Psalms 77:1-20
1 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 sorea 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.
Gordon Churchyard
Questions and Answers
Psalms 77
John sent people to ask Jesus, "Are you the One that will come, or must we look for someone else?" Jesus answered and said to them, "Go and tell John the things that you hear and see. Blind people can see again, people with bad legs can walk again, people that are ill become better, the *deaf hear and the dead come back to life". (Matthew 11:3-5) (The "One that will come" is the Messiah or Christ.)
Psalms 77
(This is) for the music leader.
(His name is) Jeduthun.
(It is a) psalm of *Asaph.
v1 I cried aloud to God.
I cried to God so that he could hear me.
v2 When trouble came, I looked for the *Lord.
All through the night, I lifted my hands (to him while I prayed).
But I did not get help.
v3 I remembered God and I cried.
I thought (about my trouble) and my *spirit became weak *SELAH
v4 (God), you do not let me close my eyes.
I have so much trouble that I do not know what to say.
v5 I think about days that have gone
and the years that have passed.
v6 At night I remember the songs (that I sang).
I ask myself questions and my *spirit looks for answers.
v7 • "Will the *Lord always say 'No' to us?"
• "Will he never again be good to us?"
v8 • "Will he for ever stop giving us his kind love?"
• "Will he not do what he promised for us and our children?"
v9 • "Has God forgotten to be *gracious to us?"
• "Is he so angry with us that he will not love us?" *SELAH
v10 Then I said, "I will think about the times
when the *Most High did give us help.
v11 I will remember the things that the *LORD has done.
Yes, I will remember the *miracles that you did in past times.
v12 I will think about all that you have done.
I will think about all the great things that you have done".
v13 Your way, God, is *holy.
What god is as great as our God?
v14 You are the God that does *miracles.
You show people that you are very powerful.
v15 You saved your people with your strong arm.
You saved the people of *Jacob and *Joseph. *SELAH
v16 The waters saw you, God,
the waters saw you and rolled over and over.
The deepest seas moved round a lot.
v17 The clouds poured down water.
The noise of *thunder was in the skies.
Your *arrows were everywhere.
v18 The voice of your *thunder was in the storm.
Your *lightning lit all the world.
The earth moved about and *shook.
v19 Your road went through the sea.
Your path was through the great waters,
but nobody saw where your feet went.
v20 You led your people in a group
with Moses and Aaron at the front.
The Story of Psalms 77
We do not know who wrote Psalms 77. Something bad had happened to him or to his people, the *Jews. God let the bad thing happen, and did not give help. Did this mean that God had forgotten his people? No! The end of the psalm tells us that God gave help in the past. He can send help again to the *psalmist, if the *psalmist waits. The *psalmist may have read the Book of Habakkuk before he wrote Psalms 77. This tells a story *like that in Psalms 77. The *Jews could not understand why God did not give them help. The *prophet Habakkuk wrote that they must have faith. This means they must believe that one day God will send help.What Psalms 77 means
Study the psalm in 4 parts:• Verses 1 – 3: The *psalmist thinks about the bad things that happened to him or his people.
• Verses 4 – 9: He asks God if God will ever send help again.
• Verses 10 – 15: The *psalmist remembers what God did a long time ago.
• Verses 16 – 20: The *psalmist remembers when God led his people through the Red Sea when they left Egypt.
Verse 2: The *Jews lifted their hands to God when they prayed. The words in brackets... ()... are not in the *Hebrew psalm.
Verse 3: Again, the words in brackets are not in the *Hebrew psalm. We do not know what the trouble was.
Verse 4: This means that the *psalmist cannot sleep and does not know what to pray.
Verses 7 – 9: Here are 6 questions which the *psalmist asked. They mean "Will God ever help us again?" Often, we ask these questions. Did the *psalmist get an answer to them?
Verses 10 – 15:
• The *psalmist answers his own questions. First, he remembers the things that God has done, verses 10-12. He remembers that God is a GOD OF *MIRACLES. This means that God does things that nobody else can do, as when he led his people through the Red Sea.
