Bible Commentaries

Psalms 77:1. I cried unto God with my voice, even unto God with my voice; and he gave ear unto me.

The writer was in very deep trouble. The trouble forced from him a loud and bitter cry. His heart was wrung with anguish, but the cry which was the weakness of the flesh was, by divine grace, turned upward, and so became the strength of his grace. He cried, but it was to God, not to men, as many of us do. “Unto God,” says he twice over, “did I cry.” But God hears when others hear not, and, blessed be his name, he answers when others cannot. There are so many instances in which God has heard the prayer of persons in deep trouble, that the most troubled of all men ought to be encouraged to pray. Did not Jonah pray, even out of the belly of the whale, and God delivered him? Did not Manasseh pray out of the low dungeon? Great sinner as he was, God delivered him — Oh! let us believe that there is power in prayer, for God hearkens to the request of those that seek his face.

Psalms 77:2. In the day of my trouble I sought the Lord: my sore ran in the night, and ceased not: my soul refused to be comforted.

He would not take the common comfort which friendly words would have yielded him: his case was so desperate that he must have divine comfort, and nothing else. I will not be comforted till Jesus comfort me, and this is a very good and holy resolution. I wish that some who snatch at comfort —unhealthy comfort — too soon, would resolve upon this, “My cry shall go to God, and God only, and I will take no comfort till God the Holy Spirit bring it to me.”

Psalms 77:3. I remembered God, and was troubled:

Yet it was the right thing to do to remember God — the most comfortable thing in the world, and though it failed at first, it did not fail in the long run,

Psalms 77:3. I complained, and my spirit was overwhelmed.

It is no new thing, then, for the best of God’s people to be in the deepest trouble. The path which you are traveling, O mourner, is well marked with footprints.

Psalms 77:3-5. Selah. Thou holdest mine eyes waking: I am so troubled that I cannot speak. I have considered the days of old, the years of ancient times.

Turned through the experience of thy people written in thy Word to see if ever thou didst forsake one of them.

Psalms 77:6. I call to remembrance my song in the night:

To see whether thou didst forsake me in days gone by — marked my past experience of thy faithfulness.

Psalms 77:6-9. I commune with mine own heart: and my spirit made diligent search. Will the Lord cast off for ever? and will he be favourable no more? Is his mercy clean gone for ever? Doth his promise fail for evermore? Hath God forgotten to be gracious? hath he in anger shut up his tender mercies?

Will he be favorable no more? Very proper questions to put. They answer themselves when we put them plainly, but while they lie festering in our spirits, misshapen things like ghosts that haunt our heart, then they alarm us. It is well to come to plain dealings, with our soul and to say, “Why art thou cast down, O my soul; why art thou disquieted within me?”

Psalms 77:9-10. Selah. And I said,

When I came to reckon all up, and make a righteous judgment; when I bid my fears lie still awhile, and let me listen to reason, I said: —

Psalms 77:10. This is my infirmity: but I will remember the years of the right hand of the most High.

I will remember God’s faithfulness in the past, in years when I lived at his right hand and basked in the sunlight of his love: I will snatch firebrands from the altars of the past to light up the fires of today.

Psalms 77:11-13. I will remember the works of the LORD: surely I will remember thy wonders of old. I will meditate also of all thy work, and talk of thy doings. Thy way, O God, is in the sanctuary:

Or better, “Thy way is in holiness.” What thou doest is right, my God. I feared and trembled, but now I know it is so.

Psalms 77:13-14. Who is so great a God as our God? Thou art the God that doest wonders: thou hast declared thy strength among the people.

Oh! if we could all tell out what God has done for us, we could prove it true that God has declared his strength among us; the might of his grace has he displayed in our case.

Psalms 77:15. Thou hast with thine arm redeemed thy people, the sons of Jacob an Joseph.

Saints in the olden times were very fond of falling back upon the redemption of Israel out of Egypt. It was a favorite subject of their contemplation; it yielded them great comfort, and very, very frequently they turned it into sacred song. Now in heaven we shall do the same, for we shall sing the song of Moses end the Lamb. Let not the Church in modern times forget to draw consolation out of that well. Here the Psalmist gives us a description, as I think it is, of the passage of the Red Sea — giving it as a sort of type of the way in which God will always deliver his people to the world’s end.

Psalms 77:16-20. The waters saw thee, O God, the waters saw thee; they were afraid: the depths also were troubled. The clouds poured out water: the skies sent out a sound: thine arrows also went abroad. The voice of thy thunder was in the heaven: the lightnings lightened the world: the earth trembled and shook. Thy way is in the sea, and thy path in the great waters, and thy footsteps are not known. Thou leddest thy people like a flock by the hand of Moses and Aaron.

For one moment just look at this picture. You will be delivered, and God will be glorified in your deliverance just as he was in the coming out of Egypt, but it will be by a mysterious way, perhaps — way little guessed at by you. God’s path will be in the great waters. You will see the power, but before you see it you will little guess how it will be displayed. Only follow where he leads, for as amidst the thunder and the lightning he led his people as calmly on as a shepherd leads his flock, so shall you, whatever happens, with Jehovah for your shepherd, be led safely on till you come to the celestial city. Let us sing the song of the Red Sea.

This exposition consisted of readings from Psalms 77; Revelation 1:15-20.