Proverbs in 365 DevotionsFor more go to braggingonjesus.comProverbs Earnest Guarantee Of HopeR AylorWe can all likely identify with hope being delayed in this life. Whether waiting on marriage or a job or waiting on the winter to be over and spring to come.But in the bigger picture, here we are... strangers wandering through this broken world waiting for our hope to be fulfilled. But is our soul weary beyond measure? Is our heart sick? If our hope has been deferred like this text says can happen, and points somewhere in the future that we cannot even taste, experience or know, then why are we not depressed and downcast? Why do we not despair?

If you have ever sold a house the buyer may have given you what is called “earnest money” to guarantee the purchase until funds are transferred and the transaction is fully finalized. Even though the undertaking is not altogether finished, the earnest money has given your hope a boost that will keep your spirits high until it is completed.

There is something similar that God gives his children which gives our hope a joy much greater and surer than earnest money for a house deed. You see our hope is not all deferred. There are the unsearchable riches waiting for us to be unpacking in this life.In Ephesians 1 the KJV actually uses the word “earnest" to convey this very truth:Ephesians 

Yes, the Holy Spirit is our earnest guarantee every day of our life. We see it in the fruits of the Spirit like love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Those without the Holy Spirit do not have these attributes growing in their life.

Arn’t you glad that God doesn’t defer all our hope to the end but gives us a little bit of heaven every day?
2nd Corinthians 
Father as we walk in this broken world please show us more of your glory and thank you for the hope that waits before us.