Hopelessness – Proverbs 13:12

“The Beck Hopelessness Scale (BHS) is a 20-item self-report inventory developed by Dr. Aaron T. Beck that was designed to measure three major aspects of hopelessness: feelings about the future, loss of motivation, and expectations….It measures the extent of the respondent’s negative attitudes, or pessimism, about the future. It may be used as an indicator of suicidal risk in depressed people who have made suicide attempts.  Hopelessness is deadly.”

Hope deferred makes the heart sick,

but a desire fulfilled is a tree of life. (Proverbs 13:12, ESV)

It has been said that humans can live only a few days without water but no days without hope.  Hope is the posture of survival.  If I do not have hope that I can be truly loved and truly love others, I perish.  If I do not have the hope that I can be released to be in the company of those who love me, there is nothing to live for.  If I have no hope of freedom from unbearable pain, I prefer to die.  Our hope may be unrealistic or not, but if we can convince ourselves that we have it, we can survive.

When hope is deferred, seems to be failing, we get sick.  Many a man or woman in jail has contracted this illness.  Many a child whose parents were a source of torment instead of love have contracted this illness.  Many oppressed people have fallen ill as they realize their hopes will never be fulfilled.  Suicides and depressions have been a symptom of this illness, the total absence of hope, as have been manias  and psychoses, which are the creation of delusional hopes.

Paul tells us that “the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God” (Romans 8:20–21). 

Our current state of bondage, which the creation shares with us, is a result of God’s determination to make this world a place where we cannot rest our hope.  Our sin has led to this bondage, a desire to be our own hope, to create our own safety net under the tightrope.  We still hope to be our own God and wrest ourselves from needing to trust in Him.  But nothing we try to do to create hope for ourselves ultimately satisfies.

If we found that the world worked the way it was originally created to work we would be sorely tempted to be satisfied with the world and miss the One we need most desperately for hope to be real.  So He has graciously subjected this world to futility to direct our attention, if we will give it, to Him as our only source of real hope.

Peter tells us, “In your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect” (1 Peter 3:15).

Jesus is the only real reason for hope.  He is the only guarantee of unconditional love for us and for the chance, in that love outpoured, to love others freely as he loves us.  Talk about a tree of life!  And when the kingdom arrives with Jesus, the bondage to which the world was subjected will be abolished and the freedom of the glory of the children of God will mean the end to all deferring of hope and the actual tree of life will be healing for the nations (Revelation 22:1,2).