Proverbs 11:7

New International Version (NIV)

Hopes placed in mortals die with them;
all the promise of their power comes to nothing.

For Meditation

She laid in state in a well-attended funeral. Something interesting caught Fred’s attention, as the women wailed uncontrollably around her body. This particular woman was crying with some theatrics. Without warning, she stopped crying. With a bland countenance, she began to give instructions for dinner to a young girl by her side. The next minute, she was all tears and drama again. Before Fred’s amusement faded, another woman caught his attention. Her wailing was sincere, and Fred could feel her deep sorrow and disappointment. “Who will pay my girl through college as you promised, cousin Yaa? Who can I go to with my needs?” It sounded like a refrain at the end of a flurry of words. Obviously, her world had collapsed and left her no hope for tomorrow.

Solomon was right. “Hopes placed in mortals die with them; all the promise of their power comes to nothing” (Prov. 11:7). Hope in human benevolence is unsteady and insecure. It is subject to mood swings and the conditions of each day. Anything could alter a promise and leave the beneficiary hanging with shattered dreams. One misstep and they draw a disfavor that leaves a nasty taste in the mouth. And when the benefactor dies, as was the case of this woman at the funeral, all the promises die with them.

1. But do you know that in Jesus we can find security for our hopes?
2. Has He not fulfilled His promises even in death? Did Jesus remain in the grave after the promised third day?
3. Has He not demonstrated by His resurrection that we can completely trust Him? Didn’t His disappointed disciples find renewed hopes when Jesus rose from the dead?
4. Who could stop the disciples after Pentecost? Didn’t they entrust their lives, hopes, and aspirations to their risen Lord?
5. Is Jesus mortal? Is He not the unchanging and infallible God – the faithful Promise Keeper? Is He not alive forever? How then could your hopes die in a living God?

I pray you realize that His promised power will never fail in your life, as it is with mortals; because He lives.

So: May you put your hopes in Jesus alone; and may you live to see each one of them fulfilled in Him and for eternity.

Hope in Jesus is hope eternally secured.

Shalom