One should not wait for a problem to arise before davening to Hashem. Rather, one should daven even in good times, and this will serve to help him when difficulties appear. I saw a sefer that compares this to a soldier who always walks with his gun at the ready so that if an enemy comes close, he will be prepared to fight him. If he would only run to get his gun when he sees an enemy approaching, it would be too late. So too, one should daven in advance in order to have his tefillos ready to help him when he needs them.
The Noam Eliezer of Skulen zy”a states that some people only say Tehillim in hard times. When everything seems fine, they think that they don’t need to say Tehillim now because they don’t need a yeshua at this time.
He counters this mindset by explaining why we call chapters of Tehillim ‘kapitlach”. A “kapital” literally means an “account”. We call Tehillim by this name because it is just like a bank account, in which one saves up money for when he needs it. So too, when a person says Tehillim constantly, he will be adding a lot of “funds” to his account, which he can withdraw whenever he needs them.
When one is in the midst of a difficulty, it is often hard to concentrate on his tefillos. Therefore, it is good to fill up one’s account of Tehillim in advance, so that they are ready to be “withdrawn” when needed.
