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 –
i) Moses when pleading for God not to destroy Israel after they had erected the golden Calf
ii) Hannah when praying to God for a child
iii) Jesus in the Garden of Gethsamane, praying before his trial and crucifixion
Secondly –
2nd part of v2
My hand was stretched out in the night without ceasing;
• Typically when you stretch out your hand to someone, it is in the hope of receiving something from that person
• Here Asaph is talking about stretching out his hand, or lifting his hand unto God in prayer
• But importantly, he says is stretches out his hand, ‘ in the night without ceasing’. This means he prayed all through the night long non stop. He was willing to sacrifice his sleep to pray.
• I know sometimes for us its difficult for us to pray all night long especially if we have to go to work the next day. But what I do want to point here is the amount of time he spent in prayer. The issue is the amount of time he spent in prayer
• So desperate was his prayer that he was willing to pray for hours … all night long.
• We can’t pray for 5 minutes and call it desperate prayer.
• Desperate prayer takes time
Ills. Jacob wrestled with God in Gen 32. How he wrestled with God all night long until daybreak. And he said ‘I will note let you go until you bless me.’
• Desperate prayer is like this. Wrestling in prayer until we get that breakthrough.
Thirdly -
Last part of v.2
My soul refused to be comforted.
• Reminded of Jacob when he heard about Joseph’s death. He refused to be comforted.
• Why does Asaph say here that he refuses to be comforted?
• I believe he says this because if he were to get comfortable, then he would not pray with as much intensity and focus. He wanted to be able to maintain that intensity and focus as he prayed …that’s why he refused to be comforted.
• I am sure all of us can identify with this. When life is good for us, no problems of any kind in our jobs, family, health, finances etc. if and when we do pray there isn’t that fervency there. But if we are facing all kinds of problems then we pray with a much greater fervency.
Fourthly –
v.3
I remembered God, and was troubled
• Strange phrase … Asaph remembers God and he is troubled.
• When he thinks of God, it troubles him.
• The only time thinking of God can trouble a person is when that person has some area of sin in his life, or he is disobeying God in some area. Because when a person has some area of sin or disobedience in his life, when he thinks of God, he is conscious of the fact that God knows everything and secondly conscience is not clear.
• I am sure this has been your experience as well, when you come before God in prayer, but you know that there is sin in your life, there isn’t that liberty in your prayers. There isn’t that feeling to approach Him boldly.
• So that’s the last aspect about desperate prayer. Before we can bring any kind of prayer to Him, we need to confess our sins and repent.
John 15 : 7
If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you
Ills. My desperate prayer for my eldest brother
2) The voice of frustration (v.5 – 9)
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?
• Asaph is reminiscing about the good old days, when life was better. In the night he would sing a song and he would be ok. But whatever situation he is in now is much worse than the good old days. He can’t sleep … and he is kept awake by a series of questions that he asks (in v. 7 – 9)
• Why does Asaph ask such questions?
• Let me rephrase these questions so that we can see what he is getting at?
God, aren’t you supposed to be God who grants us favour? If so, where is your favor when I have lost my job? Oh God, I thought your promises are yes and amen. Then why is by business suffering so badly now that I probably have to close it down. God, I thought you are a gracious God, then why am I suffering so much now?
• One thing I have always appreciated about reading through Psalms, it is the brutal honesty with which some of the Psalms are written where the Psalmist express exactly whats in their heart and pull no punches
• If we are honest with ourselves, we have probably prayed the same kind of prayers or asked the same kinds of questions ourselves before …. Where we question God and wonder whether he really loves us because we are going through hell right now and His love seems very far away.
But very importantly the Psalm does not end on such a note. From v.10 onwards we see a change in the mood of the Psalm.
3) Think of God’s goodness (v.10 – 12)
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.
• First thing I want to emphasize is the words ‘I will’.
• When going through a difficult time, you can choose. You can make a choice.
• So what is he going to do here. He will remember the goodness of the Lord in the past.
• Rather than dwell on the sorry state of affairs he is now in, he is choosing to dwell on the goodness of God
• It is a good thing to remember good things He has done for us in the past. Keeps us thankful.
• God doesn’t change. The God that blessed you in the past is still the same God today.
2 passages of scripture I want to highlight …
Philippians 4 : 8
8 Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy—meditate on these things
Romans 8 : 32
Since he did not spare even his own Son but gave him up for us all, won’t he also give us everything else? (NLT)
4) Praise God (v. 13 – 20)
Everytime when we come before God and praise and worship in whatever form, its is not just a matter of singing some nice songs to give us a good feeling but it is a declaration of who God is. It is knowing who God is and giving Him the praise and worship that is due. So let’s look at some of the things v.13 – 20 say about Him
i) God is a Holy God
v.13 Your way, O God is in the sanctuary
• The word ‘sanctuary’ here means holiness. So this verse is saying that ‘Your way O God is holy’ God is a holy God.
