How do we react when problems come on us specifically when they come from people who are supposed to be our friends? David wrote about this in Psalm 35. Here he mentions people whom he felt concerned for and people he didn’t know. This probably happened when David was in trouble with Saul based on what David wrote.
At times in our lives, we may encounter one of these types of persons. David described them as “malicious witnesses” who accused him of crimes he didn’t know anything about. These were people he cared about thinking they were friends. Next, he mentions people he didn’t know who attacked him. He wrote “they slander me, mock me and call me names”.
It is natural to get angry with these people and seek revenge when we are hurt by them. From simply hurting our feelings to causing great financial harm, they do these things and gloat because of what they are accomplishing. It is hard to understand why others would deliberately do this to us and anger can build within us that grows until it affects our attitude, our thoughts, and our dreams. It can cause physical exhaustion.
David realized it wasn’t his place to seek revenge even though he felt alone, abandoned by God, and lost about what to do or where to go. He asked God to intervene in his situation. He asked God to bring the consequences on those people that they were trying to create for him. He wanted them to experience being “sick with despair”.
David knew he was a sinner and these people were sinners and everyone can do wrong. Sometimes we don’t realize how what we do or say looks in God’s eyes or how it affects other people. In Romans 1, we read beginning in verse 18 what seems to be a progression of sins after Adam’s act. Many have pointed out the verses (24-27) dealing with homo-sexuality, but we have lost the importance of other sins listed in verses 29-31 including gossip and backstabbing.