Psalms 77

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

2 ²In the day of my trouble I seek the Lord; in ³the night my ⁴hand is stretched out without wearying; my soul ⁵refuses to be comforted.

3 When I remember God, I ⁶moan; when I meditate, my spirit faints. Selah

4 You hold my eyelids open; I am so ⁷troubled that I cannot speak.

5 I consider ⁸the days of old, the years long ago.

6 I said,^[a]"Let me remember my ⁹song in the night; let me ¹⁰meditate in my heart." Then my spirit made a diligent search:

7 "Will the Lord ¹¹spurn forever, and never again ¹²be favorable?

8 Has his steadfast love forever ceased? Are his ¹³promises at an end for all time?

9 ¹⁴Has God forgotten to be gracious? ¹⁵Has he in anger shut up his compassion?" Selah

10 Then I said, "I will appeal to this, to the years of the ¹⁶right hand of the Most High."^[b]

11 I will remember the deeds of the LORD; yes, I will ¹⁷remember your wonders of old.

12 I will ponder all your ¹⁸work, and meditate on your ¹⁹mighty deeds.

13 Your way, O God, is ²⁰holy. ²¹What god is great like our God?

14 You are the God who ²²works wonders; you have ²³made known your might among the peoples.

15 You ²⁴with your arm redeemed your people, the children of Jacob and Joseph. Selah

16 When ²⁵the 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 ²⁶gave forth thunder; your ²⁷arrows flashed on every side.

18 ²⁸The crash of your thunder was in the whirlwind; ²⁹your lightnings lighted up the world; the earth ³⁰trembled and shook.

19 Your ³¹way was through the sea, your path through the great waters; yet your footprints ³²were unseen.^[c]

20 You ³³led your people like a flock 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Verses 1-10 Days of trouble must be days of prayer; when God seems to have withdrawn from us, we must seek him till we find him.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.

Cross References

• 1. See Psalms 3:4
• 2. Psalms 86:7; [Psalms 20:1; Psalms 50:15; Isaiah 26:16]
• 3. Psalms 63:6; Isaiah 26:9
• 4. [Psalms 143:6]
• 5. Genesis 37:35
• 6. Psalms 42:5, 11; Psalms 43:5
• 7. [Genesis 41:8]
• 8. ver. 10, 11; Psalms 44:1; Psalms 143:5; Deuteronomy 32:7; Isaiah 51:9
• 9. See Psalms 42:8
• 10. Psalms 4:4
• 11. See Psalms 44:9
• 12. Psalms 85:1
• 13. [Romans 9:6]
• 14. [Isaiah 49:15]
• 15. [Habakkuk 3:2]
• 16. [Psalms 118:15]
• 17. ver. 5; Psalms 105:5
• 18. Psalms 90:16
• 19. Psalms 9:11
• 20. Psalms 73:17
• 21. See Psalms 35:10
• 22. See Psalms 72:18
• 23. Psalms 106:8
• 24. [Psalms 74:2; Exodus 6:6; Deuteronomy 9:29]
• 25. Psalms 114:3; Exodus 14:21; Joshua 3:15, 16; Habakkuk 3:10
• 26. [Psalms 68:33]
• 27. See Psalms 18:14
• 28. Psalms 104:7
• 29. Psalms 97:4
• 30. See Psalms 18:7
• 31. Habakkuk 3:15
• 32. See Psalms 36:6
• 33. Psalms 78:52, 53; Psalms 80:1; Exodus 13:21; Exodus 14:19; Isaiah 63:11, 12

Footnotes

• [a]. Hebrew lacks I said
• [b]. Or This is my grief: that the right hand of the Most High has changed
• [c]. Hebrew unknown

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.