Psalms 77

DISCOURSE: 630
DESPONDENCY DEPICTED AND REPROVED

Psalms 77:7. Will the Lord cast off for ever? and will he be favourable no more? Is his mercy clean gone for ever? doth his promise fail for evermore? Hath God forgotten to be gracious? hath he in anger shut up his tender mercies? And, I said, this is my infirmity: but I will remember the years of the right hand of the Most High.

IT pleases God to deal with men in a great variety of ways: some, in their bodies, experience scarce any pain or sickness till the period of their dissolution; whilst others know little of health or ease through the greatest part of their lives. In like manner, the souls of some enjoy an almost uninterrupted course of peace and prosperity; whilst others are made to pass through deep waters, and to sustain fiery trials during a great part of their earthly pilgrimage. It is of these last that we propose at this time to speak. The afflictions of Asaph were certainly exceeding heavy: and the account, which in the preceding verses he gives of himself, shews, that he may well be considered as a mirror, wherein the Lord’s people in all ages may, under their several temptations, behold the workings of their own minds. Scarcely any one can experience a sorer temptation than his [Note: He seems to have been that Asaph who was contemporary with David.]. When he wrote this psalm, he was brought through it [Note: ver. 1.]: but he tells us faithfully, what were his views and feelings under it. He sought the Lord without intermission; but found no comfort [Note: ver. 2.]: his very recollections of God’s character contributed only to augment his grief [Note: ver. 3.]. To such a degree was his spirit oppressed, that he was deprived of all rest by night, and of all power of friendly communication by day; and he altogether sunk under his trouble [Note: ver. 3, 4.]. In vain did he call to mind the consolations he had enjoyed under former trials [Note: ver. 5, 6.], or examine to find the causes of this peculiar dispensation [Note: ver. 6.]: he thought surely that God himself must have changed, and have cast off that character, which, in appearance at least, he had on all former occasions exhibited: yea, his darling attributes of mercy and truth seemed to have undergone a change, and to have assumed an aspect totally different from that in which they had hitherto been viewed [Note: ver. 7–9.].

Happily, however, the snare was broken; and he saw, that these hard thoughts of God had no foundation in truth: they were the result only of his own weakness [Note: ver. 10.]; and would be effectually removed by a more attentive consideration of all that God had done for his people of old [Note: ver. 10–20.].

His temptation was at its height, when he asked the questions recorded in our text. We shall do well therefore to consider,

I. What these questions import—

They are not to be viewed as subjects of a merely speculative inquiry, but to be taken in connexion with all that agitation of mind that is depicted in the foregoing context. In this view they express,

1. Disquieting apprehensions in reference to himself—

[He had thought in former times, that he was a monument of God’s “mercy,” and an object of his “favourable” regard: but now he seems as one cast out, and doomed to everlasting misery. It must be remembered, that interrogations, which in our language would imply a negation of the thing inquired about, have frequently in Scripture the force of affirmations [Note: Jeremiah 2:14; Jeremiah 31:20.]: and thus it is in the various questions that are before us, in which therefore there is a very strong degree of apprehension intimated. Yet is this feeling by no means uncommon at the present day. Many in a season of darkness are led to write bitter things against themselves, and to account all their past profession a continued scene of hypocrisy and self-delusion. They think that they have resisted the Spirit, till they have utterly quenched his sacred motions; yea, that they have committed the sin against the Holy Ghost, and placed themselves, as it were, out of the reach of mercy: and such an unhappy degree of positiveness frequently accompanies these apprehensions, that they read their doom as if it had been already past, and disregard all means of grace as though it were utterly in vain to use them.]

2. Desponding fears in reference to God—

[He properly referred every thing to God as the one source of all good: but instead of deriving comfort from this, he made it an occasion of increased despondency. And thus it is with many: “They remember God, and are troubled.” Every attribute of the Deity is brought against them, to aggravate their guilt and ensure their condemnation. Even mercy and truth are regarded by them as arrayed in hostile attitude against them, and as uniting their influence on the side of offended justice. His paternal corrections are considered by them as judicial inflictions, and as the forerunners of yet heavier judgments in the lake that burneth with fire and brimstone. His delays in answering prayer are viewed as absolute refusals, and as decisive proofs of final dereliction. Hence their fears are vented in terms similar to those in the passage before us [Note: Lamentations 3:17.]

