For most people, the psalms are always a favorite because they're so easy to relate to. Randomly open them and chances are you’ll identify with something. By extension, since David wrote most of them (75 out of 150), we’re comfortable around him as well. Reading his words are like being invited into the home of a good friend. But even good friends can surprise us from time to time.
How would you respond to a friend who pulled you aside with a worried look in her face. She’s always been level-headed and able to think clearly—the kind of person who adds stability to uncertainty. On this day, however, her expression sends a different message. Instead of serene, she is nervous. Her eyes scan the room for hidden danger before her shoulders slump.
Her head drops without a word. “Are you okay?” you ask.
“I’m not good,” she responds. “I’m restless and can’t get to sleep. When I finally do, I just keep waking up. A lot of the time my heart is racing, and my thoughts are scattered. I’m afraid and anxious all the time.”
"What are you talking about?" you respond. "What’s going on?” Probably not
the most compassionate response, but it’s a knee-jerk reaction.
“They’re after me. Have you heard what everybody’s saying?”
“No one is saying anything. What’s going on?”
“I feel trapped, and I’m scared to death. Sometimes I think I’d be better off dead.”
Her words are out of character, and you’re thrown off. The friend you had known—or thought you knew—is at their wits end. Clearly, they are in the middle of a crisis.
David is one of those friends.
Most of his psalms are filled with common themes like praise and pleading with God. A few, however, that break the mold. They have a completely different tone. The same themes reappear, but this time they’re just different. Something is off.
The author seems a bit unhinged as he spills details he’s never mentioned. Suddenly David no longer looks like the valiant kid who faced Goliath or the king of Israel leading a nation. Here, in these psalms, he’s vulnerable and in crisis. He seems paranoid and consumed with worry. There is no façade, no brave face.
He’s just honest. During a crisis people don’t have the emotional energy to put
on a face. Their normal defenses collapse like a sandcastle as waves of stress eat away the foundation. It’s then that people become brutally honest.