Psalm 77
Title
לַמְנַצֵּ֥חַ עַֽל יְדוּת֗וּן לְאָסָ֥ף מִזְמֽוֹר
1My cry goes to God! Indeed, I cry to God for help, and for him to listen to me. 2In the day of my trouble I sought the Lord. My hand was stretched out in the night, and didn’t get tired. My soul refused to be comforted. 3I remember God, and I groan. I complain, and my spirit is overwhelmed. Selah. 4You hold my eyelids open. I am so troubled that I can’t speak. 5I have considered the days of old, the years of ancient times. 6I remember my song in the night. I consider in my own heart; my spirit diligently inquires: 7“Will the Lord reject us forever? Will he be favorable no more? 8Has his loving kindness vanished forever? Does his promise fail for generations? 9Has God forgotten to be gracious? Has he, in anger, withheld his compassion?” Selah. 10Then I thought, “I will appeal to this: the years of the right hand of the Most High.” 11I will remember Yah’s deeds; for I will remember your wonders of old. 12I will also meditate on all your work, and consider your doings. 13Your way, God, is in the sanctuary. What god is great like God? 14You are the God who does wonders. You have made your strength known among the peoples. 15You have redeemed your people with your arm, the sons of Jacob and Joseph. Selah. 16The waters saw you, God. The waters saw you, and they writhed. The depths also convulsed. 17The clouds poured out water. The skies resounded with thunder. Your arrows also flashed around. 18The voice of your thunder was in the whirlwind. The lightnings lit up the world. The earth trembled and shook. 19Your way was through the sea, your paths through the great waters. Your footsteps were not known. 20You led your people like a flock, by the hand of Moses and Aaron.
Introduction
Psalms 77
This psalm, according to the method of many other psalms, begins with sorrowful complaints but ends with comfortable encouragements. The complaints seem to be of personal grievances, but the encouragements relate to the public concerns of the church, so that it is not certain whether it was penned upon a personal or a public account. If they were private troubles that he was groaning under, it teaches us that what God has wrought for his church in general may be improved for the comfort of particular believers; if it was some public calamity that he is here lamenting, his speaking of it so feelingly, as if it had been some particular trouble of his own, shows how much we should lay to heart the interests of the church of God and make them ours. One of the rabbin says, This psalm is spoken in the dialect of the captives; and therefore some think it was penned in the captivity in Babylon. I. The psalmist complains here of the deep impressions which his troubles made upon his spirits, and the temptation he was in to despair of relief (Psa 77:1-10). II. He encourages himself to hope that it would be well at last, by the remembrance of God's former appearances for the help of his people, of which he gives several instances (Psa 77:11-20). In singing this psalm we must take shame to ourselves for all our sinful distrusts of God, and of his providence and promise, and give to him the glory of his power and goodness by a thankful commemoration of what he has done for us formerly and a cheerful dependence on him for the future.
To the chief musician, to Jeduthun. A psalm of Asaph.
Cross-references: Ps 77:1 · Ps 77:11