Psalm 077

Introduction

Psalm 77 is another of the psalms of Asaph and it’s a kind of lamentation, where the psalmist cries out to the Lord because of the trouble he’s in. However, it also contains thanksgiving and confidence.

And the psalm is in two parts. In the first part, verses 1 to 9, the psalmist laments before the Lord and he expresses his anguish and he wonders whether God has rejected him for ever. But then he turns the corner and in verses 10 to 20 he focuses not so much on his trouble in the present, but on God and what God did for his people in the past. In the past, God delivered his people from their slavery in Egypt and he led them like a flock through the wilderness. And remembering what God did for his people in the past enabled the psalmist to turn from lamentation to praise.

And whenever we’re in trouble, we should remember what God did for us in the past when he sent his Son to deliver us from our sin and misery by his life and death and resurrection. And we should trust in God, because he still leads his people like a flock.

Verses 1 to 3

He tells us in verse 1 that he cried out to God for help; and he cried out to God to hear him. He doesn’t tell us what was going on in his life and why he needed God’s help; and there are no clues in the text to help us figure out what was happening. But repeating the words ‘I cried out to God’ in verse 1 indicates his urgency. He cried out to the Lord again and again.

And when he was in distress, he sought the Lord. At night, when everyone else was sleeping, he had his hands stretched out to heaven, appealing to God to send help. And he tells us at the end of verse 2 that his soul refused to be comforted. He perhaps means that he refused human comfort. Perhaps the members of his family and his friends were trying to comfort him, reassuring him that it will all be okay. But their words had no effect on him and he won’t be comforted until the Lord answers his prayer. As one of the commentators puts it: he wants resolution, not consolation. Consoling words are fine, but what he really wants is for his problem to be resolved.

And he tells us in verse 3 that when he remembered God, he groaned; and when he mused, or meditated, his spirit grew faint. Why did he groan when he remembered God? Why did his spirit grow faint? It’s perhaps because God won’t answer his prayer. So, he trusts in God. He’s expecting God to answer him. He’s expecting God to help him. He’s expecting God to come to his aid, because he trusts in God. And yet, God has not responded to his cries. And he doesn’t know what to make of it. The person who doesn’t believe doesn’t expect any help to come from God. But the believer expects God to help; and doesn’t know what to make of it when God remains silent.

Verses 4 to 6

He says in verse 4 that God kept his eyes from closing. In other words, the psalmist can’t sleep. He can’t get any rest. And he was too troubled to speak. The commentators think he means that he was too troubled to speak to God in prayer. So, we can imagine his restlessness in the night. Something’s bothering him. Something’s worrying him. He’s tossing and turning and he can’t sleep. But he’s so troubled by his thoughts that he can’t pray; or he can’t put his thoughts into words.

And he thinks about the former days, which now seem a long time ago, when presumably his life was so much better than it is now in the present. Isn’t this what we do when we’re going through hard times? We think back to a time in our life when things were better and everything was okay and when our days were filled with happiness and laughter and not with misery and sorrow. Things were so much better then. And we miss those days.

And the psalmist says that he remembers his songs in the night; and his heart mused or meditated and his spirit enquired and he asked himself the questions which appear in verses 7 to 9. Will God reject for ever? Will he never show his favour again? Has his unfailing love vanished for ever? Has his promise failed for all time? Has God forgotten to be merciful? Has he in anger withheld his compassion?

I think we’re to imagine him, trying to find some comfort by remembering the songs which he used to sing to God — songs of praise to God for his unfailing love and mercy. But it now seems to him that God has rejected him.

And so, the first part of the psalm ends with these questions, which reflect the psalmist’s sorrow and anguish.

Before we move on to the second part of the psalm, we should note that since the Scriptures contain lamentations like this one, then it means we too can go to God with our lamentations. When things are not going well for us, we don’t need to pretend that all is well, but we can go to the Lord and express our anguish and sorrow and make our complaint known to him.

