A Hopeful and Fruitful Waiting
It is sad not to get what you hoped for.
But wishes that come true are like eating fruit from the tree of life.
(Proverbs 13: 12)
Waiting is not easy; it takes great effort and patience. Waiting is not a joyful thing to do, for it keeps us in suspense, not knowing the end result. Waiting is not about excitement within a given period of time; it is an act of maturity that is anchored on hope and sustained by faith. Waiting, a lot of times makes us tired. Initially, the excitement of what we hope for keeps us driving, and slowly as the minutes, hours, days, months, years and decades pass by, our waiting begins to lose momentum, our patient waiting becomes overshadowed by fears, dislikes, anger, insecurities and ultimately we become stressed.
What does the Bible say about waiting? The Bible, throughout its books, would offer us one answer in different ways. And today we are looking at one of them - the part that deals with the difficulty in waiting. Proverbs 13: 12 says, "It is sad not to get what you hoped for. But wishes that come true are like eating fruit from the tree of life" (New Century Version). The New International Version of the same verse says, "Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but a longing fulfilled is a tree of life." I wondered at the way these two versions have brought out the deep meaning in these verses. I looked at the sadness of not getting what we hoped for on the one hand, and hope deferred making our hearts sick on the other. Indeed, a delayed result, a long wait, makes our heart sick and brings in sadness. This is a very common human nature and we come across this typical experience a lot of times. The Bible acknowledges this humanness, but it also reminds us of something very important - the fruitful result of this fruitful waiting.
The wishes that come true after a long, heart-sickening, faithful and hope-filled waiting, the Bible says, are like "eating fruit from the tree of life." I am able to imagine how life-filled it is to see wishes that we have been carrying in our hearts coming true after a long wait. These long-awaited wishes heal us; they calm down raging seas within our hearts; they help us to look forward and to accomplish tasks that we have been waiting for to do. But more than anything, it helps us to grow spiritually. The experience of a hopeful and fruitful waiting not only helps us grow spiritually but also influences the lives of people around us. The conversations I have had with people who had recently gone through the same experience of waiting and seeing wishes coming true in their life have always helped me spiritually. These conversations help me to look forward. They bring in a burning passion about what we are waiting for. This is one reason why I admire this particular verse in Proverbs 13: 12.
Our spiritual experience of waiting and seeing things coming true is like eating fruit from the tree of life because it not only gives us the taste of new life within but it also begins to influence the faith-walk of many people who are around us. Our hopeful waiting becomes fruitful when it begins to bear the fruits of spiritual nourishment in our lives and those around us. It is not just about our wishes coming true and our yearnings being satisfied, but it is more about being encouraged to live in faith in future. Every long wait of ours should, first of all, become a spiritual experience that builds our personal life of faith and it should also build others. This would be the best result of what I would call "fruitful waiting."
Today, as we wait upon the Lord in faith for those wishes deep down in our hearts to become true, let us remember that we are already in the process of growing in faith. These experiences of faith should help us to ultimately see eternity. These experiences of waiting should not end with the wishes becoming true but they should help us to look forward to the greatest fruit from the tree of life, and that is, the eternal life, which is true and assured through Jesus Christ our Lord.
I pray that the blessings and power of God the Father, the love and grace of Christ Jesus the Son, and the fellowship and presence of the Holy Spirit continue to help us as we move further in faith, realising one by one, how amazing and wonderful are God's promises in our lives. '
May God bless you.
Yours in Christ,
"Wait Upon the Lord" - Leeland
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