Dealing with a dead hope

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

I have been struggling with an obdurate sinus infection. And I have to say - and this is stating the case very mildly – that the symptoms are a tad unpleasant. Looking for relief, I went to the doctor, who prescribed an antibiotic and some other pills. So with great anticipation, I began taking the medicine (with a spoon full of sugar) hoping that in a day or two I would get better.

Reader, I’m afraid I did not get better. And a hope deferred does indeed make the heart sick. There is nothing worse than a sore head and a “sick heart”, even if the source of the “sick heart” is on this occasion fairly easy to address.

I’m sure everyone has experienced a deferred hope at one time or another. And a deferred hope is bad enough. But how does one deal with a dead hope? Perhaps you had hoped to grow old with your children and grandchildren but now they live in Australia. Or maybe you had hoped to live in Zimbabwe but now you must move to another country because you can’t make a living here. I know of people who have launched businesses hoping for job satisfaction, rewards and a secure retirement. I know of men and women who have entered marriage with high hopes and dreams only to find betrayal and disappointment.

Dead hopes come in many forms. And it is not that these hopes were ever wrong or misguided. They were merely uncertain hopes.

Question is: how do we cope when our hopes are deferred or die?

The antidote to a dead hope is the one and only LIVING HOPE. The Apostle Peter writes:

Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead... (1Pe 1:3)

There is one living hope only, a hope that will never lead to sickness of heart but rather to joy and gladness. The joy of a living hope will give you strength to weather hardship. Since God has given you life through spiritual rebirth, and since He raised Jesus Christ from the dead, there is hope that you too will one day be resurrected “into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade – kept in heaven for you” (v4).

So with the words of Priscila Jane Owens I ask the question:

Will your anchor hold in the storms of life,
When the clouds unfold their wings of strife?
When the strong tides lift, and the cables strain,
Will your anchor drift or firm remain?

In answering this question, take a moment to affirm: I have a living hope. It will never turn to ash. It will not crumble in my hands. It will not blow away in the storms of life.

We have an anchor that keeps the soul
Steadfast and sure while the billows roll,
Fastened to the Rock which cannot move,
 Grounded firm and deep in the Saviour’s love.

Cheers for now - Ian