Psalm 77

Let's pray.

Lord God, we want to thank you for your.

For your word.

Lord, we want to thank you that it is timeless.

And, Lord, we pray that as we open it now, your spirit would speak

to each of us.

Lord God, wherever we are at, and Lord God, that you would help

us to remember your wonderful works.

We pray these things in Jesus name, amen.

I'm sure you have all encountered fog of some shape or

another.

Maybe you've been driving towards Hilltown and you've come

up through the mountains, and the fog has been thick on the mountains,

and it's been hard to see where you're going.

Well, I was reading about something that went really far, far

beyond that, and it was in London in 1952.

There was a period of five days which was known as the great

fog.

Now, this wasn't an ordinary fog.

This was a thick, poisonous.

A poisonous fog that settled over London.

And it was caused by a combination of coal smoke in the

air and unusually cold weather and still air.

It said that the fog was so thick that people couldn't see their

own feet.

And this fog was so intrusive that it was even coming into people's

homes.

I'm sure the doors and the windows were shut, but it was coming

in and it had massive repercussions.

People couldn't see where they were going.

Ambulances couldn't.

Couldn't find people.

And it lasted for five days.

And they say between five and 10,000 people died as a result.

Now you can imagine what it felt like in London at those times

before the years of sat Nav.

We never really have to think where we're going now.

If we don't know, we just type it into our car.

But in those times before sat Nav, what would it have felt like?

Those usual and landmarks that you set your journey by, that you

orientated yourself, all disappeared.

Those things that you knew as familiar, that gave you confidence,

they vanished.

And what replaced it?

Uncertainty.

And sometimes in life, our lives can feel like that.

We're not in a physical fog, but we're in a spiritual fog.

We're in a fog caused by our circumstances.

We may.

We may believe in God, but we can't see God.

We can't see his purposes.

We don't understand what he's doing.

We don't know what direction to take.

We may know that God is there in a general sense, but our prayers

seem to go unanswered, and the future is hidden.

Well, Asaph, the writer of Psalm 77, is exactly where he finds

himself.

There's something going on.

It may have been a personal problem to Asaph, but more likely

it was something that the whole nation of Israel was experiencing.

And it has thrown Asaph into a state of turmoil, of spiritual turmoil.

Psalm 77 is a really helpful psalm because I don't know if you

remember it.

At school, when it came up to revision time, they used to say that

that person is a duck.

And what that meant was they looked calm and didn't care on the

surface, but underneath, they were paddling really, really hard.

Whenever they went home, they got straight into the books and they

were working for hours.

But then whenever they came into school, they pretended like

they didn't care in the least.

And our spiritual lives can sometimes be like that.

We want to put on a brave face.

Whatever is going on underneath, whatever we're dealing

with in our own lives, in our own home, whatever somebody asks,

we say, we're fine.

That's just the culture that we live in.

But Asaph, he blows that wide open.

He gives us this raw account of what it's like to really wrestle

with our faith in difficult times and a path out of that, even

when our circumstances don't appear to have changed.

Now, as we come to this psalm, it can be broken down into two very

clear sections.

One to nine.

We can call it Restless Faith.

Restless Faith.

And then in 10 to 20, we have reassuring remembrance.

Restless faith in the first nine verses.

And then 10 to 20.

Reassuring remembrance.

Now, before we get into it, let's take away a moment to think

about what we know of Asaph.

Asaph was quite an important character.

He wrote 12 of the Psalms, and all of them kind of are very raw

and emotional.

But he was a Levite, he was a musician, and King David had asked

him to play and worship in front of the Ark of the Covenant.

So he was an important figure in the nation of Israel.

He wasn't just a songwriter, but he was a worship leader.

He was a theologian and he was a teacher.

Well, why is this important?

Well, it's important just to remember at the outset that even

somebody who has known great spiritual height, somebody who has

encountered a lot of God's presence, he was right beside the

physical manifestation of God's presence in the Ark of the

Covenant.

He can still feel deep seasons of discouragement.

Doesn't mean he's a sinner, just something that naturally occurs,

and we see that throughout history.

Charles Spurgeon, I'm sure many of you will know him.

His nickname is the Prince of Preachers.

But you may not Know that he battled depression for much of his

life, and he had illnesses that really got him down.

Martin Luther, who we think of from the Reformation, well, he endured

periods of deep spiritual struggle.

Don't know if any of you have heard of David Brainerd, but he was

a pastor and he had a real heart for world mission.

