Ecclesiastes 9:4: “But whoever is among the living has hope; a live dog is better than a dead lion.”

This is such a powerful message of hope. You might be thinking, “I am not where I am supposed to be.” You might be thinking, “I have lost this opportunity; if only I had done that, things would be different. If only I had been born in that country, I would not be in this situation.”

There are so many alternative scenarios we want to play in our minds: “If I had made this choice, then that would have happened, and I would be here by now.” Or you may say to yourself, “I am so‑and‑so age, and look at where I am.”

But the message from this verse is that you have something so valuable that you need to prize. “Whoever is among the living has hope.” And if you are reading this now, you are among the living.

Whoever is among the living has hope, because a live dog is better than a dead lion. This is like a charge to caution ourselves when it comes to comparing ourselves with other people. Go down to the lowest denominator: what do you have? You have hope. You are among the living. Things can be better. That is the truth.

Think of the widow who came to the prophet in the Old Testament and said, “My husband is dead, and the creditors are coming to take my two children as slaves” (2 Kings 4:1). Some people want to focus on the man: “Why did he owe so much?” They want to cast blame. But instead of trying to find out whose fault it is—“My parents left me; this person did this to me; I was sick at that time; that person did not help me”—the prophet asked her, “What do you have in the house?” She answered, “Your servant has nothing in the house except a small jar of olive oil” (2 Kings 4:2). He told her to borrow vessels, shut the door, and start pouring, and from that little oil came provision.

We might look at people and condemn them for their economic situation: “You are not like me; I hustle; you do not hustle like me.” How does that help, for example, that widow? How does that help her in that situation? She felt all hope was lost, but there was something small that could be the basis of transformation in her life.

According to Ecclesiastes 9:4, that “something small” is that you are among the living, and therefore there is hope. It does not say it will all change in twenty‑four hours, the way false prophets like to promise by jumping to the story of the siege of Samaria and making fanciful declarations to tickle people. This verse simply says that if you are with the living, there is hope. That is underrated.

It does not say it will be in one year, or one week, or one month. It does not even say what exactly will happen. It just says: hope. And we undervalue hope. In another place, in the book of Job, we read that there is hope for a tree if it is cut down—that it will sprout again, and that its shoots will not cease; at the scent of water it will bud and put forth branches like a young plant (Job 14:7–9). We look at such a tree and say, “There is no hope; it has been cut down.” But Scripture says: there is hope for a tree, if it is cut down. It has not been uprooted. It has suffered losses, but that is not the end.

That is what I am trying to say: if you are among the living, it is not the end of the world. There is hope.

God bless you. See you later.