Psalm 77 To the Chief Musician. To Jeduthun. A Psalm of Asaph.

 ¹I cried out to God with my voice—To God with my voice;

And He gave ear to me.

²In the day of my trouble I sought the Lord;

My hand was stretched out in the night without ceasing;

My soul refused to be comforted.

³I remembered God, and was troubled;

I complained, and my spirit was overwhelmed. Selah

⁴You hold my eyelids open;

I am so troubled that I cannot speak.

⁵I have considered the days of old,

The years of ancient times.

⁶I call to remembrance my song in the night;

I meditate within my heart,

And my spirit makes diligent search.

⁷Will the Lord cast off forever?

And will He be favorable no more?

⁸Has His mercy ceased forever?

Has His promise failed forevermore?

⁹Has God forgotten to be gracious?

Has He in anger shut up His tender mercies? Selah

¹⁰And I said, “This is my anguish;

But I will remember the years of the right hand of the Most High.”

¹¹I will remember the works of the Lord;

Surely I will remember Your wonders of old.

¹²I will also meditate on all Your work,

And talk of Your deeds.

¹³Your way, O God, is in the sanctuary;

Who is so great a God as our God?

¹⁴You are the God who does wonders;

You have declared Your strength among the peoples.

¹⁵You have with Your arm redeemed Your people,

The sons of Jacob and Joseph. Selah

¹⁶The waters saw You, O God;

The waters saw You, they were afraid;

The depths also trembled.

¹⁷The clouds poured out water;

The skies sent out a sound;

Your arrows also flashed about.

¹⁸The voice of Your thunder was in the whirlwind;

The lightnings lit up the world;

The earth trembled and shook.

¹⁹Your way was in the sea,

Your path in the great waters,

And Your footsteps were not known.

²⁰You led Your people like a flock

By the hand of Moses and Aaron.

Preamble: Not everything goes smoothly with us who believe. Very often the Godly suffer, even suffer unexplainably, and that can lead one to having a deep melancholy, and that is the case here, as Asaph searches for answers to his own plight. But ultimately it is not getting answers to our questions that changes us but our seeing our God with us while we are in them.

Commentary

Vs. 1-3 ¹I cried out to God with my voice—To God with my voice;

And He gave ear to me.

²In the day of my trouble I sought the Lord;

My hand was stretched out in the night without ceasing;

My soul refused to be comforted.

³I remembered God, and was troubled;

I complained, and my spirit was overwhelmed. Selah

Asaph begins by saying that when he cried out to God in prayer God listened to Him. For Asaph sought Him, not casually, but diligently, stretching his hand out to Him without ceasing, even through the night. Such then was Asaph’s seeking of God that he would have no other consolation than that God would answer him (vs. 2). In was then during this time that Asaph’s depression began to overtake him (consider Job here), for as he considered God he no longer found the joy he once so freely had, for now he was troubled, questions He had not answered began to haunt him, circumstances he couldn’t understand began to shake him, and soon Asaph found himself moved from a place of unquestionable trust in God, to now complaining to Him, for what he was now facing was seemingly going to overwhelm him.

Vs. 4-6 ⁴You hold my eyelids open;

I am so troubled that I cannot speak.

⁵I have considered the days of old,

The years of ancient times.

⁶I call to remembrance my song in the night;

I meditate within my heart,

And my spirit makes diligent search.

When Asaph turned to his bed for solace and comfort he only found tossing and turning, his sleep simply would not come no matter what he did. So troubled was Asaph by it all that he simply could not speak, words now alluded him. It is then that he began to look back and consider the days of old, when things went so well with him, the years of ancient times when God was so clearly seen at work in His people’s lives, Asaph’s heart sought these good memories diligently, calling to mind his songs to Him during his sleepless nights, remembering when his worship of Him came so easily to him, Asaph even began a diligent search within himself, within his spirit, (his faith), for answers.

Vs. 7-9 ⁷Will the Lord cast off forever?

And will He be favorable no more?

⁸Has His mercy ceased forever?

Has His promise failed forevermore?

⁹Has God forgotten to be gracious?

