For thou art my expectation, O Lord Jehovah! The Psalmist here repeats what he had said a little before concerning his trust or confidence. But some, perhaps, may be inclined to refer this sentence rather to the matter or ground afforded him for hope and confidence than to the emotions of his heart; supposing him to mean, that by the benefits which God had conferred upon him, he was furnished with well-grounded hope. And certainly he does not here simply declare that he hoped in God, but with this he conjoins experience, and acknowledges that even from his youth he had received tokens of the Divine favor, from which he might learn, that confidence is to be reposed in God alone. By adverting to what God had done for him, [1] he expresses the real cause of faith, (if I may so speak;) and from this we may easily perceive the powerful influence which the remembrance of God's benefits had in nourishing his hope.

Footnotes

1 - In the Latin version it is, "Ab affectu ipso;" which is probably a mistake for "Ab effecto ipso." In the French version it is, "Par l'effet mesme."

For thou art my hope, O Lord God - The ground of my hope and my expectation is in thee.
(1) I have no other help; no other defense; but
(2) I "have" confidence; on thee I "do" rely.
Thou art my trust from my youth - From my earliest years. The meaning is, that he had always trusted in God, and had always found him a helper. All that he was, and all that he possessed, he owed to God; and he felt now that God had been his protector from his earliest years. Perhaps it could not be shown certainly from this expression that he meant to say he had "actually trusted" in God from his youth, for the "language" means no more than that God had actually protected him, and holden him up, and had continually interposed to save and keep him. As God had always been his Protector, so he felt that he might come to Him now, and put his trust in Him.

My trust from my youth - When I was born into the world, thou didst receive me, and thou tookest me under thy especial care. "My praise shall be continually of thee." Rather, I have always made thee my boast.

For thou [art] my hope, O Lord GOD: [thou art] my (e) trust from my youth.
(e) He strengthens his faith by the experience of God's benefits, who not only preserved him in his mother's womb, but took him from there, and ever since has preserved him.

For thou art my hope, O Lord God,.... The object, ground, and foundation of it, even of present deliverance, and of future and eternal salvation;
thou art my trust from my youth; in whom he trusted in his youthful days, of which there is an eminent instance in 1-Samuel 17:33.

trust--place of trust.