“Hope that is deferred afflicteth the soul…” Proverbs 13:12
The Douay-Rheims translation of the Bible illustrates these feelings poignantly:
When You Cry Out for Help
When you cry out to God for help, what do you expect? The way God responds may surprise you.
There was a time after God delivered Israel from Egypt into the promised land when they were harassed by the nation of Midian for seven years. The people of Israel hid in mountain clefts, caves and strongholds. Every time they planted crops, marauders from Midian and other places would attack them. They would camp out, destroy the crops, steal the sheep, goats, cattle and donkeys and leave the land stripped bare. The people of Israel became impoverished, destitute and on the verge of starvation. They finally began to cry out to God for help.