SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 4/21/2012 9:57:09 AM
My Worship Time Focus: The Darkness of Despair
Bible Reading &
Meditation Reference: Psalm 77 Pt-1
Message of the verses: We will begin to look at Psalm 77 in
today’s SD, and will begin by looking at several introductions from different
commentators.
“TITLE. To the Chief Musician, to Jeduthun. It was meet that another leader of the
psalmody should take his turn. No harp should be silent in the
courts of the Lord’s house. A
Psalm of Asaph: Asaph was a man of exercised mind, and often touched the minor
key; he was thoughtful, contemplative, believing, but withal there was a dash
of sadness about him, and this imparted a tonic flavor to his songs. To follow him with understanding, it is
needful to have done business on the great waters, and weathered many an
Atlantic gale.
“DIVISIONS: If we follow the poetical arrangement, and
divide at the Selahs, we shall find the troubled man of God pleading in #Ps 77:1-3,
and then we shall hear him lamenting and arguing within himself, #Ps
77:4-9. From #Ps 77:10-15 his
meditations run toward God, and in the close he seems as in a vision to behold
the wonders of the Red Sea and the wilderness.
At this point, as if lost in an ecstasy, he hurriedly closes the Psalm
with an abruptness, the effect of which is quite startling. The Spirit of God knows when to cease speaking, which is more than
those do who, for the sake of making a methodical conclusion, prolong
their words even to weariness. Perhaps this Psalm was meant to be a prelude to
the next, and, if so, its sudden close is accounted for. The hymn now before us is for experienced
saints only, but to them it will be of rare value as a transcript of their own
inner conflicts.” (Charles H. Spurgeon)
“This psalm illustrates one cure
for depression. The psalmist does not
explain the cause of his despair, but he definitely locked into gloom. When he thought about God, it only caused him
to complain bitterly. But beginning in
v. 10, the psalmist’s mood starts to change because he commits himself to
focusing on God’s goodness and past acts of deliverance. His lament then changes into a hymn of
praise.” (The John MacArthur Study
Bible)
“This appears to be a companion to psalm
74, which also lamented the destruction of Jerusalem and the captivity of
Israel. Both deal with the Lord’s
apparent rejection of His people (74:12-15; 77:16-19). When Jerusalem fell, many Jews were slain and
many were taken captive to Babylon.
Asaph may have been in Jeremiah’s ‘circle’ and left behind to minister
to the suffering remnant (Jer. 30-40).
But Asaph himself was suffering as he lay in bed at night (vv. 2, 6) and
wrestled with the meaning of the terrible events he had witnessed. In this
psalm, he described how he moved from disappointment and despair to confidence
that the Lord would care for His people.”
(Dr. Warren Wiersbe)
The Darkness of Despair (vv. 1-9):
“1 For the choir director; according to Jeduthun. A Psalm of Asaph: My voice rises to God, and I will cry aloud;
My voice rises to God, and He will hear me. 2 In the day of my trouble I sought the Lord; In the
night my hand was stretched out without weariness; My soul refused to be
comforted. 3 When I remember God, then I am disturbed; When I sigh, then my
spirit grows faint. Selah. 4 You have held my eyelids open; I am so troubled
that I cannot speak. 5 I have considered the days of old, The years of long
ago. 6 I will remember my
song in the night; I will meditate with my heart, And my spirit ponders:
7 Will the Lord reject forever? And will He never be favorable again? 8 Has His
lovingkindness ceased forever? Has His promise come to an end forever? 9 Has God forgotten to be gracious,
Or has He in anger
withdrawn His compassion? Selah.”
“1 For Jeduthun, the choir
director: A psalm of Asaph. I cry out to God; yes, I shout. Oh, that God would listen to me! 2 When I was
in deep trouble, I searched for the Lord. All night long I prayed, with hands
lifted toward heaven, but my soul was not comforted. 3 I think of God, and I
moan, overwhelmed with longing for his help.
Interlude 4 You don’t let me sleep. I am too
distressed even to pray! 5 I think of the good old days, long since
ended, 6 when my nights were filled with joyful songs. I search my soul and ponder the difference
now. 7 Has the Lord rejected me forever?
Will he never again
be kind to me? 8 Is his unfailing love gone forever? Have his promises permanently failed? 9 Has
God forgotten to be gracious? Has he
slammed the door on his compassion?
Interlude” (NLT)
We see Asaph unable to sleep in the
first two verses of this psalm and then he will move into remembering the good
old days in verses 3-6, and will finally find himself questing God in verses
7-9. We see from the NLT that Asaph
reports that he is too distressed to even pray, where the NASB does not say
pray but speak. I think that there are
times in a person’s life when he could be in a position where he is unable to
pray because of dread and then I have to remember what Paul wrote to the Romans
in Romans 8:26 In the same way the Spirit also helps our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we
should, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for
words;.”
Asaph was a man of God who sang
songs in the temple and led the worship in the temple, and now he has seen
something that has caused him to even lose confidence in God for a short while. Perhaps Asaph was thinking that God had let
His people down, but the truth of the matter is that God was fulfilling His
covenant that He had made with Israel, in that if Israel sinned that God would
not bless them, but allow them to be captured by other nations. This may have been the background for this
psalm. Does this mean that God does not
love His people? 11 My son, do not
reject the discipline of the LORD Or loathe His reproof, 12 For whom the LORD
loves He reproves, Even as a father corrects the son in whom he delights.” (Proverbs 3:11-12)
I will quote from Dr. Wiersbe’s
commentary at this time because his commentary is so good and
understandable. “It’s isn’t a sin to
question God, for both David and Jesus asked the Lord the same question (Psalm
22:1; Matt. 27:46), but it is a sin to demand an immediate answer or to suggest
that God needs our counsel (Rom. 11:33-36).
Asaph asked six questions, all of which dealt with the very character
and attributes of God.
“Has He rejected us? No! He
is faithful to His Word (Lam. 3:31-33).
“Will He ever again show favor to Israel? Yes!
(Ps. 30:5. Isa. 60:10.
“Has His unfailing love vanished
forever? No! (Jer. 31:3)
“Have His promises failed? No!
(1Kings 8:56)
“Has He forgotten to be gracious?
No! (Isa. 49:14-18)
“Is He so angry, He has shut up His
compassions? No! (Lam. 3:22-24)
“It has well been said that we
should never doubt in the darkness what God has told us in the light, but Asaph
was about to do so. No matter what His
hand is doing in our lives, His heart has not changed He still loves us and
always will.”
Spiritual
meaning for my life today: In a
small way I can understand the feelings that Asaph is having, and I suppose all
those who name the name of Christ are put through difficult situations,
sometimes because we need discipline from the Lord and other times we are in a
“Job” moment where God is doing something in our lives to continue to make us
more like Jesus Christ.
My Steps of Faith for
Today: Continue to trust the Lord in
the good times and in the not so good times, and continue to seek to learn
contentment as I walk with the Lord.
4/21/2012 11:12:49 AM
No comments:
Post a Comment