Lord, Do You Not Care?
Psalms 77:1-9
"I cried out to God for help; I cried out to God to hear me. When I was in distress, I sought the LORD; at night I stretched out untiring hands, and I would not be comforted. I remembered You, God, and I groaned; I meditated, and my spirit grew faint. You kept my eyes from closing; I was too troubled to speak. I thought about the former days, the years of long ago; I remembered my songs in the night. My heart meditated and my spirit asked: “Will the LORD reject forever? Will He never show His favor again? Has His unfailing love vanished forever? Has His promise failed for all time? Has God forgotten to be merciful? Has He in anger withheld His compassion?”
His disciples asked, “Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?” (Mark 4:38). This question in an emergency was telling, given that these men have been with the LORD and saw the signs and wonders He has performed. Granted, it was an emergency, a "squall" ("seismos" was the word, more like a tsunami) at the Sea of Galilee which threatened their very lives. In troubled times we begin to doubt and question God's power and sovereignty, and moreover His faithfulness and goodness, His love. We know that this Psalm, like much of Asaph's two-part songs, will end in renewed faith and strengthened trusting in God, tomorrow, he'll tell us the resolution, but the heartfelt lines echo into the innermost chambers of our heart of hearts, that every instance of frustration, pain, or suffering, at every turn seems new, that is how jarring it appears sometimes, it's like nothing we, nor others we know of, have encountered before, but that is not necessarily true. American minister and former president of Wheaton College V. Raymond Edman remarked: "never doubt in the dark what God told you in the light.” When life becomes uncertain, says the Living Life writer, "we may be tempted to question God’s commitment to us, as we allow our thoughts and emotions to take over." The writer suggests (as Asaph will tomorrow in the second half of the Psalm, "however, as believers, we have the gift of God’s Word, a consistent message of love, repentance, forgiveness, grace, judgment, and mercy, which steadies us in an otherwise turbulent world", might I add that the turbulence exists in both the outer world of people and nature around us and the inner world of our thoughts and feelings within. "Turning repeatedly to Scripture allows the Holy Spirit to uproot unbelief and replace old lies with truth, bringing order to our souls. We rest assured in the knowledge that God remains faithful, freeing us to walk with increased confidence and clarity through the trials we face." "Who among you fears the LORD? Who obeys the voice of His Servant? Who walks in darkness and has no light? Let him trust in the name of the LORD and rely upon his God," (Isa 50:10) it is by this verse to which the great preacher Charles Spurgeon declared, "I would sooner walk in the dark and hold hard to a promise of God, than to trust in the light of the brightest day that ever dawned." In troubled times, let us never forget, like the weeping prophet Jeremiah, perceiving one of the darkest times in the nation's history, "through the LORD's mercies we are not consumed, because His compassions fail not. They are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness. 'The LORD is my portion,' says my soul, therefore I hope in Him!" (Lam 3:22–24). We can trust God with our very lives, the LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want... Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life; And I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever (Psa 23:1, 6)."
"I cried out to God for help; I cried out to God to hear me. When I was in distress, I sought the LORD; at night I stretched out untiring hands, and I would not be comforted. I remembered You, God, and I groaned; I meditated, and my spirit grew faint. You kept my eyes from closing; I was too troubled to speak. I thought about the former days, the years of long ago; I remembered my songs in the night. My heart meditated and my spirit asked: “Will the LORD reject forever? Will He never show His favor again? Has His unfailing love vanished forever? Has His promise failed for all time? Has God forgotten to be merciful? Has He in anger withheld His compassion?”
His disciples asked, “Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?” (Mark 4:38). This question in an emergency was telling, given that these men have been with the LORD and saw the signs and wonders He has performed. Granted, it was an emergency, a "squall" ("seismos" was the word, more like a tsunami) at the Sea of Galilee which threatened their very lives. In troubled times we begin to doubt and question God's power and sovereignty, and moreover His faithfulness and goodness, His love. We know that this Psalm, like much of Asaph's two-part songs, will end in renewed faith and strengthened trusting in God, tomorrow, he'll tell us the resolution, but the heartfelt lines echo into the innermost chambers of our heart of hearts, that every instance of frustration, pain, or suffering, at every turn seems new, that is how jarring it appears sometimes, it's like nothing we, nor others we know of, have encountered before, but that is not necessarily true. American minister and former president of Wheaton College V. Raymond Edman remarked: "never doubt in the dark what God told you in the light.” When life becomes uncertain, says the Living Life writer, "we may be tempted to question God’s commitment to us, as we allow our thoughts and emotions to take over." The writer suggests (as Asaph will tomorrow in the second half of the Psalm, "however, as believers, we have the gift of God’s Word, a consistent message of love, repentance, forgiveness, grace, judgment, and mercy, which steadies us in an otherwise turbulent world", might I add that the turbulence exists in both the outer world of people and nature around us and the inner world of our thoughts and feelings within. "Turning repeatedly to Scripture allows the Holy Spirit to uproot unbelief and replace old lies with truth, bringing order to our souls. We rest assured in the knowledge that God remains faithful, freeing us to walk with increased confidence and clarity through the trials we face." "Who among you fears the LORD? Who obeys the voice of His Servant? Who walks in darkness and has no light? Let him trust in the name of the LORD and rely upon his God," (Isa 50:10) it is by this verse to which the great preacher Charles Spurgeon declared, "I would sooner walk in the dark and hold hard to a promise of God, than to trust in the light of the brightest day that ever dawned." In troubled times, let us never forget, like the weeping prophet Jeremiah, perceiving one of the darkest times in the nation's history, "through the LORD's mercies we are not consumed, because His compassions fail not. They are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness. 'The LORD is my portion,' says my soul, therefore I hope in Him!" (Lam 3:22–24). We can trust God with our very lives, the LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want... Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life; And I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever (Psa 23:1, 6)."
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