Bible Study

Psalm 77:1-20

(1) To the chief Musician, to Jeduthun, A Psalm of Asaph. I cried unto God with my voice, even unto God with my voice; and he gave ear unto me.

(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.

(3) I remembered God, and was troubled: I complained, and my spirit was overwhelmed. Selah.

(4) Thou holdest mine eyes waking: I am so troubled that I cannot speak.

(5) I have considered the days of old, the years of ancient times.

(6) I call to remembrance my song in the night: I commune with mine own heart: and my spirit made diligent search.

(7) Will the Lord cast off for ever? and will he be favourable no more?

(8) Is his mercy clean gone for ever? doth his promise fail for evermore?

(9) Hath God forgotten to be gracious? hath he in anger shut up his tender mercies? Selah.

(10) And I said, This is my infirmity: but I will remember the years of the right hand of the most High.

(11) I will remember the works of the LORD: surely I will remember thy wonders of old.

(12) I will meditate also of all thy work, and talk of thy doings.

(13) Thy way, O God, is in the sanctuary: who is so great a God as our God?

(14) Thou art the God that doest wonders: thou hast declared thy strength among the people.

(15) Thou hast with thine arm redeemed thy people, the sons of Jacob and Joseph. Selah.

(16) The waters saw thee, O God, the waters saw thee; they were afraid: the depths also were troubled.

(17) The clouds poured out water: the skies sent out a sound: thine arrows also went abroad.

(18) The voice of thy thunder was in the heaven: the lightnings lightened the world: the earth trembled and shook.

(19) Thy way is in the sea, and thy path in the great waters, and thy footsteps are not known.

(20) Thou leddest thy people like a flock by the hand of Moses and Aaron.

During our morning Bible study yesterday we studied this psalm of Asaph. He writes as he is going through hard times saying that his sould refused to be comforted, he was so troubled he could not speak, and when he remembered the Lord he was troubled. Mom pointed out Asaph's biggest problem in verse 6: he communed with his own heart. He was focusing on his problems which just makes them seem worse. His "woe is me" attitude didn't help his situation, it made it so that he was without comfort, a problem I think we all tend to have.

He fixes this problem later though, in verse 10. He turns to God. He remembers all that God has done in the past for his people and how much he will continue to do. God led them through the desert and the ocean and will lead him through this trial. By focusing on what God had done and was doing, he stopped his pity party and finally got some relief from his problems.

I stopped to think about this later. Was I like Asaph in the first ten verses, or the last? When troubles come, and they always do, do I turn to myself and focus on them, or do I turn to God and his glory? Through life, one of the hardest but most valuble lessons we can learn is that when we lean on our own strength, we're going to fall pretty quickly; but when we lean on God's strength we will never fall. I find myself doing both, sometimes communing with my own heart and sometimes running immediately to God with my problems. But I realize now that I need to make the second one first nature, and the first one something that never happens or I will end up feeling sorry for myself when I really have no right.