Contributor:
Chad Roberts

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

You would be surprised how many people are afraid to hope in God. For many, trust has been broken. You may have been someone who prayed, yet God did not respond, at least in the way you thought He would. It left you disappointed with God. Do you know what it is to trust in the Lord, to believe Him with all your heart, only to find that He did not come through? It is a difficult place to be, yet many are. Most of us could share stories of how we the outcome was the opposite of what we prayed and believed.

This leaves some people feeling like there is no longer a point to faith. It is intriguing that the Bible acknowledges this. Proverbs 13:12 tells us that, “Hope deferred makes the heart sick.” The Bible does not hide the reality of our feelings. So if you are someone who has a difficult time trusting God because of past experiences, you are not alone and there is a remedy to your problem.

It would first be helpful to understand the Biblical meaning of the word, “hope.” The way the Bible uses this important word is much different than the way we use it in our English language. Today, we may say, “I hope my favorite team wins the game.” Perhaps we will say, “I hope the weather holds and doesn’t rain.” That is simply wishful thinking. You cannot know God and grow strong in faith with wishful thinking. Faith is just the opposite, and I will show you with Scripture.

Hebrews 11:1 helps us understand faith and hope. It says, “Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.” This very interesting, because if you see hope as wishful thinking then you’re back to square one, which is, maybe God is faithful and maybe He isn’t. But the Biblical word for hope, elpis, literally means, “a confident expectation; an expectation of what is sure.”

The reason we often lose our hope, or confidence, is because our faith is in the outcome and not on God Himself. So this is a good way to inventory your faith. Examine yourself to see whether you are trusting in the answer to prayer, or to God whom you are praying too. Therein lies the difference. Jesus tells us in Mark 11:22, “Have faith in God.” He does not say to have faith in the outcome, but in God alone.

When our faith is in the right place, we can then live in the confidence of who God is. We then can understand Romans 8;24-25, “For in this hope we are saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what he sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience.”

The author of Hebrews writes that we have need of “patience” (Hebrews 10:36). You could also say, endurance or perseverance. What brings this needed endurance? Hope. So if you are low on hope, you need to look to God once again. Romans 5:13 calls Him, “The God of hope.” But you cannot see hope as wishful thinking. If so, you will not receive anything from the Lord. For James 1:6-7 says, “But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind. For that person must not suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord.”

God will fill you with hope and you can once again trust in the sovereignty of God. Give your past hurts to the Lord just as you have given your past sins to Him. Before long, you will be able to “rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, and be constant in prayer” (Romans 12:12).