BY HUMPHREY MTANDWA
Waiting for something that seems as if it will never come to pass causes disappointment, disillusionment, and loss of hope. When someone waits for something for a long time but those expectations are not met, it causes one’s heart to be afflicted. Solomon understood this sickness and he refers to it in the book of Proverbs when he said “hope deferred makes the heart sick”.
The word deferred means “to put off” meaning a prolonged situation or circumstance. A person can only be hopeful for a short time but if a situation is persistent it drowns the heart. This sickness can be hard to notice because it can be masked well and those afflicted always carry a heavy heart. When you speak to most people in The great nation of Zimbabwe you notice some are afflicted by this sickness. Most are no longer hopeful that the situation can change in their nation and some put on a brave face for their family and close ones but inside they are broken.
The good news translation says when hope is crushed the heart is crushed. Hope deferred causes depression, anxiety, disorders and physical sickness. The challenge with Africa is we don’t talk about mental health challenges but you can be surprised how many people are suffering from different mental disorders. When our hopes are crushed we become open to different attacks from mental to physical health and demonic attacks. There is need to find ways of dealing with this hope that has been deferred.
The second part of the scripture carries a solution when it says, “but when desire comes it is a tree of life”. Developing new hopes and desires can help heal from unfulfilled desires and disappointments. Fresh desires can cause a man or a woman who has been broken to begin to heal. The only way to have fresh desires is by discovering them through prayer. Zimbabwe’s hope is not with man but with God and if you realise that you will stop focusing on man and become focused on God. On the ground things are hopeless, but with God there are fresh hopes and desires that will become a tree of life. Don’t allow past disappointments to cause your heart to be sick but allow God to give you fresh passion for life and through that passion a tree of life will blossom.
Hope deferred makes the heart sick but desire renewed is a tree of life this desire is birthed from God’s spirit. I believe God has a beautiful destiny for the nation of Zimbabwe. The country has vast resources and people that are resolute. And with these two things God will raise a nation. But in that season he wishes to restore the nation if your heart is sick you will miss it. Don’t assume you can build life outside of Christ or His will for you as an individual and for the whole nation. It’s time to seek healing for the deferred heart by receiving fresh insights from God. May God remember the great nation of Zimbabwe and her people for they have gone through so much and may He heal them and restore hope to the hopeless. Zimbabwe has a great future and you are a part of that great destiny. God bless our nation and her people.
- Humphrey Mtandwa is an anointed minister of the gospel and teacher of the Word based in South Africa. He has written several books including The Enoch Generation, Truthfulness and Theophany. He blogs at mtandwa.blogspot.com and can be contacted via e-mail or WhatsApp on +27 610286350.
