Psalm 77

1: I cry aloud to God, aloud to God, and he will hear me.
2: In the day of my trouble I seek the Lord; in the night
my hand is stretched out without wearying; my soul
refuses to be comforted.
3: When I remember God, I moan; when I meditate, my spirit faints.
Selah

Verses 1-3 reveal to us Asaph’s groanings on this day of trouble. Let us see how he begins this song.

Verse 1 – He begins with crying aloud to God. He does not turn to man, or to money, or to the comforts of women or food, but he belts his cry out to his God and trusts in Him to hear. We must each look at God’s word here as a mirror and see ourselves in light of it. In our “day of trouble”(v2), what do we turn to? I myself can say that sometimes I immediately turn to the Lord, but the vast majority of times I immediately turn to my own flesh and what I, another person, or some other plastic thing can do for the situation.

Verse 2 – During this day of distress and trouble he sought the Lord, and his hands were outstretched without getting tired, showing that “his prayer ceased not, but with uplifted hand he continued to seek succour of his God.” His soul refused all comforts, both the comforts of this world and the comforts which he should have known, and will know soon enough.

Verse 3-”When I remember God, I moan.” I must quote Spurgeon here: “He who is the wellspring of delight to faith became an object of dread to the Psalmist’s distracted heart. The justice, holiness, power, and truth of God have all a dark side, and indeed all the attributives may be made to look black upon us if our eye be evil; even the brightness of divine love blinds us, and fills us with a horrible suspicion that we have neither part nor lot in it.”

4: You hold my eyelids open; I am so troubled that
I cannot speak.
5:I consider the days of old, the years long ago.
6: I said, “Let me remember my song in the night;
let me meditate in my heart.” Then my spirit made a diligent search:
7: “Will the Lord spurn forever,and never again be favorable?
8: Has his steadfast love forever ceased?
Are his promises at an end for all time?
9: Has God forgotten to be gracious?
Has he in anger shut up his compassion?” Selah

Verses 4-9
These verses continue the despair, with the writer stating that he is so troubled that he does not sleep, or speak. He continues to dwell on the fact that God is now not being favorable to him, and he is not feeling any peace.
Personally, I have had many days where I have felt this way. Where I feel as if God is not even a present reality, and that even if I struggle to pray it just goes into the walls of my closet and not anywhere else.

10: Then I said, “I will appeal to this,
to the years of the right hand of the Most High.”
11: I will remember the deeds of the Lord;
yes, I will remember your wonders of old.
12: I will ponder all your work,
and meditate on your mighty deeds.
13: Your way, O God, is holy.
What god is great like our God?
14: You are the God who works wonders;
you have made known your might among the peoples.
15: You with your arm redeemed your people,
the children of Jacob and Joseph. Selah

Verses 10-15
What an amazing turning point for us in this psalm.

Verse 10-11: In the midst of this despair, this trouble and fear that makes Asaph shut is mouth and not sleep in agony, he decides to appeal to what the Lord has done. He begins to remember what the Lord has done instead of keeping his focus on himself and his own agony, because God is better. This is a great lesson for me, that in the midst of even the greatest despair I can, and should bring my mind back to what our great God has done in the past.

Verses 12-13: Not only does he bring his mind back to what the Lord has done, but he chooses to even ponder and meditate on them, spending much time dwelling on the past great acts of his faithful God. After, and while pondering on these things he concludes that there is nothing like God, and he alone is holy, separated from all other things in all of his attributes.

Verse 14-15: This God is not weak, not a God who is not impressive. This God has made himself known as powerful among many peoples. And what else to conclude this section, but that he is the God who has redeemed his people!

16: When the waters saw you, O God,
when the waters saw you, they were afraid;
indeed, the deep trembled.
17: The clouds poured out water;
the skies gave forth thunder;
your arrows flashed on every side.
18: The crash of your thunder was in the whirlwind;
your lightnings lighted up the world;
the earth trembled and shook.
19: Your way was through the sea,
your path through the great waters;
yet your footprints were unseen.
20: You led your people like a flock
by the hand of Moses and Aaron.

Verses 16-20: Here again, he is meditating on what God has done. He had done great works in the earth to bring about the redemption of his people Israel. This is a powerful God who shakes the earth and causes the deep the tremble yet remains unseen.
This psalm ends abrubtly, not with Asaph saying that he was comforted greatly by dwelling on these things that God has done, or it ending in a praise of how he now feels incredibly happy because of what the Lord has done in the past. He simply ends it with his meditation on what God did.

Application:
We as Christians must be sure to apply what Asaph portray’s in this psalm. In the midst of his despair, even the deepest despair of feeling that the Lord is angry at him and not in favor of him, Asaph chooses to dwell on the mighty work God has done in the past. He dwells on what God has done, even when it when previously his thoughts of God were not pleasant to him.
What do we turn to in our times such as this, or any type of heartwrenching struggle that we face? Do we turn to ourselves and our own grief, dwelling on our situation alone and disregarding God while doing it? Do we shop? Do we watch television or go on the internet and ignore it? Or do we take how we feel and the situation and dwell on the great things the Lord has done?

What has he done for us? He has redeemed his people and led them as his flock!

We as God’s people now are able to read this in light of the coming of the promised Messiah. If you be in Christ, you can now dwell on what he has done for you as his bride. Take comfort that not only has Christ been raised from the dead and seated with the Father in the heavenly places, but we have also been raised from the dead and have been seated with Christ as well (Ephesians 1:20, 2:6)! Look at what has been done for you! He has taken his Father’s wrath upon himself that you deserve, his life is counted as yours, his righteousness is imputed to you, and one day you will stand before the Father not only sinless, but righteous with the righteousness of Christ! It is finished! It is completed! The Father looks upon you with pleasure, inspite of who you are all because of how great His Son is! Now, let us as God’s people take what we know God has done, from Genesis to Revelation, from the Exodus of Israel to your sin’s being paid for by Jesus, and dwell on all his great works in our times of great struggle.