Advent Hope

"The thoughts of the son ran thus: ‘My hopes painted beautiful pictures, but they are fading one by one.’ His Father said: ‘Destroy all those pictures. To watch them slowly fading is weakening to the soul. Dare then to destroy them. You can if you will. I will give you other pictures instead of those your hopes painted."
(Amy Carmichael)

Hope drawn out makes the heart ill
But longing fulfilled brings life to the soul. (Prov 13:12)

Translational Notes:
1. "Drawn out" translates Hebrew "mashak", which suggests something drawn out until it is a fine thread. Most translations have "deferred". When the thing hoped for is continually denied, or fails to materialise, hope is "stretched thin".
2. "Brings life to the soul" is literally "a tree of life". This image occurs regularly throughout the Bible to represent a source of life and vitality e.g. Ezek 47, Jer 19 etc.

Comments

[Lorna]

interesting

thanks for the exposition and the picture is great

wondering how the river of life /God (Rev) fits in

We sometimes think of deferred hope as never happening and can be discouraged by it, but I think the hope is expectant. And that's awesome.

[Chris]

Yeah, thanks for this. I tend to think of hope deferred as something I don't deserve. Advent reminds me that perhaps what I don't deserve is any hope at all. A splendid miracle is hope manifest in Jesus.