“…even as we put our hope in you,” implies that putting their hope in God preceded the display of His unfailing love (v.20, “we wait…”) Their hope was based on who He is, not simply what He would do for them; the God who created all things and can bottle the seas (vs.6-7) deserves all praise. “Let all the earth fear the Lord; let all the people of the world revere him.” (v8) Not only that, but vs.16-19 make it clear nothing but God can save the people from death; hope in anything else is futile.

God seems to be the only option in which we should put our hope, and that could be the end of the story, even if He did nothing for us; however, the Psalmist knows that in addition to his holiness and power, His character also contains steadfast love. A creator deserves the reverence of his creation, and a cruel creator could take advantage of that; “God is love”, so reverence to Him carries a benefit beyond fulfilling obligation. His love is like Him: faithful, unending, powerful.

The psalmist believes in this unfailing love, yet still reverently invites it as he waits. He knows God is able, yet does not presume to tell the God of creation what to do. It is a hope bound not simply in what he needs, but what God deserves; knowledge of His love emboldens the psalmist to praise with abandon, confident he will not be put to shame in deferring power and authority to God rather than here-and-now security. He chooses hope before the guarantee of love, even as he knew it would be.