#808 Nights Adrift

I cry aloud to God,

aloud to God, and he will 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 When I remember God, I moan;

when I meditate, my spirit faints. Selah

4 You hold my eyelids open;

I am so troubled that I cannot speak.

5 I consider the days of old,

the years long ago.

6 I said, “Let me remember my song in the night;

let me meditate in my heart.”

Then my spirit made a diligent search:

7 “Will the Lord spurn forever,

and never again be favorable?

8 Has his steadfast love forever ceased?

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 Then I said, “I will appeal to this,

to the years of the right hand of the Most High.”

11 I will remember the deeds of the Lord;

yes, I will remember your wonders of old.

12 I will ponder all your work,

and meditate on your mighty deeds.

13 Your way, O God, is holy.

What god is great like our God?

14 You are the God who works wonders;

you have made known your might among the peoples.

15 You with your arm redeemed your people,

the children of Jacob and Joseph. Selah

16 When the waters saw you, O God,

when the waters saw you, they were afraid;

indeed, the deep trembled.

17 The clouds poured out water;

the skies gave forth thunder;

your arrows flashed on every side.

18 The crash of your thunder was in the whirlwind;

your lightnings lighted up the world;

the earth trembled and shook.

19 Your way was through the sea,

your path through the great waters;

yet your footprints were unseen.

20 You led your people like a flock

by the hand of Moses and Aaron. Psalm 77 ESV

A Psalm of Asaph to Jeduthun (one of the leaders of public worship).

“The message of this psalm is that to brood on sorrow is to be broken and disheartened, while to see God is to sing on the darkest day. Once we come to know that our years are of His right hand, there is light everywhere.” (Morgan)

I cried out to God with my voice - The ear of the Lord is ever available to us, and we ought to pray without ceasing. Pray in your troubles, but also pray that we do not cause trouble, that we hold fast against the greater sickness of sin.

i. “Days of trouble must be days of prayer; in days of inward trouble, especially when God seems to have withdrawn from us, we must seek him, and seek till we find him. In the day of his trouble he did not seek for the diversions of business or recreation, to shake off his trouble that way, but he sought God, and his favour and grace. Those that are under trouble of mind, must not think to drink it away, or laugh it away, but pray it away.” (Henry, cited in Spurgeon)

In the night my hand is stretched out - Those that cannot sleep have found time to pray, and like a child he lifts his hands to the Father. Many I times I went to a bottle, a friend to hear me, but they could not comfort me, even if I drank myself to sleep the morrow would be worse than yesterday. Anxiety is the most terrible oppressor.

My soul refuses to be comforted - Someone once referred to God's sovereignty as the pillow upon which they lay the wearied head. This is a hard thing to accept when we see our health fading, financial distress, hunger or persecution. It seems to us that the answer is to be made well, rich, fat and well liked. 

7 or even with these surpassingly great revelations. So to keep me from becoming conceited, I was given a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me. 8 Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. 9 But He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My power is perfected in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly in my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest on me.…

10 That is why, for the sake of Christ, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong. 2 Corinthians 12: 7-10

You hold my eyelids open - That beautiful escape we call sleep is now insomnia, and he is left speechless, forced to look ahead at only darkness, but then inside himself.

I consider the days of old - There is much to be gained from the voice of the martyrs and also that of those who told of God's great wonders. I know that He hears me, and now I remember that He is also able to deliver, and so I meditate on songs I once sang to the praise of His favor. Do these even apply now? 

…14 Why do I put myself at risk and take my life in my own hands? 15 Though He slay me, I will hope in Him. I will still defend my ways to His face. 16 Moreover, this will be my salvation, for no godless man can appear before Him.… Job 13: 14-16

17 Though the fig tree does not bud and no fruit is on the vines, though the olive crop fails and the fields produce no food, though the sheep are cut off from the fold and no cattle are in the stalls, 18 yet I will exult in the LORD; I will rejoice in the God of my salvation! 19 GOD the Lord is my strength; He makes my feet like those of a deer; He makes me walk upon the heights! For the choirmaster. With stringed instruments.… Habakkuk 3: 17-19

Are His promises at an end for all time - It is a hard note to find, when a man has put his faith in God, acknowledged his allegiance is to the Creator, sets out to walk in an upright manner, but the results are not as he imagined. What will I sing now as others curse God and die? Shall I think that He owes any man anything, but no, I will trust in what He has owed to Himself, His Word. 

I will remember the deeds of the Lord - How many times have we found our own stores empty, yet we are still alive? How many times did we struggle for rent, yet we are still housed? Look back to times of old, when the people feared Pharaoh more than the God Who made him for His own purpose. Remember the famines, the flood that killed everything most efficiently, except for those that were held up by God. Where were Jonah's greatest prayers made? From the most unlikely and unbelievable of places, the deep, the depressing, the foul smelling, and so we lift up marred and digested hands. You are the same, God, I was not yet weak enough to see that, that You are Holy and Your ways are above my understanding, much higher than my plans could hope.

iii. “Memory is a fit handmaid for faith. When faith has its seven years of famine, memory like Joseph in Egypt opens her granaries.” (Spurgeon)

Yet Your foot prints were unseen - What beautiful poetry, the invisible God walking before them, not known by the prints of His feet, but for the obedience of His creation. His step causes the waters to split before Him. He does not lead His people around, but through the unknown, they ride upon the flood, pass through the storm. Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. Remember Him, what He says He will accomplish according to His good purpose. 

…19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey all that I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” Matthew 28: 19-20

24 Therefore everyone who hears these words of Mine and acts on them is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. 25 The rain fell, the torrents raged, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because its foundation was on the rock. 26 But everyone who hears these words of Mine and does not act on them is like a foolish man who built his house on sand.… Matthew 7: 24-26

Nights of mourning, doubt and despair
Find the light of morning in the contrite's prayer