• Then he remembers who God is and what he can still do. God is *holy, God is great, God is very powerful. God saves people. GOD DOES *MIRACLES, verses 13-14. In verse 15 "with your arm" means "what you have done on earth". All through the *Old Testament, "the arm of God" is a picture of God doing something on earth, not in *heaven.
Verses 16 – 20: are about God leading his people from Egypt to their new home. They had to go through the Red Sea. God was so powerful; he pushed the water of the sea back. He made a dry road through the sea for his people.
In verses 10 - 20, we read about what God did, and can do. The *psalmist does not ask God to do these things again, but we think that he said them as a *prayer. It was a *prayer for God to be himself, and to do something again for his people.
Something to do
• If you have a Bible, read the Book of Habakkuk.• When you have trouble, read this psalm. Put verses 1-3 into the present tense, as "I am crying aloud to God".
deaf ~ cannot hear.
Asaph ~ look in the Introduction of Psalm 73.
Lord ~ a name for God; it means he has authority, or "master"; Adonai in Hebrew. Look also at LORD below.
LORD ~ a special name for God that his people use. It is the covenant name of God. In Hebrew it is Yahweh or Jehovah. Look after Psalm 25 in Book 1 of the Psalms of David for more about the names of God.
Adonai ~ Lord or master; (or better, my Lord or my master) in Hebrew.
Hebrew ~ the language that the Jews spoke when they wrote the Psalms of David.
covenant ~ two people have agreed what each should do (here, God and his people). Look after Psalm 25 in Book 1 of the Psalms of David for more about the covenant.
Yahweh ~ the covenant name for God. Most Bibles translate it LORD with 4 capital letters. It means something like "I am" or "always alive".
Jehovah ~ how some languages say Yahweh, one of the names of God in Hebrew.
Jew ~ someone who was born from Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and their children.
like ~ another word for "as".
spirit ~the part of us that lives when our body dies.
gracious ~ being kind when you do not have to be kind.'Most High ~ a name for God.
Lord ~ a name for God; it means he has authority, or "master"; Adonai in Hebrew. Look also at LORD below.
LORD ~ a special name for God that his people use. It is the covenant name of God. In Hebrew it is Yahweh or Jehovah. Look after Psalm 25 in Book 1 of the Psalms of David for more about the names of God.
Adonai ~ Lord or master; (or better, my Lord or my master) in Hebrew.
Hebrew ~ the language that the Jews spoke when they wrote the Psalms of David.
covenant ~ two people have agreed what each should do (here, God and his people). Look after Psalm 25 in Book 1 of the Psalms of David for more about the covenant.
Yahweh ~ the covenant name for God. Most Bibles translate it LORD with 4 capital letters. It means something like "I am" or "always alive".
Jehovah ~ how some languages say Yahweh, one of the names of God in Hebrew.
Jew ~ someone who was born from Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and their children.
like ~ another word for "as".
miracles ~ great things that only God can do.
holy ~ very, very good; only God is really holy, the land where he lives with his people is also holy because he is there.
Jacob ~ another name for Israel, both the people and the land. (Jacob was Abraham’s grandson).
Joseph ~ another name for the people Israel. (Joseph was Jacob’s son.)
thunder ~ loud noise in the sky in a storm.
arrows ~ pointed sticks shot by a bow.
lightning ~ narrow lines of light in the sky during a storm.
shook ~ past of shake.
shake ~ move from one side to another and back again very fast many times.
Jew ~ someone who was born from Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and their children.
psalmist ~ the person that wrote a psalm (or psalms).
like ~ another word for "as".
prophet ~ someone that says what God thinks and will do.
Hebrew ~ the language that the Jews spoke when they wrote the Psalms of David.
Jew ~ someone who was born from Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and their children.
miracles ~ great things that only God can do.'Old Testament ~ the first part of the Bible; the holy things that the writers wrote before Christ’s birth.
holy ~ very, very good; only God is really holy, the land where he lives with his people is also holy because he is there.
heaven ~ the home of God.
prayer ~ words that you say when you pray.