For in the day of trouble he will keep me,
Secretly in his pavilion.
In the covert of his tabernacle will he hide me,
He will lift me up on a rock.
That the Psalmist is already conscious of the troubles that will take up the second part of the Psalm comes out here. But he recognises that his trust must be firmly in YHWH. YHWH will protect and keep him. He will keep him safe in His pavilion, hidden in the security of His tent, firmly established in his impregnable fortress on a rock. None can feel insecure when protected by the Warrior King, the Mighty in battle, YHWH of hosts.
Once again we have the dual comparison of the King's table, spread in His pavilion, and the protection of the sanctuary which was absolute. The one who was in the King's pavilion was safe from plottings and deceitful tongues, especially when his presence there was unknown (Psalms 31:20). In the same way Isaiah also pictures the glorious future of God's true people in terms of a pavilion where the glory of YHWH is manifested (Isaiah 4:5-6), and of a strong city where none can harm them (Isaiah 26:1-4), protected by the walls of salvation and praise (Isaiah 61:18). And one day, ‘a Man will be as a hiding place from the wind, and a covert from the tempest, as rivers of water in a dry place and as the shadow of a great rock in a weary land' (Isaiah 32:2) and will be manifested by the opening of ears and eyes, and the giving of knowledge and the releasing of tongues (Isaiah 32:3). And it is to Him that we must look constantly.