And people like Jim Elliot and lots of other people were deeply

inspired by David Brainerd.

But he was a young man.

He died at the age of 27.

And in his 27 lives, he experienced periods of crushing loneliness.

And even Jesus himself, we know how nobody walked closer to

God than the Son of God.

But in the garden of Gethsemane, with the weight of what

was going to happen to him, he sweat drops of blood at the thought

of it.

No matter where we come from, no matter how strong our faith, no

matter how obedient we are to God, we can still experience times

of struggle, times of real depression and things that really,

really challenge us.

And Asaph here, he gives us a look what that's like when you're

in it, and a potential road out of it.

So restless, restless faith again.

We don't know what Asaph's problem was, but we see that he is

in clear distress.

Verses one to three, it says, I cry aloud to God, aloud to God,

and he will hear me.

In the day of my trouble, I seek the Lord.

In the night, my hand is stretched out without worrying, My

soul refuses to be comforted.

When I remember God, I moan.

When I meditate, my spirit faints.

Asaph is struggling with what God is doing.

He's struggling with what God is not doing by not answering his

prayers, not removing this situation.

But he's continuing to reach out and seek for God.

I heard a great bit of advice recently.

It said, if you have time to worry, you have time to pray.

If you've time to worry, you have time to pray.

And that's the direction of Asaph here.

Though he's struggling, he's reaching out to God.

He's crying out to God on a daily basis.

Even his voice is going.

He's moaning, but he's still continuing to turn his heart towards

God.

As life is pressing in on Asaph, he's pressing into God.

And that's one of the distinguishing marks of genuine faith.

See, one of the marks of unbelief is it's quiet, it turns

away from God, it walks away, it lets go without much fuss.

And we might think that faith is about keeping quiet and staunchly

holding on and not just grinning and bearing it.

But that's not the pattern that the Psalms give us at all.

Genuine faith is often expressed in wailing.

It's often expressed in.

In moaning, not in a form of complaining like we use it, but in

a way where you have no words left, only sounds.

It's often expressed loudly and filled with questions.

The important thing is that it's directed towards God.

God is big enough to hold it.

God can deal with it when we direct these things.

Perhaps somebody is listening online or has come into church today.

And you, you come to church every Sunday.

You read your Bible, you pray, but it feels like you read your Bible

and the words aren't leaping off the page like they used to.

You feel like you're praying, but your prayers aren't going any

higher than the ceiling.

You feel like you're coming and singing these marvelous words

of praise on a Sunday, but your heart and how you're feeling

isn't matching up to them.

Well, that's not a sign of.

Of unbelief.

That's a sign of restless faith.

Somebody who keeps coming even when the circumstances seem to be

saying different.

Don't know if many of you were at Castlewell and show this year,

if you were and you were over at the park with the children, you

would have seen one of those bulls that you get on and ride that

spins you around and you have to hold on for as long as you can.

This was the first year that I didn't have a go on it.

I think that's a sign of maturity.

But you know those things, you get on and there's a strap and you're

holding on and it's flailing you around and you're trying to hold

on for as long as possible.

The reality is that sometimes as a Christian, that's what life

can feel like.

We're just holding on.

Our hands aren't clasped in prayer, but they're like this.

Like you're hanging on to the edge of something.

And that's reality.

Asaph takes us deeper.

He says that he can't be comforted.

Only God himself will be able to comfort him.

And he says he's seeking out God earnestly, sincerely.

I cried to God and knew that God heard me.

Even when God, even when Asaph prayers prays, he knows that his

prayers aren't changing the situation.

He believes that God is hearing him, but God isn't answering

in the way he is asking.

And so in the short term, that's not bringing encouragement

to Asaph.

That's bringing more questions.

God I know you're there, but why won't you help me out the way

I need to be helped?

God, I'm asking you to do this.

But why are you not answering?

Because I know that.

I know that you can hear me.

Mostly.

Whenever we cry out to God and we know that God hears us, it brings

a sense of assurance.

But for Asaph, that wasn't his.

That wasn't his testimony.

In this time, he could understand that he was praying, but

he wasn't hearing from God.

And so it was bringing more frustration, not less.

The situation that Asaph is in is affecting him.

It says really vivid language.

It says, you hold my eyelids open.

I am so troubled that I cannot speak.

Many of you will know that personally.

You know, you think about the things all day, and then you go to

bed and the sleep, as much as you need, it still won't come.

You're thinking about that diagnosis.

You're thinking about that conversation.

You're thinking about whatever the trouble the trouble will be.

