771 My cry goes to God!
Indeed, I cry to God for help,
and for him to listen to me. 2 In the day of my trouble I sought the Lord.
My hand was stretched out in the night, and didn’t get tired.
My soul refused to be comforted. 3 I remember God, and I groan.
I complain, and my spirit is overwhelmed. Selah. 4 You hold my eyelids open.
I am so troubled that I can’t speak. 5 I have considered the days of old,
the years of ancient times. 6 I remember my song in the night.
I consider in my own heart;
my spirit diligently inquires: 7 “Will the Lord reject us forever?
Will he be favorable no more? 8 Has his loving kindness vanished forever?
Does his promise fail for generations? 9 Has God forgotten to be gracious?
Has he, in anger, withheld his compassion?” Selah. 10 Then I thought, “I will appeal to this:
the years of the right hand of the Most High.”
Matthew Henry's Commentary on Psalm 77:1-10
Commentary on Psalm 77:1-10
(Read Psalm 77:1-10)
Days of trouble must be days of prayer; when God seems to have withdrawn from us, we must seek him till we find him. In the day of his trouble the psalmist did not seek for the diversion of business or amusement, but he sought God, and his favor and grace. Those that are under trouble of mind, must pray it away. He pored upon the trouble; the methods that should have relieved him did but increase his grief. When he remembered God, it was only the Divine justice and wrath. His spirit was overwhelmed, and sank under the load. But let not the remembrance of the comforts we have lost, make us unthankful for those that are left. Particularly he called to remembrance the comforts with which he supported himself in former sorrows. Here is the language of a sorrowful, deserted soul, walking in darkness; a common case even among those that fear the Lord, Isaiah 50:10. Nothing wounds and pierces like the thought of God's being angry. God's own people, in a cloudy and dark day, may be tempted to make wrong conclusions about their spiritual state, and that of God's kingdom in the world. But we must not give way to such fears. Let faith answer them from the Scripture. The troubled fountain will work itself clear again; and the recollection of former times of joyful experience often raises a hope, tending to relief. Doubts and fears proceed from the want and weakness of faith. Despondency and distrust under affliction, are too often the infirmities of believers, and, as such, are to be thought upon by us with sorrow and shame. When, unbelief is working in us, we must thus suppress its risings.