Great Thoughts of God: A Look at Psalm 77

Dr. Steve McGuire

Psalm 77 is a rather complex psalm presenting various challenges in both translation and interpretation. The psalm contains components of lament, thanksgiving, and hymnic praise and the historical setting of its composition is not definitively described by many scholars. Nonetheless, the major thrust of the psalm seems clear enough: a believer whose theological convictions and meditation on great truths about God provide the encouragement and strength to get him through a most agonizing and spiritually exhausting time.

In the opening verses (1-6), he relives his former distress. Without giving any specifics about the situation, he says that he voiced aloud his grief to God. Note that he was not seeking some thing from God but was seeking God himself (v 2). Some interpreters have suggested that this believer was too subjective in his initial lament, this being signaled by the many personal pronouns (I sought … I stretched … my soul … my spirit …) in the early verses, but all of his seeking, musing, and remembering only increased his painful anguish. Even the night brought no relief and his trouble became so intense that he could no longer voice his complaint. All he could do was remember better days and better nights with other more joyful songs. In the lamented remembering of this trouble, the passing of time was obviously a problem and the length of the trouble seems to add to its intensity. Other psalms raise the question in this way: “How long, O Lord? How long?”

This leads to some very honest and painful but frightening questions (vv 7-9). These are frightening questions because they cut to the heart of Israel’s relationship to God. They call into question the very nature of the covenant itself. The covenant was the result of God’s election of Israel, his gracious favor toward them. The covenant would succeed because of God’s loyalty to that relationship. It contained promises of what God intended to do for his chosen people in both the immediate and distant future. These promises were reliable because Yahweh always remembered them. He was persistently merciful and compassionate to his people. Yet hear the haunting questions that the writer’s experience has led him to? Do you feel his gnawing despair when he considers that his excruciating plight may never end? “Will the Lord reject us forever? Will he never show his favor again?” he asks. “Has his unfailing love vanished forever? Has his promise failed for all time? Has God forgotten to be merciful? Has he in anger withheld his compassion?

What would you do in this kind of seemingly endless situation? Where would you turn? You don’t turn. You keep looking to God. You do what you have been doing and you do it with renewed focus. In verses 11 and 12, this is what the psalmist does.

Verse 10 presents some translation and therefore, interpretive problems. It is unclear as to whether the verse continues the lamenting questions, wondering if God’s right hand will no longer help his people. Or is it a point of new resolve and a new appeal, as the NIV indicates? Regardless of the problems of v 10, verses 11-12 return to the language of remembrance and meditation. It is the same language that describes some of his actions in the early part of the psalm (vv 3 and 6). There is no indication that a particular event took place to produce any change in outlook or mood. Rather, it is the object of his memory that gives hope and recharges his spiritual energy. Whereas before he may have been too subjective and based his hopes on his own experiences, he now makes the whole range of God’s works his focus. Four different terms in verses 11-12 suggest this: deeds, miracles, works, and mighty deeds. They appear to be synonymous terms speaking of the great variety of God’s works that are scattered throughout history even reaching back to long ago.

One of these events is a hallmark of the works of God. It is a great exhibit of God’s power and mercy toward his people, his loyalty to his covenant promises, his never ending compassion. It is an event that every Israelite would cherish as the central saving act of God. In his day, the psalmist could not summon a greater memory of God’s mighty acts than the exodus out of Egypt (verses 15-20). In describing the exodus, he employs what might be called a sanctified imagination. This term, as I am using it, does not speak of things that are unreal or fanciful or that are only creations of the mind. I am talking about taking truth seriously and imagining (or imaging) that truth the way a biblical writer would express it in ancient terms and concepts. Perhaps Isaiah’s picture (Isaiah 40) of a big God who builds his world in a way similar to a child’s construction in a sand box is an example. He is scooping out a place for the seas and measuring the dirt for a mountain, marking off the distance in his skies with the span of his hand and so on. It is not the same majestic description of creation by his spoken word that we get in Genesis but the imagery communicates the awesome greatness of God who has the whole world in his hands. A sanctified imagination not only states a truth as a creed but ponders the reality and implications of such truth, seeing it take action in the visible world.

In this description of God’s powerful coming at the exodus, the waters of the sea writhed and convulsed unable to withstand the presence of Israel’s God. The earth trembled and quaked as he made a path through the sea. Ancient people feared the elements of the universe because they represented the various gods with whom they had to deal. But this is God’s world and he is in complete control to deliver his people. So, even though his footprints were not seen, he was leading his people like a flock through the threatening sea (vv 19b-20a).

The exodus is just one of those mighty acts of God that the psalmist considers in order to recover spiritually. As mentioned previously, he turns to the whole range of God’s works as the object of his study. As he contemplates and studies what God has done, he regains his grip on what God is like. As he ponders his acts, he has a new sense of God’s character. It essence, it is finally his theology that provides the anchor of his soul. This is not to diminish our concern for God’s very presence and reduce our need to a few important cognitive suggestions. Rather, descriptions of God’s character often match in importance the declarations of his presence. In fact, in the Book of Exodus, it is his character—the description of what he is like—that make his presence so vital. He is present and he is holy. He is present and he is concerned about his people. He is present and powerful to deliver them.

Thinking the great truths about God can give a strength and vitality needed to make it through the dark valley of spiritual struggle. This is as much needed today as it was for the writer of Psalm 77. Christians are so overrun with the emphasis on personal needs and self-help psychology with a minimum of biblical thought sprinkled in that we have forgotten the benefit of thinking the great truths about God. Spiritually, we pay a high price for this distraction.

See how this believer declares his renewed convictions and certainty. “Your ways, O God, are holy. What god is as great as our God? You are the God who performs miracles; you display your power among the peoples. (verses 13-14)” These are not merely declarations of memories or the opening of historical records but the reinvigorated claims of God’s continual ways, greatness and power on behalf of his people. It is not the way he worked, but the way he works now. Not the way it was, but the way it is!

Theological truth is to be pondered, meditated, and studied by God’s people for a variety of reasons. Such meditation will lead to a host of practical results. Our theology impacts all our thinking—about God, about life, and about our difficult experiences in this world. It shapes a Christian worldview for people like you and me who live in a culture that pursues gods who promise more immediate answers to humanly devised “needs.” Our God does not promise ease or even the absence of gut-wrenching trouble. He does promise to be there and express his character in ways appropriate to every situation and need. Right thinking on this most central of all subjects can give buoyancy to the soul when a flood of questions overtake us. Thinking the great truths of God can remind us of the unseen Reality that makes a path for us where footprints are not seen.

What do you think?

Sources & Suggestions for Further Reading