For my family, related or not, near or far / five minutes!

Psalm 77:1–3 (ESV)

1. 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

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Times are tough.  Things aren’t always going the best for us — in our world, in our nation, in our hearts, in our lives.  Some of that is due to our own sins.  Some of that is due to others.  Sometimes the existence of God is hard to see; sometimes we turn away from him, sometimes he turns his face from us.  These are all true.

But what else is true is that God is always reaching out for us and desiring us to turn our heads to him, and his coming and dying for us and giving his life for us is his message to us; it is not a message of condemnation, but of love.  Of course, there are consequences to our misdeeds and sins.  Sometimes they are dire.  But there is also the love God extended to us.  That is greater than any problem we will ever encounter, because he said so…

 “in this world you will have trouble, but take heart; I have overcome the world.” John 16:33 

 I cry aloud to God, aloud to God, and he will hear me.

A double cry, emphasizing the crying.  This word gives the impression of “sound as thunder.”   Cry out to him!  I am more restrained than this — but I should cry out like thunder.

I should also trust that he will hear me.  Know it to be the case.

Communication is happening.

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.

The trouble is serious.  It is anxiety.  It is distress.  It is a tightness in the neck and it is debilitating.   Yet the Psalmist continues to call.  Yet the soul cannot find comfort and continues the rage.  Comfort cannot be found.  You pant.  You groan.  You lament.

Such is life sometimes.  This passage does not state it, but it might be helpful to know that Jesus had days like this too.  He experienced this turmoil, for us, in the Garden (John 17).  Recorded elsewhere with tears of blood.

When I remember God, I moan; when I meditate, my spirit faints.  Selah

So it seems that dear Asaph struggled like we do.  We don’t want to admit our troubles to each other, or our fears, or our doubts.  Take them to the Lord.  But what happens when you can’t even do that?

It seems that this avenue was cut off for a time from the Psalmist, and the reason for that is given in the next session.  When we can’t seem to reach for God, know that he is trying to reach for you.  He’s there; but his way of speaking to us is not perceived by us sometimes, and sometimes we just don’t want to listen.

Conclusions

• Other people have gone through trouble too.
• Trouble causes anxiety and fear.
• We ought to cry out (sound as thunder) to God.
• But, God is listening, he does hear.  He will show up.  It might take a minute.