Psalms – Psalm 75-77

We continue reading a few more psalms written by Asaph today.

In Psalms, there are twelve of the psalms attributed to Asaph (Ps 50, 73-83).  So Asaph, the singer, song writer and chief musician under King David (1 Chronicles 15:17) either wrote it, or some of it were written by his descendents who carried on his musical tradition (1 Chronicles 25:2).

Asaph was a Levite and was known for his use of cymbals in worshipping God.  When the ark was brought to Jerusalem, David appointed him as a leader of the choir that led the worship (1 Chronices 15:17, 19; 1 Chronicles 16:4-5).

Bible Passage:  Psalms 75-77

It’s another mixed bag of Psalms today.

Psalm 75 deals with the question “when will we see justice?”.

And the Lord replies “When I choose the proper time” (Psalm 75:2).  Over and over in the Scriptures, we see God arranging matters so that in His time He “puts down one and exalts another” (Psalm 75:7).  This echoes the song of Mary (Luke 1:51-54).

So this psalm celebrates the timeliness of God’s judgement.

In Psalm 76, a familiar song of praise to God is heard for His deliverance over the enemies.  This triumph points to God’s dominion over all the nations and challenges every person to fear him.

I would like to concentrate today on Psalm 77.

Has His mercy ceased forever?
Has His promise failed forevermore?
Has God forgotten to be gracious?
Has He in anger shut up His tender mercies?

Psalm 77:8-9

Yesterday, Preacher AQ talked about how we as Christians must strive to enter the new Jerusalem.  The world will never have peace – especially when the little horn appears and there will be a limited period where the true believers will have to suffer and prayers will remain unanswered during that time.

Reading the above verses does remind me of it.

The Psalmist raised the question about unanswered prayer and wonders if God has forgotten or is now ignoring him.

Now of course, some people object and say that there is no such thing as unanswered prayer.  God always gives one of three responses: yes, no, and wait.

This is true but you can understand the depth of despair of the psalmist here because he has had the experience of answered prayers before – but is now especially perplexed at feeling that none of his prayers are getting through to God…. and he begins to wonder if there is such a God still out there.

In the day of my trouble I sought the Lord;
My hand was stretched out in the night without ceasing;
My soul refused to be comforted.
I remembered God, and was troubled;
I complained, and my spirit was overwhelmed.

Psalm 77:2-3

You can really feel the pain of the Psalmist and also wonder along with him why was God ignoring him.

He was not the one who has ignored God.  On the contrary – he committed himself to God – but now there seems to be only darkness when he looks to the future.

The Psalmist is consumed with self-concern.  The pronoun “I” permeates the 1st 10 verses.

“I cry aloud, I seek the Lord, I moan, I am so troubled that I cannot speak.”

A person discouraged and despairing rarely sees any possibility for hope:

Will the Lord cast off forever?
And will He be favorable no more?
Has His mercy ceased forever?
Has His promise failed forevermore?

Psalm 77:7-8

What happens when we cannot connect with God is we become totally self-absorbed.

Some of us have prayed long and hard, day and night, pouring out our soul in deep faith.  And yet, what we have asked for has not been given, what we have sought for, is not found and the very door that we have knocked at remains slammed shut in our faces.

We can understand to a certain degree why God refuses to answer some of our prayers.  Just like a loving parent who does not say “yes” to every request made by their child.  To grant the plea of a child to never having to go to bed early, or to have cookies for dinner, or to let them get away with telling a lie – is not the mark of a loving parent – but of one who didn’t care enough to sometimes say “no”.

I happened to watch the movie Bruce Almighty on a plane recently.

If you have not seen the movie before, itis about Bruce – a genial newscaster who feels nothing ever goes right for him and feels that God has not been fair to him.  And then he is granted the ability to stand in God’s place for a while.

Realising that he is supposed to answer people’s prayers, he figures that the easiest thing to do would be “just to say yes” to everything.

But by granting every single request – he makes a big mess of everything.  Everyone’s prayers to win the lottery are answered, which means people receive almost nothing back and they are angry about it. Chaos occurs when everyone gets hired for the same job they wanted.  The shy cultured kid who is picked upon, gets his request to become brawny, and turns that “yes” into an opportunity to become a bully in his own right, instead of the sensitive poet he was destined to become.

I think most of you may not know this – but I have a liking for Country Music… because the songs always tells a great story.  One of such song is a song by Garth Brooks called “Thank God for Unanswered Prayer”.  I have included a video of the song here which you may want to listen to…

Did you like it?  🙂

Anyway, in this song, a fellow runs into his old high school girlfriend at a football game and it brought back memories of how he thought he knew she was the right one and had prayed to God that God just grant him this one request and that he’d never ask for anything again.

But it did not happen the way he prayed.  And as he talked with her – he realised that she was not the angel of his dreams and would have never been right for him.  And God had arranged for him to have a better spouse for him.

The chorus goes this way:

Sometimes I thank God for unanswered prayers
Remember when you’re talkin’ to the man upstairs
That just because he doesn’t answer doesn’t mean he don’t care
Some of God’s greatest gifts are unanswered prayers
I guess the Lord knows what he’s doin’ after all
Some of God’s greatest gifts are unanswered prayers

We recognize that in our ignorance we can ask for what is not good for ourselves or others, or even not intrinsically possible. There is much here which is difficult for us to accept, but nothing really intellectually hard to understand.

There are examples in the Bible of unanswered prayers – like Paul requesting that the thorn in his flesh to be removed, but it never is.   So it should not surprise us when some of our prayers are unanswered.

Some people will say that if we don’t get our prayers answered, it is because we are not praying hard enough, or that we have some unconfessed sin, or don’t have deep enough faith.  While all these might sound right and good – they don’t guarantee that our prayers will be answered even if we do all the above.

The turning point for the Psalmist is in Psalm 77:10

And I said, “This is my anguish;
But I will remember the years of the right hand of the Most High.”

(NJKV)

Then I said, “God Most High,
what hurts me most
is that you no longer help us
with your mighty arm.”

(CEV)

Then I thought, “To this I will appeal:
the years of the right hand of the Most High.”

(NIV)

So I say, “It is my sorrow that the right hand of the Most High has changed.”

(HCSB)

I have included several different translation of this verse because it helps us to hear the poignancy in that verse as the Psalmist grieves that God is not acting the predictable way or manner that he has counted upon.

As it is, when faced with disappointment in our prayers, we never know if we will face a loss of faith or that this becomes a door to the opening for a stronger, renewed faith.

I know of some members for whom unanswered prayers killed their faith.

But when God seems silent in the face of our prayers, we have the choice to stay trapped or move on to see something new.

The Psalmist, faced with unanswered prayers turns away from the path that says, “There is no loving God” and toward the path of re-looking at God in fresh ways.  Note the language shifts from being self-centred, to God centred, looking to what he has known of God from tradition and past experience.

I will remember the works of the LORD;
Surely I will remember Your wonders of old.
I will also meditate on all Your work,
And talk of Your deeds.
Your way, O God, is in the sanctuary;
Who is so great a God as our God?

Psalm 77:11-13

It is the assurance of things not seen, an affirmation of trust for the unknown future because of confidence we have gained through our lives in the faith-bearing past.

My guess is that you will have your own stories of the truth of this Psalm—a God, who evokes our trust even in the face of temporarily unanswered prayer.

And may we, like the Psalmist here, be grateful for the possibilities of unanswered prayers that cause us to discover a God who not only worked in ever unexpected ways, but who was bigger and more magnificent than anything we had imagined.