The Cure for Heart-Sickness

"Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but a longing fulfilled is a tree of life." - Proverbs 13:12

I am often amazed by people who say "I'm thirsty!" and reach for a Coke. They seek to satisfy thirst with a drink that will only make them more thirsty! Our hearts get sick when things don't turn out the way we think they should. Our hearts get sick when our hearts are set upon circumstances working out as we hope they do. But many of us try to alleviate that sickness through exercising greater self-control.

What if our desires shifted? What if instead of wishing for greater control over our lives and the ability to mold and shape out families, careers, churches in our preferred image we looked to God as the source of our hope? Happy circumstances are sometimes absent, but God never is. If our hope is in Him, our heats never have to be sick. If you don't like your job, take it to God and see what He is teaching you...do not leave until you have learned everything He had to teach you there. If your paycheck doesn't have enough zeroes for your taste, seek enjoyment and contentment in God to help you live simply so that God's passions rather than dollar signs would guide your career decisions. If your family is in chaos rally around the cross and seek together the hope that is available day in and day out. 

He will never leave not forsake us, and He is always there to provide relief for our heart-sickness, if we will stop drinking Coke and come to the living water to slake our thirst.