TWO MEN WHO SUFFERED
Both the text in Acts and Psalms today speak of people who are down and out. The psalmist asks us to remember David's suffering and having just read through 1st and 2nd Samuel, that's not that hard. And then in Acts, Paul finds himself newly converted to The Way but nobody wants anything to do with him because they're still scared. My wife and I were discussing David's many moral failures and how could he be someone after God's own heart while so frequently and spectacularly screwing up. I think it comes down to one, he always realized his mistakes and came back to God with a penitent heart and two, he never turned after other gods the way Solomon and other Israelite kings did.
Similarly, Paul probably found himself suffering as well. He alienated all his friends from before by doing a complete 180 on how he felt about what he was previously calling a heretical sect. And all the people who should have been his new friends were terrified of him because he had just been trying to kill and imprison them. To top it all off, the Hellenists were looking to kill him! But much like David, Paul never turned from God. He trusted in God's plan and continued to pursue Christ no matter what the cost to himself was.
When I suffer, Lord, may I have the grace to suffer as well as Paul and David and remain faithful to you and to your glory!