Hope that is temporary is no hope at all!

Probing Proverbs 11:7 When the wicked die, their hopes die with them, for they rely on their own feeble strength.

Here is where we run smack dab into the concrete wall of reality! No matter how you dress it up, put make up on it, and pretend it is fulfilling – the stark truth is that the “temporal” is fleeting and ends when your body does!

Human beings must have hope to continue to function, when they lose it they are opened to listen to all kinds of voices that run from desperate actions they would never do at any other time, to even self destructive behaviors. 

This is the major item Clinical Depression attacks. Individuals that deal with this terrible condition fight so hard to keep hope in their lives. If they succeed they can move back to a normal way of life. However, if the condition removes even hope from their life, they see no reason to continue. That is why all of us should always be sensitive to those in our life and move toward anyone we see struggling with the loss of hope. If the person is just "down" you will help them quickly come out of it, but if the person is moving into Clinical Depression, you may be the only life line they have. 

You can be the one that can lead them to someone trained to help them. Hope is the one thing that can bring light in the midst of darkness, the possibility of victory when defeat seems apparent, and newness of life when the shadow of death is approaching. This is why this Proverb is so sobering. If our hope is temporal, most times it will not be sufficient to enable us to finish this life with anticipation, and if we are one of the few that have “psyched” ourselves into believing that our hope is good enough, the rude awakening that will happen as we move from the temporal to the eternal will be beyond comprehension!  

Consider two key words here:

Hope - תִּקְוָה (tiqwâ) – This root means to wait or to look for with eager expectation. Waiting with steadfast endurance is a great expression of faith. It means enduring patiently in confident hope that God will decisively act for the salvation of his people (Gen 49:18). Waiting involves the very essence of a person’s being, his soul (nepeš; Ps 130:5). Those who wait in true faith are renewed in strength so that they can continue to serve the Lord while looking for his saving work (Isa 40:31). There will come a time when all that God has promised will be realized and fulfilled (Isa 49:23; Ps 37:9). In the meantime the believer survives by means of his integrity and uprightness as he trusts in God’s grace and power (Ps 25:21). His faith is strengthened through his testings, and his character is further developed (Ps 27:14).^[1]

Notice – Scriptures concept of hope begins now but goes far past our physical death. Whether or not we see the hope of our soul to experience peace, love and fellowship with each other and God, and no more pain or needs, in this life, we know we will in our life with God in eternity! To have a hope that “dies when we die” is no real hope at all.

The reason this hope dies is because it is based on man’s strength, which is described as “feeble”. Here are synonyms of this word: Frail, meager, pathetic, ineffective, and ineffectual. We can see quite clearly where the strength of man falls short. It’s easy to break (frail), it’s source of power is finite (meager), it’s foundation is built on sand (pathetic), it only can deliver as long as the positive thinker can produce the energy (ineffective), it only lasts as long as your body does (ineffectual)! Our strength is only as good, at best, as we can convince ourselves that in the end all will work out. As I said, even for the few that manage to make it to the end of their life here, it ends when they do. What is left is a terrible moment before their Maker as they realize only His strength can bring eternal hope.

As I stated earlier in Proverbs, we should not view these as negative statements, they really are positive statements from a loving God that is warning beings that have been given the stewardship of choosing how to live, the difference between temporal living (existing) and eternal living.(abundant life!) 

^[1] Hartley, J. E. (1999). 1994 קָוָה. (R. L. Harris, G. L. Archer Jr., & B. K. Waltke, Eds.)Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament. Chicago: Moody Press.