And then Asaph, he comes and he asks six hard questions of a situation.

You can read them in seven to nine.

He says, will the Lord spurn forever and never again be favorable?

Has his steadfast love forever ceased?

Are his promises at an end for all time?

Has God forgotten to be gracious?

Has he shut up his compassion?

In verse eight, it says, has his steadfast love forever ceased?

Asaph would have known that steadfast was a Greek word that meant

chesed, and it meant secure and eternal.

Like the mountains.

It would have been used for mountains, things that do not move.

But even in the midst of it, he knew that God's love doesn't move.

But he was still questioning if it had come to an end.

We might ask a question.

We might say, what's the difference between Asaph asking these

questions in the Psalms and it being okay.

And the Israelites, whenever they were in the desert, they came

to a place called Rephidim where there was no water.

And they went to Moses and they said, why has God?

Why has God forgotten us?

Did God just bring us out into the desert to die?

On the surface of it, we.

What the Israelites were saying and what Asaph is asking here,

they don't seem too different.

Sure they don't.

The difference is that Asaph hasn't made up his mind.

He's bringing these things as questions to God.

He wants to bring them before the Lord and seek his assurance.

The Israelites, on the other hand, they weren't coming to God

prayerfully.

They had Already made up their mind.

They weren't talking to God, they were talking about God.

There's a big difference.

Whenever we face trials, it doesn't matter what our trials are,

but we're to bring them to God.

The Israelites problem was that they talked about God, they

gossiped about God, they said, oh, this is what God is doing.

He doesn't care about us.

Without bringing their fears and concerns directly directly to

him.

See, we can assume from these verses that it's affecting the nation

of Israel because Asaph is using lots of covenantal terms here.

He's calling them chosen people.

He's talking about the promises of God.

He's talking about God's own people.

And you see the entire nation of Israel was in a covenant with

God.

And Asaph was asking if God had broken his promise.

If God had made these promises, but then God had broken

them.

We can do that as well, can't we?

We can know that we have made a commitment to Christ that we are

saved, but then we question our salvation.

We lack that assurance.

You think of somebody like John the Baptist who was put in prison

and he sent a message asking Jesus, are you the Christ, or should

we expect someone else?

We can all lack that conviction at times.

We can all lack that assurance.

We all lack to press into those covenant promises of God.

We know what God has done in the past, but we experience a tension

in that in the present.

Is God still gracious to me?

You see, Asaph understood that these questions.

He knew that these were important questions.

He isn't about pretending to be fine, but he wanted to come directly

to God and ask these questions and seek the Lord.

Asaph in verses 1 to 9 is a Christian.

He loves the Lord, but he's struggling with the circumstances

that he finds himself in.

The end of verse nine and the beginning of verse ten, we don't

get any indication that there are.

That there is a change of circumstances.

But one of the themes that you will notice in verses 1 to 9 is how

many times Asaph talks about himself.

He says, my struggles.

I did this.

I reached out my hand, I meditated on all of these things.

It's almost like Asaph has a pair of binoculars.

And if you've ever had a pair of binoculars, but you turn them

around the wrong way.

So rather than looking through the small ends that makes everything

big, you're looking through the large ends that makes everything

small.

That's what Asaph was doing.

There's no indication that this was because of sin or that he

was sinful.

Beyond what we all are in this building, people who have fallen

short of God's standards.

But he's focusing too much on his own situation.

So in verses 10 and on, he decides to turn the binoculars round.

He says this in verse 10.

This is where we transfer from restless faith to reassuring remembrance.

You see, it all changes, even though the situation doesn't change.

Asaph has decided that rather than seeking a change in his circumstances,

he's going to find comfort and rest in the fact that the Lord does

not change.

His circumstances might not change, but either does God.

And that's what he's taking comfort in.

7710.

Then I said, I will appeal to this, to the years of the right hand

of the Most High.

This word appeal has a legal context.

We know what an appeal does.

Somebody is up in court and there's a judgment and they don't

feel that it's right, so they appeal it to a higher court, to somebody

with more authority to look at it again.

Asaph is saying, here I let my heart be the judge, but my heart

didn't consider all of the evidence.

I am appealing it to a higher court.

I'm appealing it to a higher authority.

And what is that higher authority?

To the years of the right hand of the Most High.

I'm going to look at all of those times when I did know God's

blessing, when I did know God's presence, when I saw time and

time again how God moved and worked and was visibly for his people.

That's what I'm going to take comfort in.

