these fulfilled dreams planned
for our future, His timing in our lives is always perfect and totally for our
good. When we come to Him with a hope or dream,
sometimes His answer is more of a no, not that; and instead He has something different and much better in mind for us. Other times His answer might be more like a not now kind of thing and we just have to be
patient and wait for Him. Put our hope in Him only, and in nothing and no one else.
So here are a couple
things to keep in mind when you start to get your hopes up about something (and if
you’re like me you don’t even “start” the getting-your-hopes-up process, you
just go all out with full-fledged 100% hope!):
1. Something you may hope for may not
be at all good for you, so don't be surprised when God never allows it to
happen. He has a life planned out for you that is perfectly designed just
for you and what He knows is best for you. He is
your Creator after all. He knows exactly what you need and what
you really don't need. His
plan is always much better than what
you may have “planned” for yourself, as the
following promises of Scripture attest:
For
I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to
prosper you and not to harm you, plans
to give you hope and a future."
~Jeremiah 29:11
Many are the plans in a man’s heart, but it is the LORD’s purpose that prevails. ~Proverbs 19:21
2. God's timing for your life is always for your
best. Even if His
timing may sometimes frustrate you when you think you deserve something now rather than later, remember that He always,
always, always has your best in mind.
In this case, God
wants you to patiently wait for Him.
Wait for Him to act. Wait for Him
to open the door of opportunity to you. And while you wait, He wants you to trust Him and
His plan for your life and put your hope in Him. Not in your own self-centered desires
and wishes. As part of His loving plan for your life, He has some maturing, learning, and faith-growing for you to do in the meantime. This growing we do is the hidden blessing that takes place during our times of waiting for God.
Wait for the LORD; be strong and take heart and wait for the LORD. ~Psalm 27:14
Yet the LORD longs
to be gracious to you; he rises to show you
compassion. For the LORD is a God of justice. Blessed are all who wait for him! ~Isaiah
30:18
Then you will know that I am the LORD; those who hope in me will not be
disappointed.” ~Isaiah 49:23b
I don’t know about
you, but nothing feels more joyful than when a wish finally does come true, just
like our key verse states. Then all the
waiting and wondering, praying and patience was totally worth it and makes it seem even better than we'd dreamed! So go ahead and give your hopes and dreams to God. But remember to have an attitude of submission to His will for your
life because He just might have
something way better in store for you!
Here are more encouraging promises from Scripture about hope and
waiting for God’s timing:
I wait for the LORD, my soul waits, and in his word I put my hope. ~Psalm 130:5
Why are you downcast, O my soul? Why so disturbed within me?
Put your hope in God,
for I will yet praise him, my Savior and my God. ~Psalm 42:11
But those who hope in
the LORD will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they
will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint. ~Isaiah
40:31
Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in
prayer. ~Roman 12:12
May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in
him, so that you may overflow with hope by
the power of the Holy Spirit. ~Romans 15:13
In Christ,
Suzy
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