Verses 10 to 12

Verse 10 is difficult to translate. And if you’re using the ESV, you’ll see that the translators provide an alternative translation in the footnotes. Most of the commentators seem to prefer the alternative translation which is: ‘This is my grief: that the right hand of the Lord has changed.’ So, God was willing to help his people in the past, but not now, because God’s attitude towards his people has changed. In that case, verse 10 is still part of his lamentation.

However, the translation we find in the NIV is more positive, because when he mentions the ‘years of the Most High’, he’s referring to the time in the distant past when the Most High God helped his people. And he’s going to appeal to God now on the basis of what God has done for his people in the distant past. So, he’s going to remember the deeds of the Lord and the miracles he performed for his people in the days of Moses. He’s going to meditate on all of God’s works and he’s going to consider all of the mighty deeds God did for them.

And notice that the psalmist is no longer talking about God, but he’s talking to God. He’s found his voice again and he’s addressing the Lord in prayer.

Verses 13 to 15

And so, in verses 13 to 15 he praises God because he’s the one who performs miracles and who displayed his power among the people of the earth whenever he redeemed or delivered his people from Egypt. So, forty years after the Exodus from Egypt, whenever the Israelite spies went into Jericho in the days of Joshua, they discovered that the people of Jericho already knew about God and how he had opened up a way for his people through the Red Sea. What God had done for his people in the days of Moses had become known among the peoples of the earth.

Verses 16 to 18

And in verses 16 to 18 he describes what happened at the time of the Exodus. But he uses poetic imagery. He says that the waters of the Red Sea saw the Lord, who was coming to save his people. And the waters of the Red Sea writhed in fear and they convulsed because of terror. The waters saw the Lord coming and they were terrified. And then the clouds poured down water and the skies resounded with thunder and lightning flashed like arrows back and forth across the sky.

He refers to the thunder as ‘your thunder’ and the lightning as ‘your lightning’. The thunder and lightning were God’s weapons. He came as a mighty warrior to save his people; and the whole earth quaked in fear.

And so, God revealed his power and he used his great power to save his people from the Egyptians and to bring them safely through the Red Sea.

Verses 19 and 20

In verse 19 the psalmist refers to the path which the Lord created for his people through the Red Sea. The waters may have been mighty, but they were no match for the Lord. And the psalmist says at the end of verse 19 that the Lord’s footprints were not seen. In other words, God was not seen. The glory-cloud which went before them signified that he was with them, but they were not able to see him with their own eyes. He was present with them, but he was invisible.

And though he was invisible, he led them by the hand of Moses and Aaron. So, he sent them Moses and Aaron to be their shepherds; and they led the people like a flock of sheep through the wilderness to the Promised Land.

Conclusion

And that’s where the psalm ends. The psalmist moved from lamentation to praise and confidence. When he looked at his own present circumstances, he was in anguish and despair, because it seemed to him that God had forgotten him. But then he remembered that time in the distant past when God rescued his people from their slavery and he brought them through the Red Sea and he led them through the wilderness to the Promised Land.

The greatest act of salvation which Old Testament believers could look back to was the time when God saved his people from Egypt. But we can look back to an even greater act of salvation. We can look back to the time when God the Son came into the world as one of us and he gave up his life on the cross in order to rescue us from our sin and misery and to give us life in the Promised Land to come in the new heavens and earth where we will be with the Lord forever.

And whenever we face troubles and trials in this life, whenever we experience sorrow and sadness, whenever we are in despair because of what is happening to us, we should remember that God loved us and sent his Son to save us. And since God did not spare his Son, but gave him up for us, how he will not also, along with Christ, graciously give us all that we need. If God is for us — and we know he’s for us, because he sent his Son to save us — then who can be against us and succeed?

And so, we can look back to the cross, because the cross displays for us the greatness of God’s love for us and the victory of God over our sin and misery. And in this way, lamentation gives way to praise and to confidence and to hope for the future.