Remember God's Works

Psalm 77:1-20

Remember God’s Works

This past week, I received news that a family that I know had lost someone very close to them. A young man at the age of 24 from a heart attack.

Its during such times, that we begin to wonder, why did God allow this to happen. What was the purpose for taking someone with so much life still to be lived?

We often endure hard times, and in the hard times, it becomes real easy to question God, it becomes easy to doubt his love and mercy, and think that God has replaced it with anger and judgment.

And that is what the Psalmist conveys to us here in Psalm 77, a passage where the writer is dealing with something that is bothering him greatly.

We are never told what it is that he is dealing with, but it is heavy upon his heart. And I believe when you begin to read along with what he is saying, you can begin to relate to how he is feeling.

It is through this difficulty, that he sings out to the Lord his emotions and thoughts, but through the lines of this song, we find the psalmist song change directions and leads to something very beautiful and encouraging.

(Read Scripture)

Now it is easy to think that David is speaking here, but this Psalm was not written by David, but instead by one known as Asaph.

Asaph is not a well known individual today, but during his time, he was a respected seer and a prominent Levite singer in the court of David.

People knew who Asaph was and we find that the Lord knew Asaph as well, to include this psalm in the scripture.

Now don’t get lost in what is being said here. There are three main areas that we find here and they are marked with the word Selah.

So three main stanzas to the song, and then Selah, where there is a pause in the song and reflection.

But this isn’t just any random song. This song has real meaning to it. Many songs that are sung today don’t have much meaning to them. Instead, it is filled more with the catchy musical beats and there is not much substance to the song.

That is not the case here. Asaph, he is emotional in this song. He is heavy in his thoughts. And he brings it to the Lord. You know honestly, I think what we find in this passage is a man who is depressed.

I can relate to this, because there are times when it seems like the whole world is just coming down on me. And I will get into this bad state of mind, and that is what we see here with Asaph. Notice that he was…

(vs 1-4) Miserable

· Asaph tells the Lord about his heart. He is not in a good place. He is miserable.

· We don’t know what brought on this misery, but it was something that was overwhelming him.

· It had caused him to struggle in his relationship with God. His mind was just focused on this tormenting thought that he was facing in life.

· He tells the Lord that his soul refused to be comforted. It was keeping him up. And he didn’t know what to say.

· You ever been like this in life? Something you are struggling with, and it is just on your mind. I mean it is getting you down.

· There have been many times, where I have had heavy thoughts on my mind, and I try to pray, but I just struggle in praying.

· I get the Bible out and I read, but my mind isn’t on the word. And in a sense I’m just like Asaph here, when he says that his soul refuses to be comforted.

· Asaph, is focused on his situation. He is focused only on his problems. He doesn’t want to hear I am praying for you from friends. He doesn’t want someone to come and say a Bible verse to him.

· Asaph wants God to know his situation and what he is dealing with.

· Now understand, there is nothing wrong with telling God our problems. Telling God how we feel.

· But when the devil comes and whispers those thoughts into our mind that God has forgotten us. That God has forsaken us. That God doesn’t love us anymore.

· We become depressed. We get into a dark spot of life.

· Do you know on the sun, there are dark spots. A place that shines light on earth. There are sun spots, where it is not as bright.

· And often what happens to us, we want to live in the light, but we get off into one of those dark spots and the devil just comes and fills our minds with depressing thoughts.

· And when we get into one of those dark places, we respond much like what the Psalmist says here in verse 3 – we complain and are overwhelmed.

· Now understand, it doesn’t have to be much to get us into a bad place, where we are miserable.

· I mean, we can let the drive thru attendant mess up our order, and we are blaming God for our misery.

· Or, we let a remark made by someone sending us in a downward spiral. Yet, it could be something big. It could be that you are in a bad spot in your relationship.

· Maybe your job is bringing lots of stress into your life. Or maybe, you are struggling because of significant change that is happening in your life.

· You’re miserable. And that is how Asaph felt right here. And he is just pouring out how he feels to God.

· If you are depressed, the first thing you need to do, is admit it. We try to go through life and think that we are to be perfect people in the sense that we are to smile and look happy all the time.

· Depression is real, and the only real solution to our depression is God.

