Psalm 77

Lamentation (community) / God and the Nations (Asaph)

            My Voice Rises to God

            1 My voice rises to God, and I will cry aloud;

            My voice rises to God, and He will hear me.

·         “Days of trouble must be days of prayer.” (Henry; cf. Mark 9:24)

·         “They are real men of prayer with whom, when answers fail to be forthcoming, the thirst for prayer gets not weakened, but inflamed with great ardor.” (Tholuck)

·         It is dreadful when a remembrance of God troubles a believer. It shows how sad his state is, and how feeble his faith must be.

·         “Spiritual trouble is, of all others, most grievous to a gracious soul. Nothing wounds and pierces it like the apprehensions of God’s being angry, the suspending of his favor, and the superseding of his promise.” (Henry)

·         In our meditations on divine things let us not venture on thoughts too deep for us. The old enemy delights in drawing us into things too painful for us. He is a wise man, who knows the limits of his own mind.

·         It is better to be dumb than to speak foolishness . . . . Often silence is the sum of our duties.

·         “You will find that the works and doings of God from the beginning have been these—to be merciful to and to save and help the sorrowful, the distressed, the destitute, and the afflicted . . . (Luther)

·         “How necessary it is for those who would come to any right understanding why God contendeth with them, to commune with their own heart and make diligent search. It is only in this way that the cause of the divine chastisements can be discerned, and that the rebellious heart of man can be brought to acquiesce in the inflictions of God’s paternal discipline.” (Morison)

·         True piety will reject the conclusions of unbelief, however they may seem supported by appearances.  “Good men are sometimes greatly depressed. Faith is not always in lively exercise. The harp is often hung upon the willows. This is not owing to the possession of religion, but to a deficiency of it. It is the good man’s infirmity.” (Cobbin) Unbelief says, There is no hope, there is no help even in God. Faith says, When I sit in darkness the Lord shall be a light unto me. “Despondency of spirit, and distrust of God, under affliction, are too often the infirmities of good people, and, as such, are to be reflected upon by us with sorrow and shame.” (Henry)

·         Good resolutions are good things. If we ever rise to communion with God, or attain to the wisdom of the just, it will be in consequence of a solemn, deliberate purpose, made in reliance on divine grace.

·         If we would know and experience more of divine things, we must meditate more upon them, and upon God’s methods of graciously dealing with his people.

·         “The Lord draweth deep in working out the delivery and salvation of his own people, bringing them at first into extremity of danger, and then making a plain and clear escape from all their straits.” (Dickson)

·         “The Lord of hosts has a way of his own, on which none can follow him.” (Tholuck) Our great business is to hear, obey, acquiesce, not to judge, comprehend, nor explain God’s ways.