Unless otherwise stated, all citations are taken from the New International Version (NIV).
Asaph was a musician and one of David’s friends (1 Chron. 6:39; 2 Chron. 5:12). This is one of his 17 psalms. This psalm moves from lamentation to joyful reflection.[1] Citing Dahood, VanGemeren writes that “a tenth-century date is not unlikely.”[2]
This psalm focuses on a time in Asaph’s life where he endured persistent pain and difficulty, and it has been classified as a lament psalm.[3] To remedy his faith and feelings, Asaph directs his attention to God’s acts in the past. He remembers God’s actions in the past in order to have confidence in God in the present and in the future.
Asaph tries to meditate, but it doesn’t work
(77:1-2) I cried out to God for help; I cried out to God to hear me. 2 When I was in distress, I sought the Lord; at night I stretched out untiring hands, and I would not be comforted.
Asaph wrestles with whether or not God will answer his prayer. To paraphrase: “Is it worth crying out to God for help? Is he even listening? Does he care what I’m going through?”
(77:3) I remembered you, God, and I groaned; I meditated, and my spirit grew faint.
Why does he groan at the thought of God? VanGemeren writes, “His active remembrance of God does not give comfort but has the opposite effect: groaning and spiritual exhaustion.”[4] This must be because his current experience is so different from what he knows in Israel’s history.
(77:4) You kept my eyes from closing; I was too troubled to speak.
“You kept my eyes from closing.” He seems to be losing sleep over this.[5] This refers to the “inability to sleep”[6] and “insomnia.”[7]
“I was too troubled to speak.” He was having a hard time forming the words to speak with God.
(77:5-6) I thought about the former days, the years of long ago; 6 I remembered my songs in the night. My heart meditated and my spirit asked:
Asaph compares his current experience of spiritual depression with his past experience. He used to have joy and even write songs about God.
Asaph sees a break through when he is honest with God
(77:7-9) “Will the Lord reject forever? Will he never show his favor again? 8 Has his unfailing love vanished forever? Has his promise failed for all time? 9 Has God forgotten to be merciful? Has he in anger withheld his compassion?”
This string of interrogatives matches how we feel during times of spiritual depression. Our mind races with question after question: Is God ever going to listen? Is he faithful to his promises? Has God neglected me?
By allowing himself to ask these questions about God’s character, Asaph gains answers and confidence to how God is still faithful. Kidner observes, “This is a clear example of the value of confessing one’s doubts to God.”[8]
“Merciful… compassion.” This question threatens to undermine God’s character revealed throughout the Bible, but specifically to Moses: “The LORD, the LORD, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness” (Ex. 34:6).
Asaph regains his spiritual sanity
(77:10) Then I thought, “To this I will appeal: the years when the Most High stretched out his right hand.”
Asaph felt despair in the moment, or maybe even for a prolonged period of time. But he fights his depressive thoughts by appealing to “the years” of God’s faithfulness. This long period of time doesn’t compare to the temporary spiritual drought.
(77:11-12) “I will remember the deeds of the LORD; yes, I will remember your miracles of long ago. 12 I will consider all your works and meditate on all your mighty deeds.”
“Deeds… miracles… works… mighty deeds.” This encompasses all that God has done in the past—from historical miracles to answered prayers. Asaph “resolves to remember the Lord’s extraordinary feats of deliverance rather than focus on his feelings of despair… This recollection of the Lord and his deeds moves the psalmist from petition to praise, from worry to worship.”[9]
“Remember” (zākar) is the same term used in verse 3, where Asaph “remembers” God and this leads to tremendous sorrow. Here, however, Asaph intentionally redirected his attention to the past in order to reflect on God’s faithful record, and this leads to a transformation of his present feelings. Tanner writes, “The situation may not change, so our thinking about God and humans and the way the universe works needs to change. Transformation is often not dramatic but comes in the night when one tosses and turns, trying to discern one’s place in the universe and what it means to belong to God.”[10]
“Consider” (hāgâ) can refer to “rumbling, growling, or moaning.” This is the sound of an animal growling over its prey. It can also mean to “mutter, meditate, or plot.”[11]
“Meditate” (śîaḥ) can mean to “muse, commune, or speak.” Perhaps this word implies that Asaph is verbally expressing his inner meditations in prayer.[12] These terms imply a “mental assimilation of God’s truth that results in a change of attitude and/or action.”[13]
(77:13-14) Your ways, God, are holy. What god is as great as our God? 14 You are the God who performs miracles; you display your power among the peoples.
The finite and fallen deities of the ancient Near East fell far short of the true God. The true God reaches the “peoples” surrounding Israel. After the Exodus, a “mixed multitude” left Egypt (Ex. 12:38), and the Canaanite nations heard about God’s power (Josh. 2).
The rescue at the Red Sea
Asaph lived contemporaneously with David (~1,000 BC). He begins to focus on remembering miracles from 400 years earlier during the time of the Exodus.
(77:15-16) With your mighty arm you redeemed your people, the descendants of Jacob and Joseph. 16 The waters saw you, God, the waters saw you and writhed; the very depths were convulsed.
