True Hope

DEVOTION
PROVERBS
TRUE HOPE
Prov 11:7
7 When a wicked man dies, his hope perishes;
all he expected from his power comes to nothing.
NIV
How do I deal with this proverb as it does not speak to me, but to those who are in a completely different frame of mind? It would appear when mankind refuses to accept the condition under which he was created all he is left with is his humanity. It would also appear, because God knows everything that in his humanity is wickedness. Within this state, those who do not accept God as the almighty creator of all things are left to hope for nothing but what they can achieve on their own. This is an empty hope and has absolutely no real future. I think of the pharaohs of Egypt and the emperors of China who built great places to take all their hopes with them into some form of afterlife. All those hopes have been left for this generation to take from those places. The only thing, the only hope any man can carry with him into death is his faith in Christ Jesus. All attempts to accumulate material goods, all the efforts to achieve fame, fortune and power have not a single shred of importance when death is met. I cannot understand how anyone could life with that thought. It seems to me to be so futile and meaningless. If all there was to life was this meager existence of surrounding myself with things, and storing up worthless symbols of monetary exchange and seeking to see how much authority over other people I could reach, then my life would be filled with so much tension, stress and disappointment. Why would I want to live like that? I would not. I am quite content with the provisions of God. I am exceedingly content with all God is doing for me, in me and through me. MY life is full; it is in fact filled to the brim and is flowing over. I have all I would ever need and so much more. The greatest of what I have is faith in Christ Jesus, my Lord and my Savior. I live with a true hope.