In Proverbs 13:12, we read that, “Hope deferred makes the heart sick . . .”
Thousands of counseling hours over more than ten years at Baylight have made this biblical truth visibly evident. Life’s dominating circumstances can surely weigh anyone down, but nothing saddles the soul with despair like the felt or perceived absence of hope. Matthew Henry, in his commentary on the Proverb, wrote, “Hope quite dashed kills the heart, and the more high the expectation was raised the more cutting is the frustration of it.”
This year, and every year at Baylight, indeed, every counseling session represents to us an opportunity for the suffering soul to be reminded of and experience the calming truth found uniquely in the promises and benefits of Christ that belong to all believers at all times and in all places. While the presence of hope does not necessarily mean the immediate and final resolution of a troubling trial, hope does grant to the soul the confidence that circumstances can change over some measure of time. This establishing of hope provides the strength that one needs to endure. To be sure, the more intense and the longer in duration the trial, the more time might be needed to see hope become reality. Even so, nothing slows or brings the “cutting frustrations” of hopelessness to an end like the re-establishment of hope.
There can, of course, be a variety of reasons that a Christian might struggle to imagine that hope exists for them. But, there’s one in particular that we desire to uproot where ever it’s found. It can be called by many different names, but historically, it has been known as a failure to properly distinguish between God’s moral law, and the beauty of his glorious grace—the gospel.
Joshua Waulk | “Hope and the Free Pardon of the Cross” | January 1st, 2024
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Joshua Waulk
Joshua Waulk is the founder and executive director at Baylight Counseling, Inc. in Clearwater, Fl. He is married to Christy, and has four children, three of whom are adopted. Josh earned his MA in Biblical Counseling at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary, and is completing his final project toward the Doctor of Ministry, also in biblical counseling at SEBTS. His project focuses on attachment issues in Christian adoptive parenting.
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