Jesus knew this psalm very well.  And not just because He wrote it.   

Yes, it's true, he wrote it.  As the revelation of God Himself, no utterance of God is apart from Him who is the very Word of God.  So, Jesus knew this psalm well because He authored it. 

Moreover, He is it's substance.  Christ is present throughout.  Verse 1, "the shelter of the Most High"--that's Christ.  Verse 2, "my refuge and my fortress, my God."--that's Christ.  Verse 3, "he will save you."--that's Christ.  Verse 4, "his faithfulness will be your shield"--that's Christ. 

But Jesus knew this psalm from another perspective.  He knew it as a boy and as a man.  As a child, Jesus grew up with the Scriptures.  It was not something of which he just snapped baby fingers and mastered.  Jesus didn't speak fifteen different languages as an infant.  He didn't parade about as a child prodigy conversant with quantum physics, alchemy, or organic brine chemistry.

Jesus was not a walking encyclopedia.  He was a man no different than any of us except that He was without sin.  He devoted himself to learning the Scriptures.

When he was twelve years old, Jesus valued the teachers in the temple.  He learned from them and "He increased in wisdom and stature and in favor with God and men."  As a man among men, Christ drew His strength from the very place where all the godly receive their security and strength -- from the Living Word of God. 

Jesus was exposed to this psalm as a child in the same way He came to know all the Scriptures -- from them being brought to him, read to him, and committed to him.  He learned to know the promises and providence of God.  The boy Jesus came to know the love and faithfulness of His heavenly Father. 

It was the text of the Law, Prophets, and Psalms to which Jesus, the man, then appealed when he conducted his ministry, heartened his disciples, and faced his Passion.  With Scripture Jesus repulsed his opponent in the desert when Satan skewed this very psalm to tempt him, and Jesus quoted the Psalms as he hung upon the cross.

But why go to all the trouble? 

Why would Jesus not simply elude all the exertions and burdens of schooling, ministry, and especially the anguish of Calvary when he could so effortlessly have simply passed "Go," collected his tributes for being incredibly smart, infinitely clever, and utterly beyond his peers?  Why would Jesus not skip grades, have contempt for the simple-minded or think no more of being humble?  Why not take a crown instead of a cross?  What person wouldn't?  Why not surround himself with flatterers and servants, with luxuries and comforts instead of washing other's feet, soothing other's grief, and carrying other's sins?

Why?  Because Christ Jesus loves you more than His own life. 

If Jesus was going to mean anything people, it would have to be from below and not from above.  It would have to be through humility and suffering rather than from superiority and grandeur.

Sure, Christ could blow past any one of us like a hawk past a fence post.  He could out-talk us, outsmart us, or best us in any department, but He doesn't.  Jesus humbled Himself even unto death so that we could be given the resurrection life. 

And this didn't come from above but from below.

Christ doesn't throw himself at people.  He doesn't seek tributes or homage for himself.  His interest has always been to have you lifted up in the hands of angels and have it said of you, "I will deliver him and honor him."  The honor comes to us not because we merit it or deserve great compliments.  Even if we spent all day narrating the honors, decorations, accomplishments, awards, and virtues of a great man, they are wafer thin compared to the towering honors bestowed by grace to Christians who confess their sins, place no hope in themselves, but simply rejoice in the Gospel.

The Lord Christ credits us with all that He did as Savior of the world and honors us for all which was done on our behalf.  Our respect and wonder is for Jesus who emptied himself for us, counts us righteous, and has completed for us salvation.  All this, not from above but from below... from meekness and struggle, from self-sacrifice and the peril of death.

When we were helpless, Christ came for us.  When we were exhausted and the tide was against us; when the storm was fierce, He saved us from below as with drowning men in the sea.

Someone else must enter the water.  A rescuer must come, and this person is probably someone not even known.  The one in distress doesn't ask questions or give orders.  In fact, the rescuer faces the danger of being drowned himself by actions fraught with fear and desperation by the one he came to save.

So, He goes beneath.  He begins the rescue at the feet and then, from behind, wraps his arm across the chest to lift the other's head above the waves.  He comes anonymously.  He comes jeopardizing his own life, and it is not until the rescue is done and all is safe and out of harm's way that the full truth, including the name of the rescuer, is known. 

Our Savior is Christ Jesus who not only risked death but endured it.  He is the one who promises, "A thousand may fall at your side, ten thousand at your right hand, but it will not come near you."

The exquisite reality is that even death cannot swallow the child of God because he or she is baptized into Christ.  The battle's over; the victory's won.  We don't have to prove our worth or make a case.  And we won't have to dig ourselves out when the last day comes with explanations, endorsements, or pleas. 

How do we know? 

From this psalm, "You will tread upon the lion and the cobra; you will trample the great lion and the serpent."  God is not talking about you squeaking by.  The confession of a Christian is that death has been vanquished by the resurrection of Jesus Christ, God's Son.  Life prevails; not a semblance of life but the  celebration of life. 

The Divine Name is upon the baptized.  Not a nick-name, not a pseudonym, not some honorary title or alleged reputation, but the authentic, solid, genuine righteousness of Christ.

We aren't walking encyclopedias either, but we knew this... we know the one thing needful ... the kindness and assurance of the Gospel.  We know our Savior; and to know Him means more than the world.