Psalms 77
Big idea: A man lies awake and asks six questions in a row, and every one of them is about whether God has changed. Has his loving kindness vanished forever? Has God forgotten to be gracious? Then verse 10 does something deliberate: I will appeal to this — the years of the right hand of the Most High. He stops consulting his feelings and starts consulting the record. What follows is the exodus told as weather, ending in a line that is the psalm's real answer: your way was through the sea, your paths through the great waters, and your footsteps were not known.
Psalm 77 recovers by remembering the exodus. Psalm 78 tells that history at full length, for the children.
77:1–10 — Has his loving kindness vanished forever?
Six questions in three verses, and they are the ones nobody says out loud: has his loving kindness VANISHED, has God FORGOTTEN to be gracious. What makes them worse is that the psalm reached them by remembering — 'I remember God, and I GROAN'. Memory is normally the cure in the Psalter, and here it is making things worse. Verse 10 is the turn, and it is a decision rather than a discovery.
1 For the Chief Musician. To Jeduthun. A Psalm by Asaph. My cry goes to God! Indeed, I cry to God for help, and for him to listen to me. 2 In the day of my trouble I sought the Lord. My hand was stretched out in the night, and didn’t get tired. My soul refused to be comforted. 3 I remember God, and I groan. I complain, and my spirit is overwhelmed. Selah. 4 You hold my eyelids open. I am so troubled that I can’t speak. 5 I have considered the days of old, the years of ancient times. 6 I remember my song in the night. I consider in my own heart; my spirit diligently inquires: 7 “Will the Lord reject us forever? Will he be favorable no more? 8 Has his loving kindness vanished forever? Does his promise fail for generations? 9 Has God forgotten to be gracious? Has he, in anger, withheld his compassion?” Selah. 10 Then I thought, “I will appeal to this: the years of the right hand of the Most High.”
77:11–20 — Your footsteps were not known
Having decided what to remember, the psalm does it, and the memory is the exodus told as a thunderstorm. Then the line the whole poem was built for: 'your way was through the SEA… your FOOTSTEPS WERE NOT KNOWN.' The path was real and left no trace, which is precisely the complaint of the first half answered in its own terms — he was there, and there was nothing to see.
11 I will remember Yah’s deeds; for I will remember your wonders of old. 12 I will also meditate on all your work, and consider your doings. 13 Your way, God, is in the sanctuary. What god is great like God? 14 You are the God who does wonders. You have made your strength known among the peoples. 15 You have redeemed your people with your arm, the sons of Jacob and Joseph. Selah. 16 The waters saw you, God. The waters saw you, and they writhed. The depths also convulsed. 17 The clouds poured out water. The skies resounded with thunder. Your arrows also flashed around. 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 through the sea, your paths through the great waters. Your footsteps were not known. 20 You led your people like a flock, by the hand of Moses and Aaron.
Scripture text: World English Bible (public domain).