Everyone knows the power of the right song at the right time. I’ve experienced it on the radio, in the church pew, and in moments when singing was the last thing I felt like doing. There is a poetic potency in music to pierce through the darkness or rise above the noise. It should not surprise us that this is so. We are made in the image of a singing God. Music is in our blood. And when our hearts are set free from sin and death, we become a singing people- especially in times of trouble. Jesus and his disciples sang on the eve of the darkest night in all of history. Paul and Silas sang throughout the night bound and broken though they were. These songs are gifts of the Spirit to stir us, strengthen us, and sustain us. Asaph seeks the remembrance of such a song now as he considers his present circumstances in light of how the Lord has revealed Himself to His people in the past.
Troubled times lead us to reorient our thoughts.
What song would he have sung to see the Lord’s favor again? What song would have stirred up his faith in the Lord’s protection and his hope in the Lord’s salvation? The Psalmist will turn to images from the Exodus in stanzas 3 and 4. So maybe it was the song of Moses recorded in Exodus 15.
“I will sing to the LORD for he has triumphed gloriously; the horse and the rider he has thrown into the sea. The LORD is my strength and my song. He has become my salvation; this is my God and I will praise Him, my father’s God and I will exalt Him.”
Exodus 15:1-2
Maybe it was the other song of Moses in Deuteronomy 32 that God commanded him to write and teach the people as they were ready to follow Joshua into the land of Promise.
“The Rock, his work is perfect, for all his ways are justice. A God of faithfulness and without iniquity, just and upright is he. They have dealt corruptly with him; they are no longer his children because they are blemished; they are a crooked and twisted generation. Do you thus repay the Lord, you foolish and senseless people? Is not he your father, who created you, who made you and established you? Remember the days of old; consider the years of many generations;”
Deuteronomy 32:1-7
In this song of judgment, the faithfulness and favor of God is contrasted with the coming unfaithfulness and ungratefulness of his chosen people, Israel. They will grow fat in the day of prosperity and forget the God who delivered them out of the hands of their enemies and made them great.
A song of judgment does not sound like a good choice in dark times, but this was also a song for the faithful remnant. For the faithful, God’s justice is a great comfort. His sovereign rule is not a burden to be carried but a blessing. This song was a reminder that although God had forsaken unbelieving Israel, he would remain true to his promises to those who fear him, to those who call upon his name. The Apostle Paul poetically says it this way:
“If we have died with him, we will also live with him; if we endure, we will also reign with him; if we deny him, he also will deny us; if we are faithless, he remains faithful— for he cannot deny himself.“
2 Timothy 2:11-13
We do not know for certain the song Asaph has in mind, but whatever the song, he turns to it now. And the spirit that had grown faint in remembering in verse 3, is now stirred up to make a diligent search. Now he is ready to ask the questions rising up in his mind, but notice the nature of the questions.
“Will the Lord spurn forever?”
“Will he never again be favorable?”
“Has his steadfast love forever ceased?”
“Are his promises at an end for all time?”
“Has God forgotten to be gracious?”
“Has he in anger shut up his compassion?”
Questions of the heart either flow from belief or unbelief. Sometimes we can fall into a false piety that says true belief banishes all questions. In reality, true belief simply produces the right kind of question. Questions of belief are rooted in a reality beyond one’s self. Because we believe certain things to be true, we wrestle with present circumstances that challenge those truths. It is the martyrs’ unwavering faith in God’s justice that provokes them to cry “O Sovereign Lord, holy and true, how long before you will judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth?” a
God is not in the dock enduring the cross-examination of Asaph. Asaph is a child before his father trying to grasp something bigger than his little hands can hold on their own.
In contrast, questions of unbelief rise from a heart at the center of its own universe. All other things must give an account in relation to the self. Listen to how differently the questions sound when they arise from a man-centered perspective.
“Why has the Lord rejected me?”
“Why is he withholding his blessings in my life?”
“Why doesn’t he love me?”
“Why are his promises not coming to pass?”
“Why has the Lord forgotten me?”
“Why is he punishing me like this?”
As trouble squeezes us, it not only reveals what is in us, but in the hands of the Spirit, it can shape us in glorious ways. Our honest cries become holy cries. Our sighs become songs. Our questions become guideposts that lead us out of the shadows into the shadow of the Almighty.
Or to go back to an earlier image, this psalm is a divine song teaching us the dance of faith. We’re learning to let the Spirit lead us rather than rushing ahead. The Lord is not being asked to get in step with our lives; we are seeking to get into step with His life. It is a descending down that leads to a glorious ascending up.
And stanza 3 brings that turning point.
“Then I said, ‘I will appeal to this, to the years of the right hand of the Most High.’ I will remember the deeds of the LORD; yes, I will remember your wonders of old. I will ponder all your work and meditate on your mighty deeds.”
Psalm 77:10-11
Difficulties have a way of dominating our vision. We spend all our time thinking about what we don’t understand fully and we can’t see through it. Like dark clouds blowing across the moon, the things closest to us can obscure even the biggest, most solid of realities. Asaph fills his vision with clear remembrances of God’s glory revealed countless times in the lives of His people. He appeals to the years in which the works and rule of God were plainly demonstrated. He lets what is clear inform his understanding of what is cloudy. He leaves no room for doubt to slip in. As we meditate on the greatness and goodness of God in history, we will find our minds less captive to the anxieties of the present. Asaph lives under a clear sense of God’s countenance even when it is hidden. “The years of the right hand of the Most High” bring several truths to his remembrance.
First, he remembers that God is holy. Your way, O God, is holy. What god is great like our God? (v.13)
Second, he remembers that God is all-powerful. You are the God who works wonders; you have made known your might among the peoples. (v.14)
Third, he remembers that God’s lovingkindness endures forever. You with your arm redeemed your people, the children of Jacob and Joseph. (v.15)
Troubled times provide the backdrop of gospel glory.
The final stanza looks to the deliverance of God’s people from Egypt as evidence of God’s power and love. The nature imagery, much of which is drawn from Moses’ account recorded earlier in Scripture, provides a rich contrast between our response to figurative waves, storms, whirlwinds, and earthquakes. To us, these are the sources of trouble. But in the hands of the Almighty, they appear as mere servants to His redemptive grace.
“When the waters saw you, O God, when the waters saw you, they were afraid; indeed, the deep trembled. The clouds poured out water; the skies gave forth thunder; your arrows flashed on every side. The crash of your thunder was in the whirlwind; your lightnings lighted up the world; the earth trembled and shook. Your way was through the sea, your path through the great waters; yet your footprints were unseen. You led your people like a flock by the hand of Moses and Aaron.“
Psalm 77:16-20
The Psalmist looks back at the great deliverance of God’s people and he finds great comfort and hope in the midst of present trouble. The Lord is faithful to his own. His steadfast love endures forever. His promises stand firm. He is gracious, slow to anger and rich in compassion.
But there is a greater exodus that we are to look back and remember. We have experienced a greater deliverance by a greater Moses. We have been given a greater kingdom by a greater Joshua.
It was all perfectly accomplished as water and blood flowed from his side, as the earth trembled and shook at the empty tomb, as he ascended to the right hand of the Father to shepherd his little lambs, and as He poured out His Spirit upon the church to become kings and priests to the world.
The psalms are gospel songs. What they looked forward to for Asaph are a means of looking back for us. We are not just a singing people. Our songs have a peculiar tune, a peculiar sound that cannot be ignored. Today, in the midst of real life, “let us love and sing and wonder; let us praise the Savior’s name!” b AMEN!
