In this psalm we have David’s struggle with and triumph over a strong temptation to distrust God and betake himself to indirect means for his own safety in a time of danger.

Confidence in God. To the chief musician. A psalm of David. 1 In the Lord put I my trust: how say ye to my soul, Flee as a bird to your mountain? 2 For, lo, the wicked bend their bow, they make ready their arrow upon the string, that they may privily shoot at the upright in heart.

The shaking of a tree (they say) makes it take the deeper and faster root. The attempt of David’s enemies to discourage his confidence in God engages him to cleave so much the more closely to his first principles, and to review them, which he here does, abundantly to his own satisfaction and the…