To the chief musician, to Juduthun, a psalm of Asaph
77
📚I cried out to God with my voice,
yes, to God with
my voice,
and he gave ear to me.
77:1 Asaph in this psalm writes of a time of great depression. Compare Psalm 42. He could not understand God’s dealings with him, and his faith was being severely tested. We may divide the psalm into three parts: Asaph’s depressed condition and prayer (vs 1-9); his decision to call to mind God’s greatness (vs 10-12); and the works of God in particular which he remembered.⚜
2 📚In the day of my trouble
I sought the Lord.
My hand was unceasingly
stretched out in the night.
My soul refused to be comforted.
3 📚I remembered God and
was troubled.
I complained and my spirit
was overwhelmed. Selah
77:3 Thoughts of God brought thoughts of former joys (vs 5,6), and increased his mental distress. Sighs and groans are sometimes the best prayers. A mother hears her baby’s cries when it has no words.⚜
4 📚You hold my eyes open.
I am so troubled that
I cannot speak.
77:4 Sometimes words seem empty and vain to express the distress of the mind, the longings of the heart. Even the Holy Spirit uses groans in the human heart to appeal to God the Father (Rom 8:26).⚜
5 📚I considered the days of old,
the years of ancient times.
6 📚I remembered my song
in the night.
I meditated in my own heart,
and my spirit made diligent
search.
7 📚Will the Lord cast off forever?
And will he be favourable
no more?
8 📚Is his mercy completely gone forever?
Does his promise fail
for evermore?
9 📚Has God forgotten
to be gracious?
Has he in anger shut up
his tender mercies? Selah
77:7-9 These are the words of a man experiencing great suffering of mind. He seems to have lost all fellowship with God and feels that God is angry. See also Job 6:4 and Lam 3:1-18. Such an experience may come to any of us. When it does we have this psalm to guide us.⚜
10 📚And I said, “This is my infirmity,
but I will remember
the years of the right hand
of the Most High.
11 📚I will remember the deeds
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.
77:10-12 Asaph while seeking God resolved to meditate on God’s former great deeds toward His people. Such remembrance is food for faith. Faith grows stronger by it and triumphs over depression. Peace of heart does not come by looking within at self, but by looking without to God’s acts of redemption. Verse 10 in Hebrew is quite obscure and there have been a number of different translations of it. Probably the KJV is best here.⚜
13 📚Your way, O God, is
in the sanctuary.
Who is as great a God
as our God?
14 📚You are the God
who does wonders.
You have declared your power
among the people.
15 📚With your arm you
redeemed your people,
the sons of Jacob and Joseph. Selah
16 📚The waters saw you,
O God,
the waters saw you.
They were afraid;
the depths also were troubled.
17 📚The clouds poured out water.
The skies sent out a sound.
Your arrows 📖 also went abroad.
18 📚The voice of your thunder
was in the heavens.
The lightning flashes lit up
the world.
The earth trembled and shook.
19 📚Your way is in the sea
and your path in the great
waters,
and your footsteps are not known.
20 📚You led your people like a flock
by the hand of Moses and Aaron.
77:15-20 He remembers the exodus from Egypt, the way through the Red Sea, the journey through the desert. All this brings to his mind God’s love and faithfulness (vs 15,20), God’s power and glory (vs 16-18), and God’s mysterious dealings with His people (v 19). Remembrance of these matters was just the remedy Asaph needed for his gloomy depression. For peace of mind we do not need to know all the mysteries of God’s ways, we need only trust Him for His grace and follow His guidance through the barren wilderness of this world. Now, of course, believers can look to God’s acts of redemption in the death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus and find comfort and help in times of depression.⚜