In te, Domine, speravi...

(Psalm 71)... Speravi in Latin (to hope) comes from sparevi, speravi ... which means to be aware of our abilities and character.  So "In te Domine, speravi" is to be aware of God's abilities and character. This is what gives us hope.  We to often forget to be AWARE that God is the great I Am and we are not.

Original text and translations

Latin text

In te Domine speravi ne confundar in aeternum:
In iustitia tua libera me.

English translation

In thee, O Lord, I have hoped, let me never be put to confusion.
Deliver me in thy justice.

In te, Domine, speravi for choir SATB - edited by Peter Leys - with Noteworthy Composer source file.

Hence this hymn: http://www.ccel.org/ccel/watts/psalmshymns.Ps.152.html

In 1719 Isaac Watts wrote this poem based on Psalm 71

The aged saint's reflection and hope.

My God, my everlasting hope, I live upon thy truth; Thine hands have held my childhood up, And strengthened all my youth.

My flesh was fashioned by thy power, With all these limbs of mine; And from my mother's painful hour, I've been entirely thine.

Still has my life new wonders seen Repeated every year; Behold, my days that yet remain, I trust them to thy care.

Cast me not off when strength declines, When hoary hairs arise; And round me let thy glory shine, Whene'er thy servant dies.

Then in the hist'ry of my age,

When men review my days,

They'll read thy love in every page,

In every line thy praise.

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow wrote the following lines:

Shall we sit idly down and say,
The night hath come; it is no longer day?
The night hath not yet come; we are not quite
Cut off from labor by the failing light;
Something remains for us to do or dare;
Even the oldest tree some fruit may bear.