Who's the real enemy?

I find the book of Psalms very layered with hundreds of interpretations. Throughout the Psalms, there is much talk of battles and enemies. Although one could read these passages with one "lens", I would like to think of these passages as a personal battle one must face in order to reach his goal. Remember the goal: when on God's side the nation of Israel can then prosper. I'd like to focus on two types of battles; the "vending machine " battle and the "good vs. bad" battle.

There are many battles in the Psalms, but a common situation is when the people are asking God where he is and why hasn't he been helping them. In class, we came up with the broken vending machine analogy. When putting a coin (or a Psalm) in to the machine (or as a prayer up to heaven), we have faith that that machine will give us food (peace/happiness) in return; even if it is broken, we will bang on it for a very long time because in time, we know it will come out. Psalms 79 is a great example of someone maybe getting impatient, giving God a "motivational speech" as to all the reasons why he should discipline their enemies and help them. He lists the hardships they have endured and their need for rescuing, but also shows his faith in verse 13 "But we are Your people and the flock that You tend. We acclaim You forever". This verse to show that even though life is not fair right now they have faith that God knows what he is doing and they are not trying to question him. They knew they had to have faith because similar to Psalms 37:4, 25-26, these things will work themselves out in the long run "I never have seen a just man forsaken". FAITH.

The other battle I wanted to address was the double meaning of the actual battle in the scriptures. This relates to our discussion: good vs. bad. I still argue that the line in between is crossable depending on the narrator. I believe that the person writing about these physical battles is having a mental battle in their head about whether to do the wrong or right thing according to what God wants. The difference in narration is that the person writing is either a believer or non-believer. With the example of David's crime of adultery, it seems that the believer is able to cross from good, to bad, to good again; but, a non-believer has selfish intentions all the time and therefore becomes labeled as an enemy and deserves to be punished by God (Psalm 10, 28). An example or this physical and mental battle is found in Psalms 31:10-14. These verses give a description of the hardships this person is going through and he puts the blame on his enemies who "slander" and "conspire against [him]". He claims he trusts in God and asks to be rescued, but there is still a battle going on between whether he should give in to the slander and stop fighting for God's cause or to continue on the straight and narrow path and soon (by faith) be rescued by God. This could in fact have been a physical battle, but it is more about if this person chooses to keep fighting or give up that shows true commitment.