Praying the Psalms: Psalms 77

The first few times I read Psalm 77 I couldn’t help thinking that I was witnessing a worship leader perfecting the art of worship. Or, more appropriately, who knew where to head when the well ran dry.

I think I’ve been in my fair share of share of worship settings where I’ve been exhorted, cajoled even, into ‘putting on my garment of praise for my spirit of heaviness’. Problem is, if the garment is a superficial covering, all it’s doing is hiding reality. The best you can hope for, if your convincing, is to fool some of those around you that ‘things are just awesome, amen!’

Putting on a garment might make you look respectable, acceptable even, but respectable doesn’t change reality…you’ve just traded authenticity for a charade, or truth for a lie.

So what did David mean, and where does that leave us with Asaph in Psalm 77?

As a random as it might sound, I reckon Paul gives us a clue in Colossians 3 when he says ‘clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience’. He’s not suggesting that you have a crack at fooling others that you have these fruits of the Spirit flowing from your heart, he’s suggesting that we actively seek these things—that we cultivate them with our actions, with our hunger for them, and by surrendering our flesh so that they can form and flourish in us, by the Holy Spirit.

And Asaph in 77? He’s in the poo and he’s working on remembering what came long before the poo. He’s recalling God’s goodness over and despite the immediate evidence of his circumstance. It’s certainly no walk in the park for Asaph to remember. His soul refuses to be comforted, he meditates and his spirit feints (v3). In verse 6, he seems to find a corner and turn it. ‘Then my spirit made a diligent search’ he says. He trucks through Israel’s salvation history and understands all over again: God is good. His anger lasts a moment but his favour lasts a lifetime.

I was thinking that in all of this, it can be hard to see the forest from the trees. I was remembering how God is at work and, even in my circumstances, there’s a bigger story he’s writing. It may be through a path of suffering, joy or trial. but it’s always a bigger story. It’s His.

One last thing: there’s an old chinese proverb that goes: ‘the best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago—the next best time is now’. Trees are memorials if you want them to be. ‘Spiritual trees’ are the mercies and testimonies to his faithfulness and grace that surround our lives. Look for ’em. From 20 years back. And from today. Because He’s always planting.

– Simon Elliott