Day 23 – Psalm 77

I cry aloud to God,
    aloud to God, and he will hear me.
² In the day of my trouble I seek the Lord;
    in the night my hand is stretched out without wearying;
    my soul refuses to be comforted.
³ When I remember God, I moan;
    when I meditate, my spirit faints. Selah

⁴ You hold my eyelids open;
    I am so troubled that I cannot speak.
⁵ I consider the days of old,
    the years long ago.
⁶ I said, “Let me remember my song in the night;
    let me meditate in my heart.”
    Then my spirit made a diligent search:
⁷ “Will the Lord spurn forever,
    and never again be favorable?
⁸ Has his steadfast love forever ceased?
    Are his promises at an end for all time?
⁹ Has God forgotten to be gracious?
    Has he in anger shut up his compassion?” Selah

¹⁰ Then I said, “I will appeal to this,
    to the years of the right hand of the Most High.”

¹¹ I will remember the deeds of the Lord;
    yes, I will remember your wonders of old.
¹² I will ponder all your work,
    and meditate on your mighty deeds.
¹³ Your way, O God, is holy.
    What god is great like our God?
¹⁴ You are the God who works wonders;
    you have made known your might among the peoples.
¹⁵ You with your arm redeemed your people,
    the children of Jacob and Joseph. Selah

In this psalm, the writer reflects on God’s goodness and deeds. He does this in a time when he is down and discouraged. When we are down and discouraged we feel like God has left us. We feel like He does not care about us or our circumstances. It is in these times that we need to remember what He has done in our lives. This is when we have to think about all of His deeds. He says that he cried out to God and he sought the Lord when he was in distress. This is the time when we have to turn our eyes to God. When we find ourselves in trouble and in distress we have to respond the same way that the writer does here. He says that when he was down, he turned his eyes to God. He focused on all that God had done. His focus was taken off of the trouble around him and was put onto the God who is there for him. In verse 14 he says that God is the God who performs miracles and displays His powers to people. This is the God that we serve. In verse 5 he says that he remembered the days gone by when God was there, when God displayed His powers and worked His miracles. It was an amazing change of heart for the writer when he took his eyes off of his troubles and put them on God. When he reminded himself of all that God has done for him.

In our troubling times, when we get down, we have to turn our eyes to God. When we start to feel down, our first reaction is to think of all the bad things in our life and think that we have it worse than anyone else. We then think that things could not get any worse. We begin to think the worst about everything that might happen. What we need to do in these times in focus our eyes on God. We have to remember that He is there, He is faithful, and He loves us. We are quick to forget all that He has done. We forget His miracles, we forget His mighty deeds. When we begin to remember these things, we will begin to see that everything will be okay. We know that God is God and that He is in control and the He is working in our lives. As we live a life of worship, we worship Him for who He is and what He has done. When it is difficult to worship God, remind yourself of all the things that He has done. Worship Him because of them!

1. How often do you remember the things that God has done in your life?

2. When you get discouraged, do you keep your eyes focused on the problems, or on God?

3. What great miracles have you seen God do?

Today, remind yourself that God is always at work in your life. Think about all of the things that He has done.