Has He in anger shut up His tender mercies? Selah

Asaph’s searching now releases a series of six questions, each one touches on him individually and the nation Israel collectively, which may have been the root of his depression, their collective state. Now the first question is ones greatest fear. For to be cast off by the Lord forever is a dread that no believer could endure. And yet Asaph (because of his circumstances) pointily felt he may be standing at the precipice of that. Having raised that frightening prospect, he then moves to ask God if He will be favorable no more, will he and God’s people now have to face life alone, on this world’s terms? An almost equally frightening prospect. Next, he asks if God’s mercies have ceased forever, if His Promises to His people have failed forevermore; which is something that could never be, since God's Person does not change and He does not renege on His Promises. Or is it simply that He has simply forgotten to be gracious? That in His anger He has shut up His tender mercies from them? Deep questions that we may also have to wrestle with and overcome as Asaph has to do here.

Vs. 10-12 ¹⁰And I said, “This is my anguish;

But I will remember the years of the right hand of the Most High.”

¹¹I will remember the works of the Lord;

Surely I will remember Your wonders of old.

¹²I will also meditate on all Your work,

And talk of Your deeds.

Yes, Asaph had anguish of soul, but he also had the resolve of heart to see past it. And that is how he picks himself up, by looking past the present distressing questions and looking to the mighty years when the nation was truly seen at the right hand of the Most High. For if God wanted to forsake His people, He would have done it long ago, instead He stood with them, and stands with them, as they stand with Him. Therefore, Asaph says that he will remember God’s wonders of old, all His Mighty Works and Acts of deliverance, indeed all of God’s Works in heaven and on earth (especially in our own lives) are to be recalled when doubts and fears overtake us, but more than just recalled they are to be openly declared. For that is how you build and strengthen your faith and others as well, by cutting off all the enemies advances through doubts. Therefore, Asaph has committed himself to do this, to meditate on God’s ways, and not on things that are beyond his and our understanding and control. 

Vs. 13-14 ¹³Your way, O God, is in the sanctuary;

Who is so great a God as our God?

¹⁴You are the God who does wonders;

You have declared Your strength among the peoples.

Asaph now recalls the Holy Nature of God. That He meets with us as we seek Him in holiness, in the sanctuary. For God’s way is in the sanctuary, then a literal building, but now literally by His Spirit in our own persons, for He now dwells in us who believe in Him and draws near to us as we sanctify our bodies for Him. Knowing that God draws near His people, Asaph recalls how God did mighty wonders in Egypt on their behalf; though his thought here is likely not limited to that; for throughout the kingdom era, time and again the Lord God interceded on their behalf, and by doing so He Himself declared His strength among the peoples around them, watching them (and not always for good I might add). For if God let them be consumed all the proud and unbelieving peoples of the earth would think that they could even exalt themselves against Him, as they so foolishly tried to do in the days of their building the tower of Babylon. Therefore, God intercedes for us, and especially for His own Names sake, even when we have totally undermined it, He can make straight what we have made crooked. But we must be willing partners with Him in His work if we are to succeed with Him. 

 Vs. 15 “You have with Your arm redeemed Your people,

The sons of Jacob and Joseph. Selah”

 And so it is that God alone redeemed His people, all the sons of Jacob and Joseph from their bondage in Egypt. In like manner He has also redeemed us who believe In Christ from our bondage to sin and Satan. A bondage which we did not know we were under until the Lord Jesus Christ made us free, free from having to be conformed to this world, so that we might be transformed by Him.

Vs. 16-20 ¹⁶The waters saw You, O God;

The waters saw You, they were afraid;

The depths also trembled.

¹⁷The clouds poured out water;

The skies sent out a sound;

Your arrows also flashed about.

¹⁸The voice of Your thunder was in the whirlwind;

The lightnings lit up the world;

The earth trembled and shook.

¹⁹Your way was in the sea,

Your path in the great waters,

And Your footsteps were not known.

²⁰You led Your people like a flock

By the hand of Moses and Aaron.

Asaph now recalls the parting of the Red Sea by the Hand of God. How when God’s people stood upon the shore with no escape from the pursuing Egyptians, God Himself came down from heaven and with His Presence there before them the waters feared and the depths trembled, and they gave way to Him to lead His people safely across to the other side. And when they had all made their way across, the waters had no regard for the pursuing Egyptians, instead they closed in on them and swallowed them up alive!  

Therefore, its was through His chosen servants Moses and Aaron that God continued to lead His people like a flock through the wilderness, their many years of wanderings, and by them He kept them in the way they should go, so that the generation who followed Him wholly could enter the promised land. Therefore, if you let Him God will also lead you home safely (Joshua 1:1-8). All it takes is faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, let Him then lead you by His Word and through His Spirit home safely as well. 

Scripture Quotations

New King James (1982): Thomas Nelson.