On Hope:

The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language defines hope in three ways: hope as a transitive verb, hope as an intransitive verb, and hope as a noun. As a transitive verb, to hope for is to wish for. As an intransitive verb, to hope for is to expect. As a noun, hope is a trust or confidence, or it is a person or object. “Success is our hope” or “[He is] our teams only hope for victory.”

In Psalm 39, David writes: “(5) Behold, You have made my days as handbreadths, And my lifetime as nothing in Your sight; Surely every man at his best is a mere breath. (6) Surely every man walks about as a phantom [as an image]; Surely they make an uproar for nothing; He amasses riches and does not know who will gather them. (7) And now, Lord, for what do I wait? My hope is in You.” In verse 7 David asks “for what do I wait?” What am I waiting for? There is the idea of expectation. In verses 5 and 6 David points out the brevity of life. Now he asks this question, which can accurately be read: And now, Lord, for what do I hope? “My hope is in You.”

Psalm 71 says: “(1) In You, O Lord, I have taken refuge; Let me never be ashamed. (2) In Your righteousness deliver me and rescue me; Incline Your ear to me and save me. (3) Be to me a rock of habitation to which I may continually come; You have given commandment to save me, for You are my rock and my fortress. (4) Rescue me, O my God, out of the hand of the wicked, out of the grasp of the wrongdoer and ruthless man, (5) for You are my hope; You are my confidence from my youth.”

~Jim