A living dog is better than a dead lion

Here is a verse in the Bible that has carried me through the years in a way I cannot fully explain:

"As long as a man lives, he has hope. A living dog is better than a dead lion. The living know that they will die, but the dead know nothing." (Ecclesiastes 9:4–5)

I don't know why this particular verse has stuck with me so deeply. I only know that the hope I find in it has been empowering for me.  As long as a person lives, they have hope.

In the world of the Bible, dogs were not beloved pets, but despised animals. They lived outside the city, ate garbage and carcasses, and the word "dog" was even used as an insult.

My life has not been easy. My childhood did not have a strong foundation. My parents' alcoholism made everyday life uncertain and unsafe. Instead of developing my character, I learned to survive.

I often chose the easy way out.

I didn't know how to respect adults or authority figures, and I didn't learn how to build anything lasting.

I have hurt myself and others, and I have also been hurt. I have no need to sugarcoat it. If I didn't like something, I left. I spent money, traveled, and did things I enjoyed. My relationships remained superficial and changed frequently. I survived, but I didn't build anything. When I look back, I often feel like I am "nothing." A bit like a dog.

Perhaps that is why this verse has been so comforting to me.

I am alive—and therefore I still have hope.

Hope for what?

Hope that as long as I live, I can still surrender to Love and love others. I can still build something lasting with Jesus and His people. Something that the next generation can continue after we are gone.

In the end, it doesn't matter that I started late.

What matters is that I started – and that I continue.

The Bible says that Abraham was "good as death," having lost his manhood. And yet God raised up a great nation from him. Life arose from a place where life was no longer supposed to exist.

If God can do that through Abraham, then as long as I live, I too have hope.

It is not just a matter of survival or hope, but of restoration.

In the book of Isaiah, God promises to give beauty for ashes.

Ashes are what I have left of my burnt life—disappointments, wrong choices, and lost years.

But God can give us beauty for ashes.