An apprehension of the true import of these questions will enable us to discover,

II.

Whence they proceed—

Justly did Asaph say, “This is my infirmity:” and a grievous infirmity it was. Such questions as his arise,

1. From impatience—

[There is great impatience in the mind of man, yea, even of good men, and especially under any dark and mysterious dispensation. We are apt to think that God is, as it were, bound to hear us, and to interpose, either for the solution of our difficulties, or the removal of our trials, as soon as we call upon him. We cannot wait his leisure. Like Saul, we think he has forgotten us; and, that our enemies will crush us, before he can come to our relief [Note: 1 Samuel 13:12.], Thus David was exercised, as he himself tells us: “I said in my haste, I am cut off from before thine eyes [Note: Psalms 31:22.].” To such a degree was he agitated on one occasion, that he declared, it was altogether in vain that he had served God: “Verily I have cleansed my heart in vain, and washed my hands in innocency [Note: Psalms 73:13; Psalms 73:21.].” And, as for all that God’s saints had spoken from the beginning of the world respecting the grace and mercy and fidelity of God, he did not hesitate to pronounce it all a downright falsehood: “I said in my haste, all men are liars [Note: Psalms 116:11.].” The Prophet Jeremiah, too, cast reflections even upon God himself, as having deceived him by false promises; “Thou hast deceived me, and I was deceived [Note: Jeremiah 20:7.].” Alas! what a root of bitterness is an impatient spirit! and how greatly does it aggravate the calamities under which we suffer! Surely we should leave times and seasons, whether of trial or consolation, unto God, and say, “Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him [Note: Job 13:15.].”]

2. From unbelief—

[This is the great source of all our disquietude. If we truly believe that God ordered every thing with infallible wisdom, and unbounded goodness, and an inviolable fidelity, we could never be put into such a consternation as is expressed in our text. We should rather lie as clay in his hands; and leave him to fashion us according to his will, and to put us into as many successive furnaces as he sees fit, and to accomplish his own purposes in his own way. We should have it fixed as an immutable principle in our minds, that though “clouds and darkness may be round about him, justice and judgment are the basis of his throne:” and under the influence of this faith, we should adopt the language of the Prophet Habakkuk, and say, “Althougn the fig-tree shall not blossom, neither shall fruit be in the vines; the labour of the olive shall fail, and the fields shall yield no meat; the flock shall be cut off from the fold, and there shall be no herd in the stall; yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in the God of my salvation [Note: Habakkuk 3:17.].”]

Happily the same authority that points out the source of these questions, shews us also,

III.

How they should be answered—

Would we know what God will do, we should attentively consider what he hath done. We should mark his wonders of old, and observe all the diversified exercises of his perfections towards his people from the beginning of the world, and especially towards the Israelites whom he redeemed from the land of Egypt:

1. How mighty his power!

[When the moment for the deliverance of his people was arrived, not all the power of Egypt could detain them. Difficulties indeed were multiplied, but only for the purpose of displaying more gloriously his power in their behalf. The Red Sea obstructed their flight; but it opened at God’s command, and made for his people a passage on dry ground; and then closed again to overwhelm their enemies. Their necessities in the wilderness were such as no human power or wisdom could supply: but this also only tended in the same manner to proclaim His might, who for the space of forty yean fed them with bread from heaven, and with water out of the stony rock, and caused their garments never to decay. Be it so then, that our difficulties are great, yea, insuperable by human power: then will God magnify towards us his power so much the more, and shew, that still, as in former times, he “makes the depths of the sea (not a place for his people to be drowned in, but) a way for the ransomed to pass over [Note: Isaiah 51:10.].”]

