The Stories behind the Psalms - What Do I Do?

 The Stories behind the Psalms  

What Do I Do? 

Recently I’ve been reading the Psalms alongside the historical events connected to them. When a psalm includes a superscription describing the incident that inspired it, it suddenly becomes more alive. One such example is Psalm 59, written during the intense moment described in 1 Samuel 19.

In that chapter, Saul sends men to surround David’s house and kill him in the morning. The situation is terrifying—David is trapped, watched, hunted. And it’s in the middle of that danger that Psalm 59 emerges. Reading the psalm through the lens of the story shifts everything: we begin to see not just poetry, but David’s actual inner world at the very moment death was at his door.

Psalm 59 shows us David’s vulnerability (verses 1–2),
his self-defense and appeal to justice (verses 3–4),
and his raw, unfiltered anger at the wickedness around him.

This is important:
Being a Christian is not about shutting down our emotions except for love. It is not about numbing ourselves. It is about bringing our emotions—honest, unedited—to God.

Many of us try to “clean up” how we talk to God. We fear sounding disrespectful or emotional. But the Psalms show us that God invites the whole spectrum of our humanity.

One key lesson from this psalm is in verse 9:

“I will wait for You, O You his Strength;
For God is my defense.”

But does that mean David did nothing and simply waited for a miracle?
No. He fled. He took the logical, sensible action to preserve his life.

And yet—he still waited on the Lord.

Because waiting on God is not about passivity.
It is about where our heart is turned, not where our feet are standing.
It is about trusting, even while running.
It is about depending, even while acting.

In Psalm 59, David shows us what true relationship with God looks like.
Not ritual.
Not polite, hushed prayers.
Not a sanitized version of faith.

But friendship.
Real talk.
Real emotions.
Real fears.
Real hope.

That is what made David “a man after God’s own heart.”
Not perfection—but honesty.

Let us talk to Him as David did—honestly, boldly, and with our full heart. Sharing our emotions, our decisions, our fears, our ordinary moments, our logical steps and our spiritual ones. 

So coming back to “What do I do?” The answer is surprisingly simple:

Include God in Everything.

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