Hope deferred maketh the heart sick: but [when] the desire cometh, [it is] a tree of life.
Ver. 12. Hope deferred maketh the heart sick.] Hope's hours are full of eternity; and how many see we lie languishing at hope's hospital, as he at the pool of Bethesda! Spes interrenis incerti nomen boni spes in divinis nomen est certissimi Heb 11:1 Hope unfailable Rom 5:5 is founded upon faith unfeigned. 1Ti 1:5
But when the desire cometh.] As come it will to those that wait patiently upon God; for waiting is but hope and trust lengthened. Deo confisi, nunquam confusi. "The vision is but for an appointed time; therefore wait," Hab 2:3 you shall be well paid for your patience. We are apt to antedate the promises, and to set God a time, as they Jer 8:20 looked for salvation at summer at furthest. We are short breathed, short spirited. But as God seldom comes at our time, so he never fails at his own; and then he is most sweet, because most seasonable.