· Oh, we can suppress our depression with medicines, but to be truly free on our misery, there is only one cure and that is Jesus.

· Now here is a man who miserable, he can’t sleep, he feels overwhelmed, life is just hard.

· He doesn’t want to remain in this condition, he wants freedom, so that brings us to the second thing we find in this passage, what does Asaph do?

Meditate (4-12)

· He meditates. Remember when Asaph said he couldn’t sleep. His problem is keeping his mind racing.

· All of the what ifs are bouncing off his mind. Depression has set in. He is withdrawn. So, he begins to take a walk down memory lane.

· He begins to remember what the Lord has done. Notice verses 5&6. I considered the days of old.

· He begins to remember the song that he has sung to the Lord. He is meditating on those moments.

· Those moments when God was as clear to him as we are to each other.

· Asaph focused on times when God was visible in his life. To remind himself that God is still there.

· You know having a hard time hits us all, there were others in the scripture who suffered from depression. Moses and Elijah both had their moments.

· Even John the Baptist began to question when he was locked up in prison. Our minds can get off into some bad thoughts, or be distracted by horrible situations.

· But it is important that we like Asaph stop and begin to meditate on God.

· You know in football and basketball, and other sports, there will be times when the opposing team seems to making a run, and they are scoring left and right on us.

· And that will discourage the team, and they begin to struggle. What does the coach do during those times? He calls a time-out.

· A time to collect our thoughts, to get back on the right page. To regroup and not forget the plan.

· You know it is real easy to get distracted, but what we need to do is call a time-out and meditate on what God has done in our lives.

· I mean think for a moment. Do you remember that moment when God showed up in your life and you got saved?

· Do you remember that moment, when he saved you from being in that accident?

· Do you remember that moment, when he restored that which was lost in your life?

· Remember those moments when God showed up in your life. Meditate on those times.

· You know when you get to feeling down, this is the moment like Asaph did here, that you need to write down those moments when God showed up in your life.

· The Bible tells us to renew our minds. And when those dark thoughts come creeping in, that is the time, to pull out that paper and write down those answered prayers in your life.

· Those blessings that God has given. Renew your mind. Go back into your memory, and remember what God has done for your life.

· Now Asaph doesn’t stop there, there is one more thing that he does here, that we need to heed.

Magnify

· Asaph begins to magnify the Lord. Did you notice how Asaph talked at the beginning of this chapter?

· It was about himself. Notice how many “I”s appear. All the negative things, where is his focus? On himself.

· He wasn’t looking to God, he acknowledges God, but he is focused on the situation instead of God.

· But here at the end of the chapter, he is changed his tune. Instead of singing the blues, he is singing about the amazing God we serve.

· He begins to worship the Lord in song.

· You know music can really affect your mood. You listen to some songs, you will want to go and jump off a bridge.

· Music can bring us into a dark place, but music can also encourage us. And Asaph begins to sing unto the Lord.

· He begins to magnify God with those moments when God delivered the Children of Israel from the Egyptians.

· He sings how the waters were scared of God, and in the latter part of this chapter we see Asaph singing how God has a path in the waters of the sea.

· You know, life has a way of flooding us with so many things. So many bad things, that bring us down.

· But the waters of life are no match for Jesus Christ. The Lord is not overwhelmed by the waters, he can walk on water.

· He can part the waters, he can command the waters.

· What we need to do, when the waters of depression begin to drown us in sorrow and despair, is to just turn our attention to Jesus.

· Asaph magnifies the Lord, by calling him great! Friends we serve a great God, and what we must do, is speak it out to God, telling him he is great. Telling him he is holy. Telling him he is merciful.

· We change our conversation off the negative and we turn it to the positive. And when you give him your worship, your situation will change.

· Now you may be here, you walked in to this room, just like Asaph began this passage. You are in a bad place. Maybe you’re depressed. You are dealing with a hard situation.

· You came in just looking at what you have going on, and maybe you are blaming God.

· What you need to do today, is stop and think about what the Lord has said to you, and instead of complaining, you come and start worshipping him. By coming to him today, he can change your outlook.

· Life doesn’t have to remain bad, turn it over to God, by just giving him yourself.