SPIRITUAL
DIARY FOR 4/21/2012 9:57:09 AM
My Worship Time
Focus: “The Darkness of Despair”
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Psalm
77:1-9
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.
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withdrawn His compassion?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
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