I cried out to God for help; I cried out to God to hear me.
\nWhen I was in distress, I sought the Lord;
\nat night I stretched out untiring hands but my soul refused to be comforted.
\nI remembered you, O God, and I groaned; I mused, and my spirit grew faint.
\nYou kept my eyes from closing; I was too troubled to speak. (Psalm 77:1-4)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
What exactly is troubling Asaph is not expressed. The value for us today is the universal applicability of his feelings. Whether we\u2019ve experienced the loss of a loved one, the breakup of a relationship, financial setbacks, or illness, the words express the common misery of the human heart in turmoil. Asaph wants God to make the pain go away; he wants to experience peace, calmness, and comfort. But despite all his tears, comfort never comes. God does not break through the clouds. Instead, the gloom remains.<\/p>\n
Devastated now by both his own problems, and the refusal of God to respond to him in his hour of need, Asaph casts about fitfully, wondering what he can possibly do. At last, in the second half of the Psalm, it comes to him: he will remember God\u2019s faithfulness in times past. He will recall the character and actions of God and comfort himself with the notion that, even though his heart is broken with no healing in sight, he will chose to believe that God is there and that he has not abandoned him, regardless of how it looks just now. <\/p>\n
If God could rescue the Israelites from Egypt, bringing them through what seemed the insurmountable barrier of an ocean, then God will surely see Asaph through his current crisis. Near the end of the Psalm he comments that God led the Israelites through the sea, \u201cthough your footprints were not seen.\u201d (Psalm 77:19) <\/p>\n
Asaph can\u2019t see God, but then neither could the Israelites, and often, neither can we. Not seeing God at work does not mean that he isn’t.<\/p>\n
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