Proverbs 13:12 (KJV)

Bible Commentary

Proverbs 13:12 is a Bible verse written by the wise King Solomon who was instructed by God and inspired by the Holy Spirit. This passage is another way of stating what Jesus called the first and great commandment of God–to love the Lord God with all your heart, soul and mind and to love your neighbor as yourself. (Matthew 22:37-38)

Let’s break it down so we can really understand and let it reach our very hearts.

Hope deferred maketh the heart sick: but when the desire cometh, it is a tree of life.

Let’s look at the word “hope.” In Hebrew, it means: expectation, trust, to wait. There are so many places in the Bible where God instructs His people to trust him and to wait upon Him. We are to put our hope in Him. But what happens if our hope is misplaced?

Hope Deferred

“Deferred” is a very interesting word. Its 2nd definition in Webster’s dictionary says, “to bring down, delegate to another, to submit to another’s wishes, opinion or governance usually through deference or respect.”

Wow, we must be very careful not to let our hope in God be deferred to someone else–a president, a boss, or king. Our hope can even be “brought down” by deferring our respect to a parent, a spouse or even our children. Who rules the hope in your heart? What desire motivates you?

Of course it’s right and good to respect our parents and others around us, but we mustn’t let them take God’s place in our heart. Are we trying to please a parent more than we’re trying to please God? Have we sold out to our job, a company or a boss instead of working for the Lord? Who (or what) has first place in our heart?

Colossians 3:23-24

Healing 101

Exodus 20:3 says, “Thou shalt have no other gods before me.” To put it very plainly: If we have deferred our hope to anything or anyone other than God, we are serving a false god and have been ensnared.

Psalm 115: 1-8

Not unto us, O Lord, not unto us, but unto thy name give glory, for thy mercy, and for thy truth’s sake.

² Wherefore should the heathen say, Where is now their God?

³ But our God is in the heavens: he hath done whatsoever he hath pleased.

⁴ Their idols are silver and gold, the work of men’s hands.

⁵ They have mouths, but they speak not: eyes have they, but they see not:

⁶ They have ears, but they hear not: noses have they, but they smell not:

⁷ They have hands, but they handle not: feet have they, but they walk not: neither speak they through their throat.

⁸ They that make them are like unto them; so is every one that trusteth in them.

⁹ O Israel, trust thou in the Lord: he is their help and their shield.

Have you ever wondered why you feel numb inside? I have. Come to find out I was serving false gods and had become just like them. I was dead inside. Look again at God’s truth in Proverbs 13:12.

Hope deferred maketh the heart sick: but when the desire cometh, it is a tree of life.

Because we put a false god in front of the God of Heaven, we make our own hearts sick and we don’t even know it. The word “heart” in Hebrew means: the feelings, will and intellect. “Sick” in Hebrew means: to be weak, sick or afflicted; to be grieved.

If our hearts are sick, most likely our body, mind or emotions are sick, too.

We might cry out to Jesus to heal the sickness in our body, mind or emotions, but He is more interested in healing the root cause of our sickness, which is the sickness in our heart. He heals us from the inside out. The Lord our God insists upon righteousness. That’s where He is. But before we can get to righteousness, we must face the truth, acknowledge whatever sin is in our heart and confess…and even more important, repent.

This is when real healing takes place. Our bodies can heal from a sickness only to get sick again, but when our hearts are healed of the root cause, then we can be permanently healthy. When we give up our false gods and lay them down at the cross, the Lord takes them from us and gives us peace where the sin sickness was.  When the sin sickness is removed, it makes a place for peace and healing to move into our minds, hearts, our souls and bodies. Hallelujah!!

The Truth about our Desire

…when the desire cometh, it is a tree of life.

The  word “desire” in Hebrew reads like this: a longing; by implication a delight (subjectively satisfaction, objectively a charm): – dainty, desire, X exceedingly, X greedily, lust (ing), pleasant.

Isn’t it interesting that the definition words started off with positive terms and ended with “greedily” and “lust”? Sometimes we don’t realize that our desire has turned into lust and greed. Again, we must carefully examine our own hearts and seek God for the truth. He warns us in James 4:3,

Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts.

Are we asking in faith, content with whatever the Lord’s desire and will is, or are we asking out of fear and anxiety, almost whining as a child who is insisting on their own way no matter what (consuming it upon our lusts)?

We must align our desire with the desire of God’s heart–whatever that is, for that is where we find peace, harmony and satisfaction. Oh, let’s seek the Lord with our whole hearts so He can help us untangle the mess we are in!

He longs to heal us, to heal our land but we must put our hope in Him alone. We must recognize the root cause of our sickness–striving and anxiety–and return to Him. He will heal our land and unite His people to Himself. Praise God! Praise the Lord!!

Study Proverbs 13:12, seek the truth and be healed in the righteousness and mercy of Jesus Christ. Amen.

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