Today's Verse
Then I said, "I will appeal to this, to the years of the right hand of the Most High." I will remember the deeds of the LORD; yes, I will remember your wonders of old.
Psalm 77:10-11
Historical Context
Psalm 77 is one of twelve psalms attributed to Asaph, the Levite whom David appointed as a chief musician when the ark was brought to Jerusalem (1 Chronicles 16:4-5). The Asaph psalms tend to wrestle with hard questions: the prosperity of the wicked, the ruin of the sanctuary, the silence of God. This one is dedicated to Jeduthun, another of David's music leaders, whose name marks a particular guild of temple singers.
The psalm gives no specific occasion, and that is part of its gift. Israel had many nights that fit it: the years in Egypt, the wilderness, the judges, exile in Babylon. Whatever the immediate trouble, the singer is not describing a passing bad mood. He is awake in the dark, hand stretched out in prayer, unable to speak, unable to be comforted. Even the memory of God, which should console him, makes him groan.
The turning point comes at verse 10, and it is a deliberate act of will, not a change of feelings. He decides to appeal to the years of God's right hand, the record of what God has done. The second half of the psalm then reaches back to the exodus, when God split the sea and led his people through waters that hid his footprints but not his power.
For Israel singing this in the temple, the exodus was not a story from a distant past. It was the founding rescue that defined who they were. To remember it was to remember that the God who saved then is the same God who is silent now, and that his silence is not his absence.
Reflection
There is a particular kind of suffering the psalm names precisely: the trouble that keeps your eyes open at night and makes even prayer feel like moaning. Asaph is not embarrassed to admit it. He asks the questions faithful people are told not to ask. Has God's steadfast love ceased? Has he forgotten to be gracious? Has he shut up his compassion in anger?
Those questions are not the sin. Suppressing them and pretending everything is fine is closer to the sin. Asaph brings them into the sanctuary and lays them before God in song.
But he does not stay there. Verse 10 is one of the most important hinges in the Psalter. "I will appeal to this, to the years of the right hand of the Most High." He does not wait for his feelings to change. He does not wait for the circumstances to lift. He turns his mind, by an act of the will, toward what God has actually done in history.
This is why Christians remember. This is why we read Scripture when we do not feel like it, come to the table when our hearts are cold, rehearse the creed when doubts are loud. Feelings follow attention. If you feed your attention on your trouble, your trouble will fill your soul. If you feed it on the deeds of the Lord, on the cross where he did not spare his own Son, on the empty tomb, on your own baptism, the ground under you begins to firm up.
God's footprints through the sea were unseen. That did not mean he was not there. He was leading his people the whole time. He is leading you now.
For Reflection
What specific "deed of the Lord" from your own life or from Scripture will you deliberately call to mind the next time your soul refuses to be comforted?
Prayer
Father, we bring you the nights when sleep will not come and prayer feels like groaning. Teach us to bring our hard questions into your presence instead of hiding them. When our feelings betray us, give us the will to remember your mighty deeds, above all the cross and empty tomb of your Son. You are the God who works wonders. Your way is holy. Lead us, even when we cannot see your footprints. In Jesus' name, Amen.
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