Prayer In Desperate Times

PSALMS 77 – PRAYER IN DESPERATE TIMES

I cried out to God with my voice—

To God with my voice; And He gave ear to me.

2 In 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.

3 I remembered God, and was troubled; I complained, and my spirit was overwhelmed. Selah

4 You hold my eyelids open; I am so troubled that I cannot speak.

5 I have considered the days of old, The years of ancient times.

6 I call to remembrance my song in the night; I meditate within my heart,

And my spirit makes diligent search.

7 Will the Lord cast off forever? And will He be favorable no more?

8 Has His mercy ceased forever? Has His promise failed forevermore?

9 Has God forgotten to be gracious? Has He in anger shut up His tender mercies? Selah

10 And I said, “This is my anguish;

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

11 I will remember the works 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.

13 Your way, O God, is in the sanctuary; Who is so great a God as our God?

14 You are the God who does wonders; You have declared Your strength among the peoples.

15 You have with Your arm 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 trembled.

17 The clouds poured out water; The skies sent out a sound; Your arrows also flashed about.

18 The voice of Your thunder was in the whirlwind; The lightnings lit up the world;

The earth trembled and shook.

19 Your way was in the sea, Your path in the great waters,

And Your footsteps were not known.

20 You led Your people like a flock By the hand of Moses and Aaron.

Today I want to preach on Psalms 77. I almost stumbled upon this Psalm by accident some time back whilst I was doing some bible study

This Psalm was not written by David but by a man called Asaph. Asaph was a musician during King David and King Solomon’s time. I don’t know the circumstances behind the writing of this Psalm. But lets look at some of the words written in the Psalm

For example …

v2 In the day of my trouble I sought the Lord;…..My soul refused to be comforted.

v3 I remembered God, and was troubled; I complained, and my spirit was overwhelmed…

v4 You hold my eyelids open; I am so troubled that I cannot speak…..

v5 - 6

I have considered the days of old, The years of ancient times.

6 I call to remembrance my song in the night;

I meditate within my heart, And my spirit makes diligent search.

v10 And I said, “This is my anguish;

So its pretty clear that Asaph is going through a very difficult period in his life. In that respect its relevant to what many of us are going through now

So I am not trying to be so negative, but the reality is we are going through difficult times now. Businesses are closing down, people are losing their jobs or getting pay cuts. People are getting infected with a virus which is incurable at this present moment. So if it is your misfortune to be going through tough times now brought on by the Covid 19 situation, my prayer for you is that you draw some strength and encouragement today as we go through this Psalm. I am not going to do a verse by verse exposition of this Psalm but will just highlight some points from it from the passage.

1) Desperate prayer. (v.1 – 4)

4 points I want to make about desperate prayer -

Firstly -

v.1 says I cried out to God with my voice

• The word ‘cried’ in the original Hebrew actually means to shriek or shout. When I think of the word ‘shriek’ the first picture which comes to my mind is that of a woman who sees a rat and she shrieks and jumps up on the nearest table. It’s a very dramatic word. And this is how Asaph prays where he literally shrieks or shouts to God at the top of his voice when he prays. Its not a silent prayer. Its not a prayer he mutters quietly to himself but he cries out to God.

• I believe some of the most powerful prayers prayed in the bible, are prayers prayed in desperation. 3 examples come to mind –