William Jay said of prayer: “Prayer is the design of trouble, the evidence that it is sanctified, its solace, and the medium of deliverance from it.” Observations on prayer such as this stem from contemplation of passages like Psalm 86 which incidentally is titled: 'A Prayer of David'. This is the only Psalm of its type in book 3 of the Psalter. If Psalm 86 was the meditative source of William Jay's quote on prayer, one might wonder if such a passage moved David to write his song. Exodus 34:5-7 would appear to be such a text – the meditative source of Psalm 86. The historical occasion for David's prayer could have been any number of trials he encountered throughout his storied, often troubled, life. One example serving to illustrate the usefulness of Psalm 86 could be the kidnapping of his family and the families of his men at Ziklag (I Sam 30:1-6).