He's not going to look only at circumstances, but he's going to

consider the much greater body of evidence from before this and

through this and who God is.

Note in verse 11 and 12 how active asaph is.

He says this, I will remember the deeds of the Lord.

Yes, I will remember your wonders of old.

I will ponder all your work and meditate on your mighty deeds.

This isn't passive remembrance.

This isn't whenever you meet somebody in the street and you can't

remember their first name.

So you say, hello, how are you?

Without any specifics.

And then you are about 200 yards down the street and you say,

Margaret, and it just comes into your head, this isn't the case.

This is more a case of Asaph has lost his keys.

I'm sure we've all been in that situation as well.

You know they're in the house, you know they're there, but you physically

have to go out and lay your hands on them.

That's the kind of remembrance that Asaph is doing here.

He knows that the evidence of God's goodness and safety and security

are there.

He just has to go out and look for them because they're not right

before his eyes at this time.

You see, he actively chooses to do this.

And that's what Paul commands us to do in.

In Colossians 3.

As Christians, if we want to have that reassurance in our own

faith, if we want to know the hope and the love of Christ, in times

of trouble, we have to do that.

We have to remember these things.

This is what Paul advises the church in Colossae.

If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that

are above, where Christ is seated, seated at the right hand

of God.

Set your minds or remember on things that are above, not on things

that are on earth.

For you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God.

When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you will also appear

with him in glory.

Asaph moves on from recounting God's mighty works to recounting

who God is.

God's actions lead him into thinking about who, about who God

God is.

Psalm 77, 13, 15.

Your way, O God, is holy.

What God is like our God?

You are the God who works wonders.

You have made known your might among the peoples.

You with your arm redeemed your people, the children of Jacob

and Joseph.

You might be one of these people who are perfectly pleasant

and nice, but you maybe get a bit tired and you get a bit snappy,

or you're a different.

Like the Snickers advert.

You're not you when you're hungry or sometimes somebody will

do something and you'll say, oh, well, that was out of character

for them.

Who we are and our actions don't always match up.

But Asaph takes comfort in God's actions and who he is because

they work perfectly together.

You see, we can take comfort in God because we can ask these questions.

You see, God's ways are holy and perfect because he is holy and

perfect.

Can anything have the ultimate victory over us?

No, because there are no gods like our God.

This is what Asaph is saying.

Is this situation too big for God?

No.

Because is anything too hard for the Lord?

No.

You're the God who works wonders.

Is anyone somebody who's currently outside Christ?

Are they beyond the reach of God?

No.

Because with your outstretched arm you redeemed your people.

Don't know how many of you enjoyed Pythagoras at school.

It's where you have A triangle, you know, two of the sides.

But you don't know this middle bit.

Well, what do you do when you don't know that middle bit?

You use the things that you do know.

That's what Asaph is doing here.

He's doing spiritual Pythagoras.

He doesn't know why this is happening, but he knows two things.

He knows what God has done and he knows who God is.

And that's enough.

Asaph then goes on to talk very clearly about one particular

image, probably the high point of the people of Israel.

It's the Exodus, and particularly their journey through

the Red Sea.

And Astaph uses all of this really, really vivid, powerful language.

He says, when the waters saw you, O God, when the waters saw you,

they were afraid indeed.

The deep trembled.

The clouds poured out water.

The skies gave forth thunder.

Your arrows flashed on every side.

The crash of your thunder was in the whirlwind.

And your lightnings lighted up the world.

The earth shook and trembled.

So this is just a picture of God's awesome power.

God's power over creation, God's power over his enemies.

Nothing can stand against God.

When God moves, the whole of creation follows.

Nobody can stand against God.

But notice the last two verses, and I want to quickly pull

out a couple of thoughts just to finish this.

It says this, Psalm 77, the last two verses.

It says, your way was through the sea, your path through the great

waters, yet your footprints were unseen.

You led your people like a flock by the hand of Moses and Aaron.

There are three truths to draw out of these last two verses.

First of all, Asaph is focusing.

He could have focused on the cloud of fire or the pillar of fire

that led them, a very visible sign of God's presence.

Rather, he's focusing on those times when God was in control.

God led them, but there was no evidence.

It says that God was there, but you couldn't see his footprints.

That's the reality.

We worship a God whose ways are higher than our ways.

God is the only God who can walk through the sea.

But that will mean that he will lead us through very deep, very

challenging places that only God will bring us into and only God

can lead us out of.

As Christians, we're not going to understand everything.

Job, who suffered greatly, he came to terms with the fact that

God's ways are not his ways.

