Hope and Confidence

Meditations on

Staying In the Grace for Today 

July 28, 2025

Hope and Confidence

“But blessed are those who trust in the Lord

    and have made the Lord their hope and confidence.”

Jeremiah 17:7 

On July 18, I shared a quote from Pope Benedict when he knew his death was near. That quote from the Pope was relevant to me because Cheryl and I have been working with a terminally ill cancer patient and her primary caregiver. The caregiver was comforted by Pope Benedict’s personal sharing, the patient, not so much. The patient has been vacillating between hospice care or continued chemotherapy. Their predicament reminds me of the cartoon showing a man waist deep in a swamp, surrounded by alligators. The caption reads: “When you are up to your waist in alligators, it is hard to remember your original task was to drain the swamp.”

The point here is that when you are in the midst of the storm, it is difficult to begin grounding yourself in faith. Pope Benedict’s awareness of his friendship with God didn’t begin when he knew death was close at hand; his friendship was nurtured over decades of devotion to God.

Death is certain for all of us. Hopefully, we will, like Pope Benedict, be aware of our life’s end and be able to process the time in faith. If we are so blessed, we will rejoice that we have made the Lord our hope and confidence.

My Takeaway: Making the Lord our hope and confidence allows us to be comforted by these words of Jesus:

“Don’t let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God, and trust also in me. There is more than enough room in my Father’s home. If this were not so, would I have told you that I am going to prepare a place for you? When everything is ready, I will come and get you, so that you will always be with me where I am.” (John 14:1-3)

Sē’lah

My book on prayer,

First Think, Then Pray

is now available on Amazon Kindle.

 

(Selah is a word that appears in the Book of Psalms that I often use as the Complimentary Closing in my correspondence. Its meaning, as I use the word, is to pause and think about these things.)

 

These meditations are written by Alex M. Knight as he seeks the life in Christ as his way of life.  The meditations are published on the BLOG, http://seekingthelifeinchrist.blogspot.com/ and they are also distributed on the Constant Contact email server. You may subscribe to this email service by sending an email to: amkrom812@gmail.com.

 

Copyright © 2025 by Alex M. Knight

 

Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.