I skimmed the Philokalia for some examples:
"If you see growing within yourself a good crop, no longer choked by the tares of the evil one; if you find that the demons have reluctantly withdrawn, convinced that it is no use making further attacks on your senses; if 'a cloud overshadows your tent' (Ex. 40:34), and 'the sun does not burn you by day, nor the moon by night' (Ps. 121:6); if you find yourself equipped to pitch your tent and keep it as God wishes--if all this has happened, then you have gained the victory with God's help, and henceforward He will Himself overshadow your tent, for it is His." (St. Isaiah the Solitary, On Guarding the Intellect: Twenty-Seven Texts)
The first reference was of a specific historical event, but is here applied as a spiritual principle as something applicable to everyone.
"As it is written, we should 'early in the morning destroy all the wicked of the earth' (Ps. 101:8), distinguishing in the light of divine knowledge' our sinful thoughts and then eradicating them completely from the earth--our hearts--in accordance with the teaching of the Lord." (St. John Cassian, On the Eight Vices: On the Demon of Unchastity and the Desire of the Flesh)
This understanding of the Psalms as meaning not militant and historical things but spiritual warfare is done frequently. Here's another example of that:
"Again, every monk will be at a loss when he sees the abyss of his evil thoughts and the swarming children of Babylon. But again Christ will resolve this doubt if we always base our mind firmly on Him. By dashing them against this rock we can repulse all the children of Babylon (Ps. 137:9), thus doing what we want with them, in accordance with the sayings: 'Whoever keeps the commandment will know no evil thing’ (Ecl. 8:5. LXX), and 'Without Me you can do nothing' (John 15:5)." (St. Hesychios the Priest, On Watchfulness and Holiness)
Another, in which the author specifically comments on giving a 'symbolical' understanding:
"Why do we abandon hope in God and rely on the strength of our own arm, ascribing the gifts of God's providence to the work of our hands? Job considered that his greatest sin was to raise his hand to his mouth and kiss it (cf Job 31:27), but we feel no qualms in doing this. For many people are accustomed to kiss their hands, saying that it is their hands which bring them prosperity. The Law refers to such people symbolically when it says: 'Whatever goes upon its paws is unclean', and 'whatever goes upon all fours or has many feet is always unclean' (Lev. 11:27, 42). Now the phrase 'goes upon its paws' indicates someone who relies on his own hands and places all his hope in them, while to 'go on all fours' is to trust in sensory things and continually to seduce one's intellect into worrying about them; and to have 'many feet' signifies clinging to material objects." (St. Neilos, The Ascetic Ascetic Discourse)
And:
"How, then, can the monk, who may be compared to the gold of Ophir (1 Kin. 10:11), allow himself to be sluggish or apathetic when singing God's praise? Just as the bush burned with fire but was not consumed (Exod. 3:2), so those who have received the gift of dispassion are not troubled or harmed, either physically or in their intellect, by the heat of their body, however ponderous or fevered it may be. For the voice of the Lord holds back the flames of nature (Ps. 29:7); God's will and His word separate what by nature is united." (St. John of Karpathos, For the Encouragement of the Monks in India who had Written to Him: One Hundred Texts)
Another:
"Our first struggle is this: to reduce the passions and to conquer them entirely. Our second task is to acquire the virtues, and not allow our soul to be empty and idle. The third stage of the spiritual journey is watchfully to preserve the fruits of our virtues and our labors. For we have been commanded not only to work diligently, but also to preserve vigilantly (Gen. 2:15)". (St. Theodoros the Great Ascetic, A Century of Spiritual Texts)
And finally, one from St. Maximus:
"'Shun evil and do good' (Ps. 34:14), that is to say, fight the enemy in order to diminish the passions, and then be vigilant lest they increase once more. Again, fight to acquire the virtues and then be vigilant in order to keep them. This is the meaning of ‘cultivating’ and ‘keeping’ (Gen. 2:15)". (St. Maximus the Confessor, Four Hundred Texts on Love, 2.11)
