Psalm 77:1-2, 11-20 (NRSV)Psalm 77 is a psalm difficult to classify due to its composite nature. It appears to be an exilic psalm of complaint.[1] If so, it may incorporate elements of the earlier psalm.
The superscription is: To the leader: according to Jeduthun. A chorus-leading Levite by that name was prominent in King David’s court. “Jeduthun” is either a technical musical term or a reference to another prophet-musician of David’s time. I Chronicles 25:1-7 mentions both; see also II Chronicles 5:11-14, etc. Of Asaph. Asaph receives credit for composing it, as are Psalms 50 and 73-83. A Psalm.
We best see this melancholic, thoughtfully hopeful psalm as a whole. One could read it aloud in various translations. We sometimes forget that most Jews and Christians have experienced the words of Scripture by hearing them read or sung aloud rather than by personal silent reading.
In Psalm 77: 1-2, in a segment that extends to verse 10, we find a lament over the crisis that has come to the community. In verses 1-4, the question is where God has ceased to be gracious to his people. The psalmist is wide-awake at night, crying aloud to God in anguish. 1 I cry aloud to God, aloud to God, (note the repetition) that he may hear me. The psalmist wants to be sure that God hears. 2 In the day of my trouble I seek the Lord (Adonai, also in verse 7, rather than Yahweh); not only vocally but with his body, for in the night my hand is stretched out without wearying or letting up; my soul refuses to be comforted. We who pray only silently would be wise to learn to do as the ancients did, to pray aloud, boldly, even in complaint to God. The psalmist has a vigorous relationship with God. This is no gentle contemplation of the meaning of one’s weary life. The poet sees the judgment of God and the end of God's grace. The Psalm is the extended expression of one who feels wrenched in heart, mind and spirit. Interestingly enough, the psalmist never mentions the content of what is so troubling. The psalms frequently use an individual voice to give expression to a corporate or national Israelite lament or praise. Therefore, a fresh military or other national disaster would have been quite wrenching to the original hearers.
Psalm 77:11-20 are a hymn that glorifies God's miraculous deeds, from the 900’s. The Old Testament individual thought historically concerning the election of Israel along with the acts of the Lord in fulfillment of the covenant. This recounting of past deeds is the pre-history of the individual. Israel looks back from the present. The individual is a member of the people whom the lord brought out of Egypt and led through the Red Sea. Regardless of the perplexities and complaints, in relation to the present or future, God sustains, directs and inspires.[2] The hymn presupposes a worship setting. The poet has moved from the hiddenness of God to the revelation of God because of the rehearsal of the sacred tradition in worship. Verses 11-15 recall God's past saving deeds. 11 I will call to mind the deeds of the Lord (Yah, a shortened form of the divine name); I will remember your wonders of old. What inspires awe and wonder in us today? 12 I will meditate on all your work, and muse on your mighty deeds. God causes the people see the great acts of God, and thus to the plurality of divine acts.[3] 13 Your way, O God, is holy. The psalmist refers to the “set apart” and enigmatic nature of the Divine Being. Isaiah 55 refers to God as “the Holy One of Israel.” God has different ways of thinking/acting from our own, yet God invariably brings about God’s good purposes for God’s people. What god is so great as our God? 14 You are the God who works wonders; you have displayed your might among the peoples. I ask a serious question here. If God does not inspire wonder and if we do not perceive God to be mighty, what does God do? We may well need to undergo an alteration of our perception of what a “wonder” is and what power displayed might be. 15 With your strong arm you redeemed your people, the descendants of Jacob and Joseph. Some think such a reference may suggest authorship from the Northern Kingdom. The basic demonstration of the works, deeds, and wonders of the Lord took place at the beginning of the history of Israel in the exodus of the tribes out of Egypt.[4] Selah, also at the end of vv. 3 and 9, is an obscure term that gives instructions to the psalm-singers, or indicates a pause, or calls for an instrumental interlude. Psalm 77: 16-20, God will not forget people in their distress. Dahood believes verses 16-19 are from an ancient poem. The language is archaic. 16 When the waters saw you, O God, when the waters saw you, they were afraid; the very deep (tehom) trembled before God. 17 The clouds poured out water; the skies thundered; your arrows flashed on every side. 18 The crash of your thunder was in the whirlwind; your lightnings lit up the world; the earth trembled and shook. The chaos motif takes on new relevance in the exile, since the Lord again needed to snatch the cosmos from chaos by divine power.[5] 19 Your way was through the sea, your path, through the mighty waters; yet your footprints were unseen. 20 You led your people like a flock by the hand of Moses and Aaron. Exodus 15:11, within its deliverance context, relates even more directly to this passage. In the past, Israel’s God, the greatest god of all has redeemed God’s people in powerful ways. God delivered them through tornadic storms and terrible waters. The hearer will remember that God brought creation out of the chaotic waters (in a Tiamat myth-busting way), delivered humanity from the destructive flood, and brought Israel safely through the sea. This remembering of the past does not mean hiding in the past but is a plea for God to act again.
