Now through the end of December, a chance to re-examine the gifts of Advent, the arrival of a Savior, and the epiphany of Epiphany.
Proverbs 13:12 Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but a desire fulfilled is a tree of life.
The writer of Proverbs was called the wisest man who lived. He was quite possibly the wealthiest and most powerful too. But Solomon was human, and he knew what it was to be heartsick. Unfortunately, it is part of our human experience – neither wealth, power, fame nor wisdom can stop it. In Ecclesiastes 1, he admits, “For in much wisdom is much vexation, and he who increases knowledge increases sorrow.”
Solomon learned that it is possible to know too much, perhaps because on this side of the Garden of Eden, we’ve only tasted the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. And yet, when desire is fulfilled, it’s as if we’ve tasted the tree of life, he says. We feel able to thrive anew, ready to live forever.
When I’ve forcefully fulfilled my own desires, the results have been disastrous, a truth I’ve recently written large in my first book, Walking When You’d Rather Fly*. But waiting, allowing God to shape my hopes and dreams, has delivered me to a place of life, with branches overhead to shade, and roots underneath to sustain.
Each year, advent reminds us of an ultimate fulfillment of desire; the hope of every longing heart has come as God’s answer to our heartsick condition. We are wanted. Our hope for perfect love is no longer thwarted. In Christ, we can taste the fruit of the tree of life.
Prayer: Giver of good gifts, thank you for Christ, the ultimate tree of life. May our desires take shape in his shade, our lives be fulfilled by his roots.
*Walking When You’d Rather Fly: Meditations on Faith After the Fall will be available in late December. More info to come.
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