He is higher and greater and deeper than he will ever understand.

And so where he leads, I will follow.

God may be leading you somewhere, and you may not see his

footprints at this time, but Please know that he is with you.

The second thing, it says you led your people like a flock by the

hand of Moses and Aaron.

There's a lesser truth here and there's a greater truth.

God wasn't with his people.

God was with his people, but he wasn't visibly there.

But who did he lead the people through?

Moses and Aaron.

Moses and Aaron are a picture of the local church.

We may be suffering, we may be crying out, but as fellow believers,

as a church, we can be Moses and Aaron.

We can take people by the hand.

We can love people and lead them, lead them through.

I pray that you would be a congregation that does that.

That we would be God's hands, feet and heart and mouth on earth.

That's to a lesser extent, but to a much, much greater extent, it

says you led your people like a flock by the hand of Moses and

Aaron.

You see, whenever we think back in times of trouble, we don't.

The Exodus is a brilliant story, but we don't have to go that

far back because the Exodus is only a.

A small foretaste of Calvary.

You see, Moses and Aaron led people like a flock, but Jesus is

the good shepherd that we have.

Moses led the people out of exile, but Jesus is the true and

better Moses.

Moses is only a pointer to Jesus.

If you're here today and you're suffering and you're finding

it hard to lift your eyes beyond your current circumstances,

I would encourage you today to look to Jesus.

Jesus, life, death and resurrection.

It's a reality, it's a historical fact that took place,

but the ramifications of it are eternal.

Jesus death is evidence that Christ loves you, that Christ is

with you, that he would go to the cross for your sake and that

he is interceding at the right hand of God for you.

Now, whatever your circumstances, whatever's happening,

Christ's death shows that he is for you.

Christ's resurrection shows that he is with you.

He is the first fruits.

Whatever loss you have suffered, whatever pain you are currently

experiencing.

There is an end point in that there is a full stop.

And after that there is the hope of eternal glory.

Because Christ has already made it possible.

Let me read these words of a beautiful hymn.

It's from City Alight and it's called Jesus is Alive.

Listen to these words.

There is a hope that lasts beyond our days.

For the one that once was buried lives again.

Now the tomb is barren, empty and.

And the stone is rolled away.

Praise the risen one who overcame the grave.

All you broken hearted, all you worn and weak Come find living

water everlasting streams to the wandering spirit Lost and searching,

wanting something more Find the risen king who overcame the world

in times of trouble Fix your eyes on the risen king who overcame

the world Let me finish with one final question.

Asaph was going through a period of trials and suffering, and

that's going to come to us all.

Whether you're here and you have known Christ for years, whether

you're listening online and you haven't made that commitment

to follow Jesus in your own personal life.

Those times when we cry out are going to come when we're moaning

because we have no words left.

Asaph gives us a very clear picture that he is reaching out to

God.

When those times come in your life, who are you going to be reaching

out to?

Who do you expect to hold you?

We can never fully carry somebody else's burdens because we

have our own to carry.

We can never fully deal with another person's sin because we have

plenty of our own.

The only one who can is somebody who's holy enough, loving

enough, and strong enough to reach out and hold you in those times.

Christ wants to do that for you.

He's inviting you to put your hand into his hand today, and I pray

that you would do that so that you would know his peace and comfort.

Amen.

Let's pray.

Holy God, you're good Lord.

Your ways may not always be understandable, Lord.

They would.

They may not be what we have chosen, but Lord God, if you have

led us into them, they are good because you, Lord God, are good,

Lord.

Your ways are good, Lord.

What you do can never be separated from who you are, Lord

God, your ways are holy because you are holy, Lord.

We know that you entered into suffering, Lord.

You came in need of nothing, but you became as a man to die on

the cross and be raised to life for us.

We pray, Lord God, that we would be able to lift our eyes beyond

our circumstances, Lord God, that we would be people who remember,

who daily go back to the gospel, who daily go back to what

you have done and what you have guaranteed for us, Lord, that

that may be a hope, Lord God, that lasts beyond our days.

And we pray, Lord God, for those who don't know you, God, we

ask that they would come to put their hands, that they would

reach out their hands because, Lord, you're a loving God and you

will be there to hold them, to take them into your heart, Lord God,

to become their personal Lord and Savior.

And we pray, Lord God, for anyone listening online or in church

today who hasn't done this that they would reach out and know

you as their savior for the first time.

We pray all these things in Jesus holy and mighty name, Amen.