13 The Lord looks from heaven;
He sees all the sons of men;
14 From His dwelling place He looks out
On all the inhabitants of the earth,
15 He who fashions [c]the hearts of them all,
He who understands all their works.
16 The king is not saved by a mighty army;
A warrior is not delivered by great strength.
17 A horse is a false hope for victory;
Nor does it deliver anyone by its great strength.18 Behold, the eye of the Lord is on those who fear Him,
On those who [d]hope for His lovingkindness,
19 To deliver their soul from death
And to keep them alive in famine.
20 Our soul waits for the Lord;
He is our help and our shield.
21 For our heart rejoices in Him,
Because we trust in His holy name.
22 Let Your lovingkindness, O Lord, be upon us,
According as we have [e]hoped in You.
Verses 16-18 are key to this whole passage. We are not saved (from anything) by our own great strength. We cannot deliver ourselves from anything in this life, let alone the most important thing, the bonds of sin and death. Instead our lives are in God’s hands, and fortunately, that’s a great place for them to be.
None of the works we do on this earth can give us hope, or conquer death. But Jesus already conquered death, and extends His hope to us all. Per verse 19, He can indeed deliver our very souls from death, so we wait on the Lord, because He is our “help and our shield”. His lovingkindness is then our source of strength, a cause for rejoicing.
We can trust in His name, because He loves us, because His eye is always upon us, and because He hand-crafted our hearts and knows us better than anyone else. No one can take care of you like the One who created your inner-most being, and the best part? He wants to. God isn’t some ambivalent deity up in the sky, looking on with apathy.
Rather, he has your best interests in view every moment of the day, and He desires to give you a “hope and a future” that is beyond anything you could imagine. Trust in Him, and don’t get distracted by the myriad of things this world throws at you. They will all fade, but His love is forever.