This is an excerpt from an email that was sent to the church family in the summer of 2008.
I’m hearing a word regarding deferred hopes. I’m hearing a word regarding sickness in the heart. Proverbs 13:12 reads: Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but a longing fulfilled is a tree of life.
The word hope means expectation based upon a promise or dream. The word deferred means postponed or delayed; suspended or withheld for or until a certain time or event.
So my heart can be sick because my expectations and dreams have been postponed or delayed. My heart can be sick because my expectations and dreams have been suspended or withheld until a certain time or a certain event.
Even though this can make my heart sick, I see a choice in this scripture. The choice is seen in the second part of this verse. It says a longing fulfilled is a tree of life. If you interpret this scripture from a human perspective it means, when I don’t get what I want, I’m sick. If I get what I want, I’m happy.
That’s a very immature way to live our lives.
Carol and I have been learning a very valuable lesson in discerning the difference between our expectations and dreams versus the longing fulfilled. The choice is this. Do we want the longing fulfilled or do we want our expectations met?
I can hear someone asking, “Aren’t the longings and the hopes the same thing?” Our response would now be. Not necessarily. Our longings can be hopes and expectations, but not all of our hopes and expectations can be our longings.
The American Heritage Dictionary defines a longing as a strong persistent yearning or desire, especially one that cannot be fulfilled.
Please allow me to say that there are times when our expectations and dreams can come true, but the longing has still not been met. However, if the longing is fulfilled, even if the expectations and dreams are postponed and delayed, we are still growing and producing fruit from the tree of life. The Bible declares that the longing fulfilled is a tree of life. There is growth. The leaves are green and healthy. The fruit is coming forth.
We believe the longings in our soul go deeper than our hopes and dreams. In fact we will go so far as to say, you won’t find fulfillment in the accomplishment of the dreams apart from the fulfillment of the longing.
So what is the longing?
Psalm 63: 1-3 says, ”O God, You are my God; Early will I seek You; My soul thirsts for You; My flesh longs for You in a dry and thirsty land where there is no water. So I have looked for You in the sanctuary to see Your power and Your glory. Because Your loving-kindness is better than life, my lips shall praise You.
Psalm 84:2 reads My soul longs, yes, even faints for the courts of the LORD; My heart and my flesh cry out for the living God.
Psalm 143: 5-7 says, “I remember the days of old; I meditate on all Your works; I muse on the work of Your hands. I spread out my hands to You; My soul longs for You like a thirsty land. Selah. Answer me speedily, O LORD; My spirit fails! Do not hide Your face from me, lest I be like those who go down into the pit.
We find it interesting that the American Heritage Dictionary defines a longing as a strong persistent yearning or desire, especially one that cannot be fulfilled. Isn’t that amazing to discover? A longing is a desire that cannot be fulfilled. There is only one who can fulfill the longing.
Psalm 107: 8-9 says, “Oh that men would give thanks to the LORD for His goodness, And for His wonderful works to the children of me. For He satisfies the longing soul, and fills the hungry soul with goodness.”
God alone can fulfill the longing soul. When the longing in our soul is fulfilled, I believe there is such life, that the delayed dreams and postponed expectations are not able to stop the tree of life. That’s why we are still standing strong in faith regarding God’s purpose for This church family and His plans, even in your family situation.
Yes, the hopes we have had for This church family have been delayed. The dreams have been postponed. Some expectations have been utterly destroyed. But what keeps the infection of despair and unbelief from sickening our hearts is that we turn to God to fulfill the longing in our soul. The longing is not for a big ministry. The longing is not to be famous. The longing is not for a fat paycheck, a new house, or living the life of luxury and leisure. Our true longing is for the presence of the Lord. That’s why we encourage you to keep meeting with us each week. GOD is in our midst. He infuses us again and again with His word and His presence.
Even for us as your pastors, our longing is not to minister to people. Our longing is to minister to GOD. That may sound strange, but that is the Kingdom of God pattern established by Jesus.
Mark 3:13-15 says, “Jesus went up on a mountainside and called to him those he wanted, and they came to him. He appointed twelve—designating them apostles —that they might be with him and that he might send them out to preach and to have authority to drive out demons.”
The first calling was not to go and preach. Jesus called them to be with Him. Then it says…that He might send them out to preach…
I believe God allows some of us to have a sick heart so that we can get in touch with the true longing. He delays the dreams. He postpones the hopes. He lets our hearts grow sick until we can get to the place where we want the longing to be fulfilled and discover the tree of life. Then, with the tree of life abounding within us, He can release some of those hopes and dreams because our fulfillment won’t be in those things coming to pass. In fact we’ll discover God’s hopes and dreams and, more than anything else, we’ll want to see those come to pass in our lives.
IN CLOSING: We know of a number of people who are in between jobs right now. We know each of you personally even though you live all across the country. The massive job losses have a Divine purpose behind them as well. We feel led to say to you today, that some of you, while you’re in your search for a new job, may need to consider the possibility of moving out of from the city or state where you currently live. It’s time for you to step into God’s dream for your life.
Someone has been praying to the Lord of the Harvest to thrust forth laborers into the vineyard. (But) you are God’s answer to that prayer. Your new job is in another city, in another state. There’s a new Body of believers that need you or there’s a new market place ministry that awaits God’s presence through you. The sickness in your heart is because you’re holding on to a hope and a dream that is not what God has in mind. It’s time to move on to your next assignment.
God allowed the total destruction of our dreams and expectations when we moved here. It was because He wanted us in the marketplace and not locked up in a church facility. Ever since we’ve been where God wanted us, we have had provision. For someone that we’re writing to today, your provision is in another state or even in another country. It’s time to move. You can choose to live with a sick heart, or you can experience the tree of life because the true longing in your soul has been fulfilled.
For those of us who are stepping out into this new level of walking with the Lord, we are experiencing the fulfillment of the tree of life.