“The waters saw you and writhed.” The material creation writhed in the presence of God. This could have a double meaning with reference to the Canaanite deity Baal—the fertility God. VanGemeren writes, “The Lord’s appearance is cast in the language of Canaan, where Baal was the storm-god. His power was thought to be displayed in the clouds, rain, thunder, and lightning (vv. 17-18). For Israel Baal’s alleged power was dwarfed by the awesome powers of the God of Israel.”[14]
(77:17-18) The clouds poured down water, the heavens resounded with thunder; your arrows flashed back and forth. 18 Your thunder was heard in the whirlwind, your lightning lit up the world; the earth trembled and quaked.
God’s “arrows” seem to be synonymous with the natural events of rain, thunder, and lightning. That is, God used these storms to strike down the Egyptians.
The description of God reigning in a “whirlwind” could also describe his royal chariot,[15] though we’re unsure if this is the description that he has in mind.
(77:19-20) Your path led through the sea, your way through the mighty waters, though your footprints were not seen. 20 You led your people like a flock by the hand of Moses and Aaron.
“Your footprints were not seen.” God led the people—even though they couldn’t physically see him. Similarly, Asaph needed to trust in God—even though he couldn’t experience him in the moment.
By the end of this psalm, he ripped his focus off of himself and his circumstances, and he placed it onto God. Kidner writes, “By the end of the psalm the pervasive ‘I’ has disappeared, and the objective facts of the faith have captured all his attention and all of ours.”[16]
“You led your people like a flock.” God himself is often depicted as a shepherd of his people (Ezek. 34; Jer. 23; Ps. 79:13; 95:7; 100:3).
Devotional Paraphrase of Psalm 77
“I listened to you cry out to me at night, but you refused my comfort. I watched you try to meditate and only fall further into darkness and doubt. You broke through with Me when you were honest with your questions and doubts. This changed everything! The truth of my faithfulness in the world broke through in your mind and soul. This set off a chain reaction where you could see My great faithfulness in the past, and this helped you lift your spirit in the present. Now, you see me as your Good Shepherd once again!”
[1] Willem A. VanGemeren, “Psalms,” in The Expositor’s Bible Commentary: Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Songs, ed. Frank E. Gaebelein, vol. 5 (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House, 1991), 498.
[2] Willem A. VanGemeren, “Psalms,” in The Expositor’s Bible Commentary: Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Songs, ed. Frank E. Gaebelein, vol. 5 (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House, 1991), 499.
[3] Daniel J. Estes, Psalms 73–150, ed. E. Ray. Clendenen, vol. 13, New American Commentary (Nashville, TN: B&H Publishing Group, 2019), 64.
[4] Willem A. VanGemeren, “Psalms,” in The Expositor’s Bible Commentary: Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Songs, ed. Frank E. Gaebelein, vol. 5 (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House, 1991), 500.
[5] Derek Kidner, Psalms 73–150: An Introduction and Commentary, vol. 16, Tyndale Old Testament Commentaries (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1975), 307.
[6] Beth Tanner, “Book Three of the Psalter: Psalms 73–89,” in The Book of Psalms, ed. E. J. Young, R. K. Harrison, and Robert L. Hubbard Jr., The New International Commentary on the Old Testament (Grand Rapids, MI; Cambridge, U.K.: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2014), 614.
[7] Daniel J. Estes, Psalms 73–150, ed. E. Ray. Clendenen, vol. 13, New American Commentary (Nashville, TN: B&H Publishing Group, 2019), 66.
[8] Derek Kidner, Psalms 73–150: An Introduction and Commentary, vol. 16, Tyndale Old Testament Commentaries (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1975), 308.
[9] Daniel J. Estes, Psalms 73–150, ed. E. Ray. Clendenen, vol. 13, New American Commentary (Nashville, TN: B&H Publishing Group, 2019), 68.
[10] Beth Tanner, “Book Three of the Psalter: Psalms 73–89,” in The Book of Psalms, ed. E. J. Young, R. K. Harrison, and Robert L. Hubbard Jr., The New International Commentary on the Old Testament (Grand Rapids, MI; Cambridge, U.K.: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2014), 616.
[11] Herbert Wolf, “467 הָגָה,” ed. R. Laird Harris, Gleason L. Archer Jr., and Bruce K. Waltke, Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament (Chicago: Moody Press, 1999), 205.
[12] Gary G. Cohen, “2255 שִׂיַח,” ed. R. Laird Harris, Gleason L. Archer Jr., and Bruce K. Waltke, Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament (Chicago: Moody Press, 1999), 875.
[13] Daniel J. Estes, Psalms 73–150, ed. E. Ray. Clendenen, vol. 13, New American Commentary (Nashville, TN: B&H Publishing Group, 2019), 68.
[14] Willem A. VanGemeren, “Psalms,” in The Expositor’s Bible Commentary: Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Songs, ed. Frank E. Gaebelein, vol. 5 (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House, 1991), 503-504.
[15] Daniel J. Estes, Psalms 73–150, ed. E. Ray. Clendenen, vol. 13, New American Commentary (Nashville, TN: B&H Publishing Group, 2019), 69.
[16] Derek Kidner, Psalms 73–150: An Introduction and Commentary, vol. 16, Tyndale Old Testament Commentaries (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1975), 306.