While reading through the book of Psalms we see that many of them were written by David. Now that we have learned more about David's life through the reading of 1st and 2nd Samuel, 1 Kings and 1 Chronicles I think that it is an interesting exercise to try to imagine at what point in David's life he is writing a particular Psalm. Was it when he was on the run from Saul, or was it when he was entering triumphantly into Jerusalem, or maybe when he was fleeing Jerusalem after his son tried to overthrow him. For example in Psalm 41 he says in verse 9, "Even my close friend, whom I trusted, he who shared my bread has lifted up his heel against me" Could he be talking about when Joab conspired with Adonijah to take the throne. Or in Psalm 23 when he talks about walking through the valley of the shadow of death. Could this be when Saul was pursuing him in the wilderness. We cannot say for sure, but I think it does help bring the Psalms more alive to consider what David was going through when he was writing them.