Psalms 77

Confidence in a Time of Crisis

1

For the choir director: according to Jeduthun. Of Asaph. A psalm.

1 I cry aloud to God, aloud to God, and He will hear me.

2 In my day of trouble I sought the Lord. My hands were lifted up all night long; I refused to be comforted.^[a]

3 I think of God; I groan;^[b] I meditate; my spirit becomes weak.^[c] Selah

4 You have kept me from closing my eyes; I am troubled and cannot speak.

5 I consider days of old, years long past.

6 At night I remember my music; I meditate in my heart, and my spirit ponders.

7 "Will the Lord reject forever^[d] and never again show favor?

8 Has His faithful love ceased forever? Is [His] promise at an end for all generations?^[e]

9 Has God forgotten to be gracious? Has He in anger withheld His compassion?"^[f] Selah

10 So I say, "It is my sorrow^[g] that the right hand of the Most High has changed."

11 I will remember the Lord's works; yes, I will remember Your ancient wonders.^[h]

12 I will reflect on all You have done and meditate on Your actions.

13 God, Your way is holy. What god is great like God?

14 You are the God who works wonders; You revealed Your strength among the peoples.^[i]

15 With power You redeemed Your people,^[j] the descendants of Jacob and Joseph. Selah

16 The waters saw You, God. The waters saw You; they trembled. Even the depths shook.

17 The clouds poured down water. The storm clouds thundered; Your arrows flashed back and forth.^[k]

18 The sound of Your thunder was in the whirlwind; lightning lit up the world.^[l] The earth shook and quaked.^[m]

19 Your way went through the sea, and Your path through the great waters,^[n] but Your footprints were unseen.

20 You led Your people like a flock^[o] by the hand of Moses and Aaron.

Psalms 77 Commentary

Chapter 77

The psalmist's troubles and temptation. (1-10) He encourages himself by the remembrance of God's help of his people. (11-20)

Verses 1-10 Days of trouble must be days of prayer; when God seems to have withdrawn from us, we must seek him till we find him. In the day of his trouble the psalmist did not seek for the diversion of business or amusement, but he sought God, and his favor and grace. Those that are under trouble of mind, must pray it away. He pored upon the trouble; the methods that should have relieved him did but increase his grief. When he remembered God, it was only the Divine justice and wrath. His spirit was overwhelmed, and sank under the load. But let not the remembrance of the comforts we have lost, make us unthankful for those that are left. Particularly he called to remembrance the comforts with which he supported himself in former sorrows. Here is the language of a sorrowful, deserted soul, walking in darkness; a common case even among those that fear the Lord, ( Isaiah 50:10 ) . Nothing wounds and pierces like the thought of God's being angry. God's own people, in a cloudy and dark day, may be tempted to make wrong conclusions about their spiritual state, and that of God's kingdom in the world. But we must not give way to such fears. Let faith answer them from the Scripture. The troubled fountain will work itself clear again; and the recollection of former times of joyful experience often raises a hope, tending to relief. Doubts and fears proceed from the want and weakness of faith. Despondency and distrust under affliction, are too often the infirmities of believers, and, as such, are to be thought upon by us with sorrow and shame. When, unbelief is working in us, we must thus suppress its risings.

Verses 11-20 The remembrance of the works of God, will be a powerful remedy against distrust of his promise and goodness; for he is God, and changes not. God's way is in the sanctuary. We are sure that God is holy in all his works. God's ways are like the deep waters, which cannot be fathomed; like the way of a ship, which cannot be tracked. God brought Israel out of Egypt. This was typical of the great redemption to be wrought out in the fulness of time, both by price and power. If we have harboured doubtful thoughts, we should, without delay, turn our minds to meditate on that God, who spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, that with him, he might freely give us all things.

Footnotes

• [a]. Gn 37:35; Jr 31:15
• [b]. Ps 42:5,11; 55:17; Ezk 7:16
• [c]. Ps 143:4
• [d]. Lm 2:7; 3:31
• [e]. Ps 33:11; 85:5; 89:1,4
• [f]. Ex 34:6-7
• [g]. Lit "My piercing
• [h]. Ps 88:12; 89:5
• [i]. Ps 72:18; Ex 15:11; 34:10
• [j]. Ex 6:6
• [k]. Hab 3:11; Zch 9:14
• [l]. Ps 29:3-9; 97:4
• [m]. Ps 18:7; 2 Sm 22:8; Isa 13:13
• [n]. Isa 43:16
• [o]. Ps 23:1-4; 78:52-53; Ezk 34
• [p]. Nm 33:1; 1 Sm 12:6; Mc 6:4
• [q]. Ps 74:12-17; 114:3-5; Ex 15:5-10

Chapter Summary

To the chief Musician, to Jeduthun, A Psalm of Asaph. Jeduthun was the name of the chief musician, to whom this psalm was inscribed and sent; see 1 Chronicles 25:1, though Aben Ezra takes it to be the first word of some song, to the tune of which this was sung; and the Midrash interprets it of the subject of the psalm, which is followed by Jarchi, who explains it thus, "concerning the decrees and judgments which passed upon Israel;" that is, in the time of their present captivity, to which, as he, Kimchi, and Arama think, the whole psalm belongs. Some interpreters refer it to the affliction of the Jews in Babylon, so Theodoret; or under Ahasuerus, or Antiochus; and others to the great and last distress of the church under antichrist; though it seems to express the particular case of the psalmist, and which is common to other saints.