1 Peter 1 : 15, 16
15 but as He who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, 16 because it is written, “Be holy, for I am holy.”
• We can only effectively praise and worship God if we are holy.
ii) God is a great God
v.13b Who is so great a God as our God?
• God is a great God.
• 2 things I want to say about God’s greatness
• Firstly - No one can compare to Him and no one can fully comprehend His ways
Isaiah 55 : 8, 9
“For My thoughts are not your thoughts, Nor are your ways My ways,” says the Lord. 9 “For as the heavens are higher than the earth, So are My ways higher than your ways, And My thoughts than your thoughts.
• So we can look around at our circumstance in the natural and wonder whether God really knows what He is doing because He seems to be doing things which are nonsensical in our human understanding. But our human understanding is limited in trying to understand the ways of God.
• Secondly – God’s love for us is great. His greatness is seen in His love towards us
1 John 3 : 1
See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! (NIV)
iii) God is a miracle working God
v.14 You are the God who does wonders; You have declared Your strength among the peoples
• God is a miracle working God who can perform miracles which display His strength for all to see. This is something we have seen time and time again in the OT
iv) God is a redeeming God
v.15 You have with Your arm redeemed Your people, The sons of Jacob and Joseph.
• To redeem means to set free. The great act of redemption in the OT of course is when he set the Israelites free from the Egyptians in the book of Exodus
• So how does this apply to us today? Well we also have been redeemed
1 Peter 1 : 18, 19
18 knowing that you were not redeemed with corruptible things, like silver or gold, from your aimless conduct received by tradition from your fathers, 19 but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot
• We have been redeemed, i.e. we have been set free with something precious, the blood of Jesus
• This is something we always need to remember, how Christ shed His blood for us. That is why we partake of communion, to remember what Christ did for us
• And we need to remember this to keep us grateful to God. I am not denying the difficulties some of us are experiencing now. But there is always something all of us can be thankful for…. Christ shedding His blood for us on the Cross. And that in itself far outweighs everything that we go through in this lifetime.
v) God is in control
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.
• God is in control
vi) God is a providing God
20 You led Your people like a flock By the hand of Moses and Aaron.
• This of course refers to the 40 years in the wilderness when God miraculously provided for the people of Israel. In the natural, they were in the most bleakest of circumstances, in a place where there is no water, no food.
• Yet they lacked water nor food. And their clothes never wore out. I just had to throw away a pair shoes the other day. I liked this pair very much .. was thinking how nice it would be to have a pair like this never wear out.
• Then there is that story in 1 Kings 17 of the widow, who had enough flour and oil for just one last meal for herself and her son because the land was in a drought. But she made that meal for Elijah and a miracle of provision followed … she never ran out of flour and oil
• God provides even in the midst of bleak circumstances.
• My prayer is that those of you who experiencing difficulties brought on by the this situation to experience the supernatural provision of God upon your lives.
So to recap then on the God that we praise
i) God is a holy God
ii) God is a great God
iii) God is a miracle working God
iv) God is a redeeming God
v) God is in control
vi) God is providing God
• The main gist of v. 13 – 20 … Praising God. Its all about praising Him, exalting Him, lifting up His name.
• It is always easy to praise God when everything is fine, when you have money in the bank, your job or business is doing well, your family is fine … everything is fine.
• But it is a different thing to praise the Lord when all of these things is not fine, when your business is really suffering, you are in danger of have lost your job or have gotten a substantial pay cut etc.
Habakkuk 3 : 17 - 19
Though the fig tree may not blossom, Nor fruit be on the vines;
Though the labor of the olive may fail, And the fields yield no food;
Though the flock may be cut off from the fold, And there be no herd in the stalls—
18 Yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in the God of my salvation.
The Lord God is my strength; He will make my feet like deer’s feet,
And He will make me walk on my high hills.
• Imagine being a person who lived off the land with fig trees, olive trees and livestock and having nothing.
Hebrews 13 : 15
Therefore by Him let us continually offer the sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to His name.
• A sacrifice is something which costs you something. So in this passage, the act of offering up praise to god is a sacrifice. When does the act of offering up praise become a sacrifice? When it’s difficult for you to do it .. especially when your personal circumstances are bleak.
Romans 5 : 3 - 4
3 And not only that, but we also glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance; 4 and perseverance, character; and character, hope
• The word ‘glory’ here means to take joy or rejoice. So we rejoice in tribulations because it produces character within us and arising from that is hope.
Psalms 42 : 11
Why are you cast down, O my soul? And why are you disquieted within me?
Hope in God; For I shall yet praise Him, The help of my countenance and my God.
• Why are you depressed, downcast? But hope in God. Hope in God and praise Him.
Recap
1) Desperate prayer
2) Voice of frustration
3) Think of God’s goodness
4) Praise God
Psalms 77 : 1
I cried out to God with my voice—
To God with my voice; And He gave ear to me.
