We admire the confidence and security reflected in this psalm, but we should not imagine they come easily or naturally. In fact, this psalm of trust admits that these qualities do not come without effort. This is not a personal testimony of one boasting in his confidence but a liturgy that leads worshipers to lay claim to the salvation that is in God.

The exhortations of verses 8 and 10 are plural and imply a congregation or assembly (“O people”) is present. Verse 8 seeks to apply to the group (“God is our refuge”) what the speaker or liturgist has just applied personally (“he is . . . my refuge,” v. 7). Verses 1–7 may thus act as the liturgist’s instructive testimony to the congregation (God is not addressed directly here). With this shift from “my refuge” to “our refuge,” the remainder o…