Praying the Psalms with Augustine and Friends

Chapter 1: Psalms 1–17

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Whenever unbelievers see the children of God overwhelmed with calamities, they mock them for their groundless confidence, as it appears to them to be, and with sarcasm laugh at the assured hope with which they rely upon God. David, therefore, defies and mocks the wicked’s disrespect, and threatens that their mockery of the poor and the miserable who depend on God’s protection will be the cause of their destruction. At the same time, he teaches us that there is no better resolution we can make than the resolution to depend on God and to rest in his salvation, and on the assistance he has promised us. Although we may be surrounded with calamities, this is the highest wisdom.