It’s not unusual for Christians to struggle. And nor is it unknown for them to sometimes question God.
In Psalm 77 Asaph cries out in his distress and calls on the God who, it appears to him, is not listening or, if he is, has forgotten to be gracious. Nonsensical though it no doubt seems to him, the psalmist even wonders if God’s everlasting love for him has finally come to an end.
Perhaps some of us have felt similarly. But if we have, we would do well to take a leaf out of Asaph’s book and do what he, in his despair, wisely chose to do himself.
Which was to remember God – and In particular the powerful acts he’d performed in the past.
Now for Asaph, writing as he was in Old Testament times, the mightiest of all God’s acts was the Exodus – the occasion when he recused his people by parting the waters of the Red Sea and thus rescued them from Egypt and Pharaoh’s vast army that was pursuing them. This is how Asaph describes that event in verses 16-20 of Psalm 77.
‘When the waters saw you, O God,
when the waters saw you, they were afraid;
indeed, the deep trembled.
The clouds poured out water;
the skies gave forth thunder;
your arrows flashed on every side.
The crash of your thunder was in the whirlwind;
your lightnings lighted up the world;
the earth trembled and shook.
Your way was through the sea,
your path through the great waters;
yet your footprints were unseen.
You led your people like a flock
by the hand of Moses and Aaron.’
It all sounds very frightening for the people of God, and yet it was through that experience that they were saved – an experience during which, though his ‘footprints were unseen’, he was nonetheless with them, leading them as a shepherd leads a flock.
We don’t know what was troubling Asaph when he wrote his psalm, but given how it ends with the above words, it seems to me that his recalling God’s past record of coming to the rescue of his people was enough to comfort him, reassuring him as it surely would have, that God could, and would, do the same for him, no matter how difficult his situation was.
So how can all this help us in our distress?
Well we can remember the mighty works of God too – specifically the one by an even greater rescue of the people of God was brought about.
For that is what Jesus achieved by dying on a cross. Because his death paid the price, not for the things that he had done wrong – for he was the sinless Son of God – but for all the sin that we have so grievously committed. And it was by dying in our place, that Jesus saved us from the slavery of sin and the existential fear of death that we all are consequently prone to.
But merely bringing Christ’s crucifixion to mind does not, of course, change our current difficult situation – nor does it remove all of our ongoing distress. But it does change our perspective of it. Because the assurance of God’s infinite and everlasting love for us, evidenced by his sending Jesus to suffer and die for us in the way that he did, gives us absolute confidence that all of his many promises of a better tomorrow will surely be kept.
And the promise of a better tomorrow causes us to feel better about the distress we may be experiencing today. Let me give you an illustration, one that I’ve used before.
Suppose, back when I worked as a GP, a patient comes to see me with a really nasty chest infection. They feel horribly unwell and are seriously worried that they will never recover.
And then I give them a prescription for some antibiotics and promise them that, if they take them, they will soon be restored to health.
Immediately they feel better.
Even though they aren’t.
How could they be, they’ve not even picked up the prescription yet. But they nonetheless begin to feel better because they have believed my promise that better is what they will one day be.
Well God has made promises too, one’s that can be depended upon far more reliably than any promise made by any doctor ever. And not least amongst them is the one that, so precious to me and many other believers, tells us that a day is coming when he will wipe away every tear from our eyes and death shall be no more. [Revelation 21:4].
In Psalm 77, Asaph wrote of how God led his people as a shepherd leads his flock. So it is not insignificant therefore, that Jesus described himself as the good shepherd, one who lays down his life for his sheep [John 10:11]. Furthermore, like those of God at the time of the Exodus, though his footsteps may not be seen, in frightening times we can still be assured that he is with us – even as we ‘walk through the valley of the shadow of death’ [Psalm 23:4].
So then, by remembering the mighty works of God, he restores our souls. And as he leads us in paths of righteousness, we need fear no evil. Because, by trusting in his promises, we can surely know, that ‘goodness and mercy shall follow us all the days of our life’ and we will dwell, safe and sound, in the house of the LORD forever’ [Psalm 23:6]
Related blogs:
To read ‘Luther and the war in Ukraine’, click here
To read ‘When our joy will be complete’, click here
To read ‘When Bad Things Happen’, click here
To read ‘Weeping with those who weep’, click here
To read ‘Still weeping with those who weep’, click here
To read ‘All’s Well that Ends Well’, click here
To read ‘on the FALLEN and the FELLED’, click here
To read ‘What becomes of the broken hearted? Sorrowful yet always rejoicing on Palm Sunday’, click here
To read ‘Why do bad things happen to good people? Sorrowful yet always rejoicing on Good Friday’, click here
To read ‘Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer these things? Rejoicing, though temporarily sorrowful, on Easter Day’, click here.
To read ‘T.S. Eliot, Jesus and the Paradox of the Christian Life’, click here
To read ‘Monsters’, click here
To read ‘On Sleeping like a Baby’, click here
To read “Hope comes from believing the promises of God”, click here
To read ‘Reflections on the death of Leonard Cohen’, click here
Some musings 