Psalms 60:1-12: in context

This psalm begins in the pain of defeat. God, you have rejected us, the psalmist cries; you have broken us down; you have made us drink wine that makes us stagger. It is an honest lament in a hard time, when the people have suffered and feel abandoned. But the psalm does not end there. From lament it turns to renewed trust, and it reaches a conclusion that names where help truly lies: give us help against the adversary, for the help of man is worthless. Through God we will do valiantly, for he it is who will tread down our foes.

The psalm's conclusion draws a sharp contrast: the help of man is worthless, but through God we will do valiantly. Having tasted defeat and learned the limits of their own strength and of human help, the people turn to God as the only real source of help. Vain is the help of man, they say; human help, on its own, cannot deliver. But through God, they will do valiantly; his help is not worthless but effective, and it is he who treads down their foes. The contrast is between the vanity of relying on human help and the strength found in relying on God. This is a lesson often learned, as here, through defeat and the failure of our own resources. We can rely on human help, on our own strength, on the resources and allies we can muster, until they fail us, and we learn their vanity. The help of man, on its own, is not enough; it disappoints, it fails, it cannot finally deliver. It is better, the psalmist says elsewhere, to take refuge in the LORD than to put confidence in man. And the failure of human help, painful as it is, can teach us to turn to God, in whom alone real help is found. When we have learned that the help of man is vain, we are freed to rely on God, through whom we do valiantly. This does not mean human help is never useful or that we should despise it, but that it is not our final reliance; God is. When Jehoshaphat faced an overwhelming enemy, he prayed, we have no strength against this great company, but our eyes are on you. That is the posture the failure of human help teaches: to rely not on ourselves or on human help but on God. This searches where our reliance actually rests. Do we rely on human help, on our own strength and resources, until they fail, or have we learned to rely on God, through whom we do valiantly? The help of man is vain; the help of God is real. This calls us to place our final reliance on God rather than on human help. The psalmist, chastened by defeat, learned that the help of man is worthless but through God we do valiantly; and we too are called to rely not on human help, which fails, but on God, in whom alone is help that does not disappoint, through whom we do valiantly and who treads down our foes.

Do I rely on human help, on my own strength and resources, until they fail me, or have I learned, as the psalmist learned through defeat, that the help of man is worthless but through God we do valiantly, and can this move me to place my final reliance not on human help, which disappoints, but on God, in whom alone is help that does not fail, through whom I do valiantly and who treads down my foes?