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Psalm 77

God’s Mighty Deeds Recalled

To the leader: according to Jeduthun. Of Asaph. A Psalm.

1

I cry aloud to God,

aloud to God, that he may hear me.

2

In the day of my trouble I seek the Lord;

in the night my hand is stretched out without wearying;

my soul refuses to be comforted.

3

I think of God, and I moan;

I meditate, and my spirit faints. Selah

 

4

You keep my eyelids from closing;

I am so troubled that I cannot speak.

5

I consider the days of old,

and remember the years of long ago.

6

I commune with my heart in the night;

I meditate and search my spirit:

7

“Will the Lord spurn forever,

and never again be favorable?

8

Has his steadfast love ceased forever?

Are his promises at an end for all time?

9

Has God forgotten to be gracious?

Has he in anger shut up his compassion?” Selah

10

And I say, “It is my grief

that the right hand of the Most High has changed.”

 

11

I will call to mind the deeds of the L ord;

I will remember your wonders of old.

12

I will meditate on all your work,

and muse on your mighty deeds.

13

Your way, O God, is holy.

What god is so great as our God?

14

You are the God who works wonders;

you have displayed your might among the peoples.

15

With your strong arm you redeemed your people,

the descendants of Jacob and Joseph. Selah

 

16

When the waters saw you, O God,

when the waters saw you, they were afraid;

the very deep trembled.

17

The clouds poured out water;

the skies thundered;

your arrows flashed on every side.

18

The crash of your thunder was in the whirlwind;

your lightnings lit up the world;

the earth trembled and shook.

19

Your way was through the sea,

your path, through the mighty waters;

yet your footprints were unseen.

20

You led your people like a flock

by the hand of Moses and Aaron.


11. I will remember the works of God. The prophet now, inspired with new courage, vigorously resists the temptations, which had so far prevailed against him as well nigh to overwhelm his faith. This remembering of the works of God differs from the remembering of which he had previously spoken. Then he contemplated from a distance the divine benefits, and he found the contemplation of them inadequate to assuage or mitigate his grief. Here he takes hold of them, so to speak, as assured testimonies of God’s everlasting grace. To express the greater earnestness, he repeats the same sentence, interjecting an affirmation; for the word כי, ki, is here used simply to confirm or enhance the statement. Having then, as it were, obtained the victory, he triumphs in the remembrance of the works of God, being assuredly persuaded that God would continue the same as he had shown himself to be from the beginning. In the second clause, he highly extols the power which God had displayed in preserving his servants: I will remember thy wonderful works from the beginning. He employs the singular number, thy secret, or thy wonderful work; but I have not hesitated to correct the obscurity by changing the number. We will find him soon after employing the singular number to denote many miracles. What he means in short is, that the wonderful power of God which he has always put forth for the preservation and salvation of his servants, provided we duly reflect upon it, is sufficient to enable us to overcome all sorrows. Let us learn from this, that, although sometimes the remembrance of the works of God may bring us less comfort than we would desire, and our circumstances would require, we must nevertheless strive, that the weariness produced by grief may not break our courage. This is deserving of our most careful attention. In the time of sorrow, we are always desirous of finding some remedy to mitigate its bitterness; but the only way by which this can be done is, to cast our cares upon God. It, however, often happens, that the nearer he approaches us, the more, to outward appearance, does he aggravate our sorrows. Many, therefore, when they derive no advantage from this course, imagine that they cannot do better than forget him. Thus they loathe his word, by the hearing of which their sorrow is rather embittered than mitigated, and what is worse, they desire that God, who thus aggravates and inflames their grief, would withdraw to a distance. Others, to bury the remembrance of him, devote themselves wholly to worldly business. It was far otherwise with the prophet. Although he did not immediately experience the benefit which he could have desired, yet he still continued to set God. before his view, wisely supporting his faith by the reflection, that as God changes neither his love nor his nature, he cannot but show himself at length merciful to his servants. Let us also learn to open our eyes to behold the works of God; the excellence of which is of little account in our estimation, by reason of the dimness of our eyes, and our inadequate perception of them; but which, if examined attentively, will ravish us with admiration. The Psalmist repeats in the 12th verse, that he will meditate continually upon these works, until, in due time, he receive the full advantage which this meditation is calculated to afford. The reason why so many examples of the grace of God contribute nothing to our profit, and fail in edifying our faith, is, that as soon as we have begun to make them the subjects of our consideration, our inconstancy draws us away to something else, and thus, at the very commencement, our minds soon lose sight of them.


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