Hope Deferred

With a promise of being blessed with future generations, Abraham and Sarah set out in anticipation to a country God would show them. But as the years went by and there was no child, Sarah resigned herself to the life of one who would never be a mother. Her resignation led her to take things into her own hands by planning a way to raise a family by a surrogate mother or maidservant.

As women we understand how she would lose all hope. As long as we have possible hope, there is an anchor for our desire. We can say that it is easier to hope when there is a good chance (in the way that we understand things) that our need can be fulfilled, but lose hope when there seems to be no chance. Proverbs tells us plainly that “hope deferred makes the heart sick.”

True hope is explained in Romans 8:24 as “hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what he already has?” So the question that we may face is, do we hope in what may be possible or do we put our hope in God’s promise and character, the one who sees the beginning to the end and is able to make all things work together for good.

I don’t know why God did not give Sarah the promised child sooner. That is a question for heaven. I do know, however, that I've also been prone to pray about something and then take matters into my own hands when it did not look like God would come through. A small example from our children’s school days is how I prayed for my child to be in a certain class. It seems so trivial now . . . looking back . . . but it was a big thing on my heart at the time. One particular year, when my “hope” did not come true I talked to the principal, only to find out later that my child would have been changed without my intervention. I was too impatient to wait and see. Sometimes, as moms we may know what a good situation is for our kids, but sometimes we need to trust, and sometimes it is hard to know when to wait and when to do something.

So, as each of us waits for a certain something . . . as we all are always waiting . . .  may we ask God to show us how to pray according to His will, trusting in His goodness toward us and all that concerns us even if we have to wait.