2. How rich his mercy!

[Truly it was “not for their righteousness that he brought them out; for they were a stiff-necked people” from the very beginning: and “many a time would he have consumed them for their iniquities, but for his own name’s sake, that it should not be dishonoured among the heathen.” See their murmurings, their idolatries, their innumerable provocations, and then say, whether God’s grace be not sovereign, and his mercy infinite? And, if such surmises as those suggested in our text arise in our minds respecting him, let us remember, that he is the same God now as in former ages, and that now, as well as in former times, the very chief of sinners, if truly penitent, shall be accepted of him; and that “where sin has abounded, his grace shall much more abound [Note: Romans 5:20.].”]

3. How mysterious his ways!

[In the space of a few months God had brought his people to the borders of Canaan; and yet for their murmuring and unbelief he turned them back into the wilderness, and caused them to wander there forty years, till all that generation, excepting two persons, were swept away. This was most mysterious: yet are we told on infallible authority, that “He led them by the right way.” In truth, that dispensation has afforded the richest instruction to the Church from that period to the present hour, and will continue to do so to the end of time: and it will be found that his darkest dispensations towards us also are the most replete with instruction to our souls. It is usually those who are most exercised with trials, that know most of themselves, and most of God. Whenever therefore his dealings with us appear strange and inexplicable, let us compose our minds with the reflection suggested toward the close of this psalm, “Thy way is in the sea, and thy path in the great waters, and thy footsteps are not known [Note: Isaiah 51:10.].”]

4. How sure his promises!

[He had pledged himself to Abraham, that he would bring his posterity into the full possession of the Promised Land: and, though for their iniquities he caused all who came out of Egypt to die in the wilderness, yet he brought their children, who they supposed would fall an easy prey to their enemies, into that good land, and gave it them for their inheritance: and so perfectly did he fulfil his word to them in every respect, that Joshua after many years could appeal to the whole nation, that “not one thing had failed of all the good things which the Lord their God had spoken concerning them; all was come to pass unto them, and not one thing had failed thereof [Note: Joshua 23:14.].” Thus, if the thought arise in our hearts, “Is his mercy clean gone for ever? doth his promise fail for evermore?” our answer must be, “No:” “it is impossible for God to lie [Note: Hebrews 6:18.]:” “his promises in Christ are all yea, and amen [Note: 2 Corinthians 1:20.]:” and “his mercy endureth for ever [Note: Psalms 136:1.].”]

Address,
1.

Those who are walking in darkness—

[There are changes in the spiritual, as well as in the natural world. We must not any of us expect that our sun shall shine equally at all times with, unclouded splendour. Notwithstanding we may truly “fear God and obey the voice of his servants, we may yet be walking in darkness and have no light.” But in that state we are directed what to do: we must “trust in the Lord, and stay upon our God [Note: Isaiah 50:10.].” The longest night will have an end: and if we wait patiently upon our God, “his way is prepared as the morning,” which, though the night appear exceeding long and tedious, will come at last [Note: Hosea 6:3.]. He may for wise reasons hide his face from us for a time; but it shall not be for ever [Note: Isaiah 54:7.]. Hear his own answer to the complaints which we are apt to make [Note: Isaiah 49:14.] — — — And know, that though “heaviness may endure for a night, joy shall surely come to us in the morning [Note: Psalms 30:5.]:” if only we wait till the appointed hour, “our light shall rise in obscurity, and our darkness shall be as the noon day [Note: Isaiah 58:10.].”]

2. Those who enjoy the light of God’s countenance—

[O what a privilege, what an unspeakable blessing, is this! Learn to value it aright: and take care that you do not presume upon the mercy vouchsafed unto you. Do not be saying with David, “My mountain stands strong, I shall never be moved,” lest you provoke “God to hide his face from you, and you be troubled [Note: Psalms 30:7.].” A slavish fear is doubtless to be avoided on the one hand; but so is a presumptuous security on the other. The true medium is, to “rejoice with trembling [Note: Psalms 2:11.],” and to unite “the fear of the Lord with the comforts of the Holy Ghost [Note: Acts 9:31.].” Be watchful then, that you do not by any unhallowed dispositions “grieve the Holy Spirit [Note: Ephesians 4:30.];” but endeavour to “walk in the fear of the Lord all the day long [Note: Proverbs 23:17.].”]