Rick Warren, a popular preacher in the United States once remarked that “Life is a series of problems: Either you are in one now, you’re just coming out of one, or you’re getting ready to go into another one. The reason for this is that God is more interested in your character than your comfort; God is more interested in making your life holy than He is in making your life happy”.
From our text, it is certain that the psalmist had been in some great distress due to persecutions from his adversaries whom he portrayed as directing their sharp arrows of contention against him. He seems to be at a distance from his own country and the house of God, and dwelt among wicked men when he wrote it. He declared his intention to live peaceably with all men, but his persecutors were for war.
One of the chief persecutors of David was Saul, the first king of Israel. At a time, Saul was among the prophets, and afterwards among the witches. Faced with such an enemy, the tendency is for many to resort to the arm of flesh when the opportunity comes. But we need to realize the potency of praying when we are troubled.
If God gave us favours without constraining us to pray for them, we would never know how poor we are. But true prayer is an inventory of wants, a catalogue of necessities, a revelation of hidden poverty. While it is an application to divine wealth, it is a confession of human emptiness. Prayer girds human weakness with divine strength, turns human folly into heavenly wisdom, and gives to troubled mortals the peace of God. Try praying today! It works.
