Hopes placed in mortals die with them; all the promise of their power comes to nothing.
Not the most encouraging proverb in the book…but it does say something important!
Whatever “hopes placed in mortals” there may be and “all the promise of their power” will, in the end, “come to nothing.”
Give it my best shot…and nothing! Pretty depressing…yet, possibly, quite liberating!
Once we’re able to really understand that my best will never be enough, that my best thinking will just not get it done…we’ll be in a position to find out just how much God can do for us!
Steps 1, 2 and 3 of the 12 Steps teach us to recognize just how powerless we really are (Step 1); to begin understanding who God really is and what He can do for us (Step 2) and to consciously decide to let Him do for us what we cannot do for ourselves (Step 3).
I like the abbreviated version: I Can’t (Step 1); He Can (Step 2); So Let Him (Step 3)!
In fact, our proverb would seem to be passing along a similar concept to something Jesus said, “Whoever finds their life will lose it, and whoever loses their life for My sake will find it!” (Matthew 10:39 NLT)
The best I can do is just get comfortable with what I can’t do. And then let Him do for me what I can’t do for myself!
That’s liberating…that’s empowering!