Year 1, Week 34, Day 4 Bible Reading Observations

Year 1, Week 34, Day 4

I have a brief observation for today’s reading of Psalm 77-78.

Today’s reading contains two Psalms of Asaph. Psalm 77 is a reflection of a distressful season. Asaph laments his present situation to the point that he expresses feelings of being abandoned by the LORD: “Will the Lord spurn forever, and 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?” (Psalm 77:7-9). And yet, the mood of the Psalm shifts as Asaph rehearses God’s mighty acts in the past. Psalm 78 builds on the review of God’s mighty acts in the past, as stated in Psalm 77. But in Psalm 78, Asaph expands his review of the past and uses it to build a case to past on the truth of God’s faithfulness to future generations: “We will not hide them from their children, but tell to the coming generation the glorious deeds of the LORD, and his might, and the wonders that he has done” (Psalm 78:4). Theses two Psalms from today’s reading contain some connecting terms, which suggests a close relationship between Psalm 77 and Psalm 78. Psalm 77 opens with a call for God to hear, while Psalm 78 opens with a call for the people to hear from God. In Psalm 77, Asaph is worried that God has forgotten, whereas, in Psalm 78, Asaph warns Israel to not forget. Psalm 77 closes with the LORD shepherding Israel as He led them by the hand of Moses and Aaron, while Psalm 78 closes with the LORD as shepherd through the guiding hand of David.

One of the things that struck me from today’s reading was the LORD’s work of shepherding His people: “Then he led out his people like sheep and guided them in the wilderness like a flock. He led them in safety, so that they were not afraid, but the sea overwhelmed their enemies” (Psalm 78:52-53). The LORD desires for His people to know that He is with His people and that He is at work in their midst: “You are the God who works wonders; you have made known your might among the peoples. You with your arm redeemed your people, the children of Jacob and Joseph” (Psalm 77:14-15). And so the key features of these two Psalms is that a special focus of Psalm 77 is the wonderings of Asaph as to whether or not the LORD has forgotten His people. On the other hand, the complimentary special focus of Psalm 78 is the warning from Asaph to the people of Israel is that they not forget the LORD.

Psalm 77 expresses Asaph’s struggle with his enemies. They have overwhelmed him: “I cry aloud to God, aloud to God, and he will hear me. In the day of my trouble I seek the Lord; in the night my hand is stretched out without wearying; my soul refuses to be comforted” (Psalm 77:1-2). And yet, the intensification of Asaph’s struggle is rooted, not in whatever it is that his enemies were doing against him; Asaph’s struggle has intensified because he can’t remember the LORD: “When I remember God, I moan; when I meditate, my spirit faints…I said, “Let me remember my song in the night; let me meditate in my heart.” Then my spirit made a diligent search” (Psalm 77:4,6). The troubles afflicted on him by his enemies are real and deeply painful, but a still deeper affliction in his soul is that felt absence of the LORD. The way forward for Asaph is to reach deeper in remembering: “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. Your way, O God, is holy. What god is great like our God?” (Psalm 77:11-13). The way forward is backward—remembering what God is like and all that He has done. Asaph’s language reaches all the way back to how Moses declared the LORD and His mighty deeds: “Who is like you, O LORD, among the gods? Who is like you, majestic in holiness, awesome in glorious deeds, doing wonders?” (Exodus 15:11). Remembering the LORD in the middle of troubles is the real solution. Remember the LORD while in the middle of our troubles is the game changer.

Psalm 78 expresses Asaph’s call to remember—remember the LORD: “He established a testimony in Jacob and appointed a law in Israel, which he commanded our fathers to teach to their children, that the next generation might know them, the children yet unborn, and arise and tell them to their children, so that they should set their hope in God and not forget the works of God, but keep his commandments” (Psalm 78:5-7). Israel was to not only not forget, they were to pass on what they were to remember. Asaph explained that Israel’s unfaithfulness was rooted in their forgetfulness: “They tested God again and again and provoked the Holy One of Israel. They did not remember his power or the day when he redeemed them from the foe, when he performed his signs in Egypt and his marvels in the fields of Zoan” (Psalm 78:41-43). But the LORD was gracious and He remembered the nature of His people: “Yet he, being compassionate, atoned for their iniquity and did not destroy them; he restrained his anger often and did not stir up all his wrath. He remembered that they were but flesh, a wind that passes and comes not again” (Psalm 78:38-39). Even when Israel did remember, they were not consistent toward the LORD: “They remembered that God was their rock, the Most High God their redeemer. But they flattered him with their mouths…Their heart was not steadfast toward him; they were not faithful to his covenant” (Psalm 78:35-37). But the LORD remembered them and the covenant that He made with them: “Then he led out his people like sheep and guided them in the wilderness like a flock. He led them in safety, so that they were not afraid, but the sea overwhelmed their enemies” (Psalm 78:52-53).

What struck you in today’s reading? What questions were prompted from today’s reading?

Pastor Joe