|
Psalm 77
1 "I cried out to God with my voice - to God with my voice; and
He gave ear to me. 2 In the day of my trouble I sought the Lord;
my hand was stretched out in the night without ceasing; my soul refused to
be comforted. 3 I remembered God, and was troubled; I complained,
and my spirit was overwhelmed. 4 You hold my eyelids open; I am
so troubled that I cannot speak. 5 I have considered the days of
old, the years of ancient times. 6 I call to remembrance my song
in the night; I meditate within my heart, and my spirit makes diligent
search. 7 Will the Lord cast off forever? And will He be
favourable no more? 8 Has His mercy ceased forever? Has His
promise failed forevermore? 9 Has God forgotten to be gracious?
Has He in anger shut up His tender mercies? 10 And I said, "This
is my anguish; but I will remember the years of the right hand of the Most
High." 11 I will remember the works of the Lord; surely I will
remember Your wonders of old. 12 I will also meditate on all Your
work, and talk of Your deeds. 13 Your way, O God is in the
sanctuary; who is so great a God as our God? 14 You are the God
who does wonders; You have declared Your strength among the peoples. 15
You have with Your arm redeemed Your people, the sons of Jacob and
Joseph. 16 The waters saw You, O God; the waters saw You, they
were afraid; the depths also trembled. 17 The clouds poured out
water, the skies sent out a sound; Your arrows also flashed about. 18
The voice of Your thunder was in the whirlwind; the lightnings lit up
the world; the earth trembled and shook. 19 Your way was in the
sea, Your path in the great waters, and Your footsteps were not known.
20 You led Your people like a flock by the hand of Moses and Aaron.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
- - - - - - - - - - - - - -- - - - - - - - - - - -
Can I share something personal with you laugh within myself as I ask
that! The other day I received a "blow" - a situation arose that hurt me so
deeply that I felt far from God (who told you I was perfect?!). I left my
home, without as much as praying. On the way to work, I couldn't open my
Bible to read a verse. I felt ashamed, powerless and sad. Feeling this way,
I said to the Lord "Why has this situation happened? I prayed, declared your
word, and yet it seems as if you didn't hear me!" Have you ever felt this
way before, as if there is a large gulf between you and God that just can't
be closed? Well, there is hope, because Jesus loves us unconditionally. Even
when we mess up and doubt Him, He still loves us. He still cares.
In the midst of my despair and self-pity, I began flicking through the book
of Psalms. Throughout the day, the Lord - in His own gentle way - had been
prompting me to search the Psalms. He knew that I needed to read the
experience of someone who had felt similar to how I was feeling. I found
this in Psalm 77 - written by a man called Asaph.
In this scripture, the psalmist Asaph was in trouble. Whatever the
circumstance was, it was so intense that he "refused to be comforted", was
"troubled" and "overwhelmed" (v2, 3). In fact he was so troubled, he
couldn't even speak. Life at times can be very rough, and one's uprightness
doesn't automatically shield us from the storms of life. I emphasise this
because Asaph was a righteous man. He was one of King David's leaders in the
tabernacle and was appointed to sound the cymbals in the temple choir. He
knew God. The Bible is full of men and women who loved God but failed Him at
some point, or were lonely, discouraged or defeated. However, no matter how
we may feel, God's love for us remains unconditional and unlimited.
There is something that Asaph did that I really admire - he cried out to
God. This is pivotal. He reached out to the Lord earnestly in prayer. He
pressed beyond all the negative thoughts that flooded his mind. The Lord
encourages us to come to Him. In 1 Peter 5:7, we are encouraged to "cast all
our cares on Him, for He cares for you". Even when we are in the wrong, we
can "confess our sins to God, for He is faithful and just to forgive our
sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness (1 John 1:9). Making a step
towards the Lord in this way means we are taking a steps towards
restoration.
Asaph's breakthrough however did not take place immediately. Look at verses
7-9. He asks himself a number of questions, that would cast doubt on the
loving-kindness, mercy and faithfulness of God. These questions were borne
out of discouragement. If we are honest, we too at times ponder these same
issues in our hearts.
The turning point in Asaph's situation comes in verse 10, and I was excited
as I reached this point in the psalm. He says "...but I will
remember. Verse 11 - "I will remember", and "I will surely
remember...". The key here is to remember the goodness of God in our
lives. Remember who He is. Remember what He has done. Remember when He
rescued you, delivered you, protected you, saved you, guided you, corrected
you, strengthened you, healed you, provided for you. This list can go on and
on and on. In testing times, we must take our focus off the situation and
spend some time focusing on God. This cannot be overstated. In these times
in life, satan will try to flood our thoughts and make us feel as if God has
rejected us, forsaken us, or let us down. These are LIES. When we call to
mind the Lord's greatness, uprightness and love, we will start to experience
a change from within. No longer will we indulge in self pity.
Note something here, which is very important, in verse 12. It is the word
"meditate". In remembering, what we are doing is also meditating. In the
biblical sense, meditating means to ponder the word of God and even saying
the scriptures back to ourselves! By the time Asaph had finished remembering
his God, he declared "Who is so great a God as our God?" Can you see the
change that took place? Asaph was now encouraged. He goes on to declare the
awesome creative and redemptive acts of the Lord, but notice a couple things
as I close. Not only does Asaph remember the Lord's goodness towards him
personally, he remembers it towards God's people on a whole. We too can
follow this example. We should remember what God has done for our family,
friends, community and even nation - not just ourselves. Secondly, Asaph
mentioned Jacob, Joseph, Moses and Aaron. This teaches us that we should
remember as far back in the past as possible. He glorified God for His
goodness in past generations, well before he was even born!
I challenge you - get a piece of paper, and start remembering! Write down
all you can about who God is and what He has done from your own perspective
or experience. As you do so, I believe the Holy Spirit will bring back
things to your remembrance (John 14:26). You will be amazed how quickly that
paper fills up! Then, use this piece of paper to help you REMEMBER the
goodness of God!
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
back to top |