The psalmist had trouble sleeping due to whatever tormented him. Most of us can identify with that. For some, sleepless nights are common. Most of us will do well if we learn to go to bed and sleep rather than allow the worries we have keep us awake.[6] The next time you find yourself lying awake, consider this possibility. Maybe God is trying to get your attention. Sometimes, in the whirl of our days, our lives unbalance spiritually. We sometimes neglect the nourishing of our souls, and God may use the hours of the night to call us to hear him again. If we realize that, we can compose a song of response.
Because the poet does not mention a specific situation, the psalm can readily be useful in giving voice to our own corporate or individual struggles. In a church setting, the one piercingly anguished voice of the psalmist likely will resonate with several hearers. People are struggling with issues of faith in a God who seems to have forgotten, even as the hearers remember what good experiences they have had with God or remember what they have learned in worship of God’s providential care in the past.
The psalmist and we would like to believe the outlook of William Cowper’s Light Shining out of Darkness. “God moves in a mysterious way his wonders to perform; he plants his footsteps in the sea and rides upon the storm” (allusions to this psalm). The depiction in verse 19 of God making a path through the mighty waters without leaving footprints will also remind readers of the variously attributed devotional poem, “Footprints in the Sand” (Mary Stevenson wrote the 1936 version). There are times in our lives when it seems that God no longer cares to be with us or to deliver us from trouble, yet God has been quietly carrying us or walking with us all along.
The hymn “God, That Madest Earth and Heaven” appears in some hymnbooks with just two stanzas, one a bedtime prayer and the other for waking, each by a different author. Congregations usually sing it to the traditional Welsh melody, Ar hyd y nos (popularly known as “All Through the Night”). Here is the hymn, with an added stanza in between as a prayer for insomniacs.
God, that madest earth and heaven, darkness and light,
Who the day for toil hast given, for rest the night;
May thine angel guards defend us, slumber sweet thy mercy send us;
Holy dreams and hopes attend us, this live-long night.
But if sleep should not embrace us, give us thy peace.
Be our hope, let calm o’ertake us, make fretting cease.
May thy Holy Spirit bless us, guide, direct, inspire, possess us.
Fill our hearts, with vision dress us, our fears release.
When the constant sun returning unseals our eyes,
May we, born anew like morning, to labor rise.
Gird us for the task that calls us, let not ease and self enthrall us,
Strong through thee whate’er befall us, O God most wise.[7]
I offer a brief prayer.
[1] Systematic Theology Volume 2, 11.
[2]
[3] Pannenberg Systematic Theology Volume 2, 8.
[4] Pannenberg, Systematic Theology Volume 1, 246, referring to the work of R. Rendtorff.
[5] Pannenberg Systematic Theology Volume 2, 11.
[6] A man 90 years old was asked to what he attributed his longevity. “I reckon,” he said, with a twinkle in his eye, “it’s because most nights I went to bed and slept when I should have stayed up and worried.” —Dorothea Kent.
[7] Stanza 1, Reginald Heber, 1827
Stanza 2, Stan Purdum, 2007
Stanza 3, Frederick Lucian Hosmer, 1912
[8] Inspired by John Baillie. A Diary of Private Prayer ( New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1949), 11.
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