There have been times when I’ve struggled because I know God can do anything, but I couldn’t understand why He didn’t seem to intervene in those particular situations. Have you ever had this struggle?

In those moments I tried to hang on to hope, but the more time passed without any apparent changes, the harder it became.

Proverbs 13:12 tells us, “Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but a desire fulfilled is a tree of life.”

The word “deferred” in this verse refers to a hopeless situation that feels long and drawn out. It’s the seemingly unending and disappointing kind of season that can leave us tempted to look at our lives and question, why is God withholding this from me? Thus, leaving us to think, well, since He’s not intervening, I’ll just fix it myself.

This dangerous assumption of believing God’s not intervening is reminiscent of when Eve ate from the tree of knowledge of good and evil. Adam and Eve were FREE to eat from any other tree in the garden. But Eve listened to the enemy. She sat alone and in her own thoughts and assumptions. And it led her to doubt her Father. Instead of heeding her Fathers(God) instructions, (Proverbs 13:1) she took control and did what she thought was best (Genesis 3).

As soon as Eve and Adam ate the forbidden fruit……..Peace was disrupted. Perfection ended. Curses began. Consequences were unleashed. And they were banished from the garden.

If only Eve would have noticed the other tree in the garden. The tree of life! The tree of Gods best way and perfect provision. It was there for her. She had a choice. Yet she made her choice based off assumption.

The tree of the knowledge of good and evil may not be in our physical sight today, but the enemy is certainly making use of that same sense of disappointment of our hope being deferred. The enemy wants us to be consumed with our unmet expectations that our hearts just get more and more self-reliant and sick of waiting on God. I hope you noticed that I said unmet expectations instead of unmet needs, because God always supplies us with what we need (Philippians 4:19; Matthew 6:25-34).

God wants us to look to the tree of life.

In the darkest hour this world has ever known (Matthew 27:45), Jesus died on a cross, or “on a tree,”(Galatians 3:13 ESV). To those who watched, as Jesus hung on the cross, He appeared dead. Just as we know that trees in the wintertime only appear to be dead, as trees have transformative work going on we can’t see, so there was a redemptive transformative work as Jesus hung on the cross that couldn’t be seen.

It may appear your life is dark and confusing. But make no mistake---there is a powerful work happening. And Jesus wants us to hear Him saying, “based off assumption, Eve turned to the wrong tree and received death. I hung on a tree to bring you back to life. I am the fulfillment of your every longing. I am your Tree of Life. Look to Me.”

Eve wanted to know all of the reasons and control all of the outcomes. That type knowledge would be a burden, and attempting to control it all will do nothing but entangle you with anxiety and fear.

That’s the reason why God didn’t want Adam and Eve to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. The knowledge it would give them was a burden God never wanted them to carry. And maybe that’s why we don’t have all the answers to our “why” questions. God isn’t trying to be distant or hard to understand. He’s being merciful.

We don’t have to know the plan to trust there is a plan. We don’t have to feel good to trust there is good coming. We don’t have to see evidence of change to trust that it won’t always be this hard.

We just have to close our physical eyes and turn our thoughts to Jesus. Fix our thoughts on Him. And know that we can trust our Father’s heart and His plans.

Prayer: Father God, You keep showing me that I don’t need answers. I need Jesus. Help me stop the madness of my own assumptions of how things must turn out. My soul was made for assurance. And that is exactly what You have given me. The divine assurance of Your Son. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.

PEARLStoPONDER: Eve made a choice based off assumption that led to destruction. What is the basis of your choice?