I will cry to God with my voice, even to God with my voice,
and He will give ear and hearken to me.
In the day of my trouble I seek the Lord; in the night my hand
is stretched out in prayer, without slacking up; I refuse to be comforted.
I earnestly remember God; I am disquieted and I groan;
I muse in prayer, and my spirit faints, overwhelmed.
Selah pause, and calmly think of that!
You hold my eyes from closing; I am so troubled that I cannot speak.
I consider the days of old, the years of bygone times of prosperity.
I call to remembrance my song in the night; with my heart I meditate
and my spirit searches diligently: Will the Lord cast off forever?
And will He be favorable no more?
Have His mercy and loving-kindness ceased forever?
Have His promises ended for all time?
Has God deliberately abandoned or forgotten His graciousness?
Has He in anger shut up His compassion?
Selah pause, and calmly think of that!
And I say, this apparent desertion of Israel by God is my appointed lot
and trial, but I will recall the years of the right hand of the Most High
in loving-kindness extended toward us, for this is my grief,
that the right hand of the Most High changes.
I will earnestly recall the deeds of the Lord; yes, I will earnestly remember
the wonders You performed for our fathers of old.
I will meditate also upon all Your works and consider all Your mighty deeds.
Your way, O God, is in the sanctuary of holiness, away from sin and guilt.
Who is a great God like our God?
You are the God Who does wonders; You have demonstrated Your power among the peoples.
You have with Your mighty arm redeemed Your people, the sons of Jacob and Joseph.
Selah pause, and calmly think of that!
When the waters at the Red Sea and the Jordan saw You, O God, they were afraid;
the deep shuddered also, for all the waters saw You.
The clouds poured down water, the skies sent out a sound of rumbling thunder;
Your arrows went forth in forked lightning.
The voice of Your thunder was in the whirlwind; the lightnings illumined
the world; the earth trembled and shook.
Your way in delivering Your people was through the sea, and Your paths
through the great waters, yet, Your footsteps were not traceable, but were obliterated.
You led Your people like a flock by the hand of Moses and Aaron.
PSALM 77
A Psalm of Asaph
"Thy way is in the sea." Far down in the secret channels of the deep is Thy roadway;
when Thou wilt Thou canst make a sea a highway for Thy glorious march.
"And Thy path in the great waters." There, where the billows surge and swell,
Thou does still walk; Lord of each crested wave.
"And Thy footsteps are not known." None can follow Thy tracks by foot or eye.
Thou art alone in Thy glory, and Thy ways are hidden from mortal ken.
Thy purposes Thou wilt accomplish, but the means are often concealed,
yea, they need no concealing, they are in themselves too vast
and mysterious for human understanding."
Glory be to Thee, O Jehovah.
-Charles Spurgeon
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