YHWH's help points up the cooperative effort between the people and their God. But all the people do is what the LORD tells them to do. The people sacrifice and pray, but it is the power of God alone which wins the day.

We should see the past mercy of God as a foundation for future expectation. God has helped us in the past, therefore we will rejoice in the shadow of His wings. The LORD has heard my prayer in the past, so I will call upon Him as long as I live. Paul said that it is God "who delivered us (past) from so great a death, and does deliver us (present); in whom we trust that He will still deliver us (future)" (See 2 Corinthians 1.10). We know from what we have received up to this point in our lives what to expect from this point in our lives.