Proverbs 11:7
When a wicked person dies, his expectation perishes,
and the hope of his strength perishes.
How many times a day do you use the word hope? We hope for silly things from time to time. I hope I get a good nights sleep. I hope the kids sleep in in the morning. I hope.
Or perhaps you remember these quotes from Shawshank Redemption:
“Remember, Red, hope is a good thing, maybe the best of things, and no good thing ever dies. I will be hoping that this letter finds you, and finds you well. Your friend. Andy.”
“I find I’m so excited that I can barely sit still or hold a thought in my head. I think it’s the excitement only a free man can feel. A free man at a start of a long journey whose conclusion is uncertain. I hope I can make it across the border. I hope to see my friend and shake his hand. I hope the pacific is as blue as it has been in my dreams. I hope.”
For those who have surrendered their lives to the Lord and his ways, Hope is a good thing – even the best of things. Just like Red found hope by the end of Shawshank, we too can find hope. And hope is a good thing. As long as you have surrendered your life to a calling greater than you. When your hope is the Lord, the maker of heaven and earth, the one who gave himself for mankind, you also have the hope of a eternal life with him. And this is a hope that does not disappoint.
However, if your only hope is in yourself, your own abilities and your own fortune, well hope dies when you die. Your dreams and aspirations, your expectation for success – all that fades away. The hope of your world is gone because you are gone. To have a hope that goes beyond your own life requires that your hope be in someone who is not bound by the physics of life and death.
Where is your hope? Is it in you or in someone greater? Remember, hope is a good thing…
