Hope Fulfilled

Let’s Talk About Hope

What is hope?

It’s not just a wishful desire—as something you’d like to happen, but you are uncertain it will. That’s how we most often use it. In the biblical sense, however, hope is a sure confidence in a future event. It’s something you expect to happen at some point in the future. Since it involves the future, it involves anticipation.

So, to anticipate is to look forward to a future event. But it’s not merely expectation—anticipation is deeply emotional. Think of jump scares in movies: you anticipate that something bad is going to happen because of the creepy music. That anticipation creates emotional tension, and when the monster jumps out, the tension is satisfied.

Or consider a groom on his wedding day. He and his groomsmen stand in front of the congregation, watching each bridesmaid walk down the aisle. Each step builds anticipation. Then Canon in D begins to play, and there she is—revealed in her full beauty. Her hair is done perfectly, she’s clothed in a beautiful white dress, walking down the aisle to become his. His eyes grow teary. He can't help but smile at her. His heart swells. It’s anticipation fulfilled.

We see this connection between hope and anticipation in Proverbs 13:12:

Hope deferred makes the heart sick,
but a longing fulfilled is a tree of life.

In his commentary on Proverbs, Charles Bridges explains:

“The first springing of hope is a pleasurable sensation, yet not unmixed with pain. It is the hunger, that makes our food acceptable. But hope deferred, like hunger prolonged, brings a kind of torture. It makes the heart sick.”

If the groom were standing in front of all those people and the music ran long, had to start over again, and no one was coming out, a sense of dread would begin to creep over him. He’d start to wonder if something was wrong. And if the bride never came out, it would confirm his fears—dread would harden into a mix of despair and anger.

He’d become heart-sick.

Now, God is always on time. He also keeps His promises. So we can hope in Him. And that hope creates anticipation.

This is what this passage is about. It’s about a longing fulfilled. It’s the arrival of Jesus, the hope of all the ages.

He is a tree of life.