My voice rises to God, and I will cry aloud;
My voice rises to God, and He will hear me.
In the day of my trouble I sought the Lord;
In the night my hand was stretched out without weariness;
My soul refused to be comforted (Psalm 77:1-2).

Asaph had some matter for which he continually cried out to God. In ancient times, worshippers raised their arms and stretched out their open hands toward the LORD in prayer. As you can imagine, your arms will tire if you do this for any length of time. But Asaph did this "without weariness". Until he received the answer he sought, his "soul refused to be comforted". This is the epitome of earnest prayer. But as you continue through this psalm, Asaph's frustration with God is revealed (Psalm 77:7-9). But just as his frustration begins to paint a wrongful picture of God in his mind, he catches himself (Psalm 7:10) and remembers the truth about God (Psalm 77:11-20).

Sometimes our very earnestness in prayer can make us boldly, even foolishly, presumptuous of God, as if He must listen to us and obey our demands. And we forget that we are His creation and His servants.

Friends, have you prayed earnesly like Asaph? I feel as if I have been praying this way, both when I wake and before I sleep, for weeks now. I have been praying for God's wisdom and discernment. I have been praying for God's providence and grace. I've been praying for my brothers and sisters in the LORD to find peace with one another. 

This morning, I felt God's gentle rebuke. Just because I pray every day and seek the prayer of others, will that guarantee I will always be wise and discerning? No. Just because I pray for God's providence and grace, will that automatically mean that God will answer my prayers as I want them to be answered? No. I was rebuked in my presumption. 

Job said, "Shall we accept good from God, and not trouble?” (Job 2:10). God "works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will" (Ephesians 1:11). It is presumptuous to believe that God thinks as I think or wants what I want. Instead, the Scripture says "This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us." I recognize, then, that even as I am praying, I need to be seeking to discern God's will: "Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord’s will is" (Ephesians 5:17). I am His servant, and He is my Lord.

Friends, this morning I humble myself before the LORD. I have at times presumed upon His will instead of diligently seeking to discover it. Sometimes, rather than resting in God's providence I have been insisting upon it. I know that God's grace is sufficient for me (2 Corinthians 12:9), and He'll work out everything, the bad and the good, to achieve His good purposes (Romans 8:28).

Therefore, let us not be fretful or presumptuous. Instead, let us seek to disern His will, all the while trusting and obeying His Word as best we can, remembering that we are His servants, and He does everything just as He pleases.

O God, why have You rejected us forever? (Psalm 74:1)

Here is something interesting. The Psalmist asks God why He has rejected them FOREVER. Is this true? Has God rejected His people for all eternity? Isn't this what forever means? Time without end? Certainly not. Why would Asaph, or one of his generation, use such hyperbole to speak of God's rejection? Could he mean that it "feels like" forever? 

Or is it possible that "forever" does not always mean all eternity but perhaps something like a long and uncertain perod of time. This is the beginning of my personal investigation into the terms translated in such a way as to express time without end. Remember, I have always argued that every translation is an interpretation; therefore, while the Bible is inerrant, translations are not. The best and most reliable resource to determine meaning has always been context. Therefore, I will look at various contexts both in the Old and New Testaments to discern what these terms mean.

I both challenge and encourage any of you to do your own independent study in this matter. After all, we believe the message of God's Word holds the key to our eternal destiny. Therefore, it behooves us to take responsibility for rightly understanding such an important concept.

How do you approach God in prayer? Do you approach Him for the sake of your wants and needs or for the sake of His glory? Consider this counsel in James:

What causes fights and quarrels among you? Don’t they come from your desires that battle within you? You desire but do not have, so you kill. You covet but you cannot get what you want, so you quarrel and fight. You do not have because you do not ask God. When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures (James 4:1-3).

James argues that conflict arises out of selfish desires. Therefore, rather than quarrel and fight for what we want, he advises us to ask God for it. But there is a disclaimer. We will only receive what we desire if our hearts are right with God, when our desires are not merely to satisfy our selfish pleasures but to honor God (i.e. based on right motives).

If you carefuly study the Lord's model prayer in Matthew 6:5-14 you will notice that the focus of prayer is to glorify God and invoke His will: "Your kingdom come, Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven." (Matthew 6:10). This is true of all of Jesus' prayers, even the ones that were not answered fully as He desired (e.g. Jesus prays for deliverance from the cross, but then adds "not as I will, but as You will" in Matthew 26:39).

There is a principle here, which is also exemplified in Psalm 74. Prayer ought not to be focused so much on getting somethiing from God but rather on giving glory to God. We are more likely to receive our desired outcome when our prayers bring glory to God and are consistent with His will. As we learn from another psalm:

Delight yourself in the LORD, and He will give you the desires of your heart (Psalm 37:4).

So in Psalm 74 Asaph uses language that is personal to God. While he is praying for God's restoration, he reminds God that they are "the sheep of your own pasture," "the people you chose long ago," "the tribe you redeemed as your own special possession," "Jerusalem, your home here on earth." Everything is about their being special to God.

Even when he writes about the enemy, it is "your enemies" that have destroyed "your sancturary" and "defiled the place that bears your name." They "burned down all the places where God was worshiped."

The focus of the petition is not primarily deliverance but vindication of God's Name: "Will you let them dishonor your name forever?" (Psalm 74:10). The enemies have insulted "you, LORD," "a foolish nation has dishonored your name." He writes, "Arise, O God, and defend your cause." Psalm 74:12-17 is a string of praises of God's power and authority, which the enemies of God have insulted. Thus, the focus of the psalmist's appeal is on God's reputation and purposes. 

Friends, this should be instructive for us in our prayers. Even though we ask for mundane things, like for someone to be made well, for safety in travel, for deals to work out, etc., let us remember that the heart of our prayers need to be God-ward and not us-ward. I am convinced that the primary reason that God has given us prayer is that we might learn to align our wills with His will. Let us, therefore, as often as we pray, learn to pray with God's glory and God's will as our focus. 

In this way, not only will our prayers be answered, but we ourselves will grow in the LORD. This promise is from our Lord Jesus:

If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you (John 15:7; cf. 1 John 5:14).

This is what James means when he writes that "the prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective" (James 5;16). When God's glory is our focus and we are pursuing His will, then we can be assured that God will answer our every prayer. 

In Psalm 75 the tables will be turned upon the wicked because God is the final judge.  When arrogant , evil people threaten our security, we can be confident that God will overrule and destroy them in the end.  As limited human beings, we don't understand God's perspective on timing.  We want everything now and we have to realize that the wisdom of God's timing is better for us.   When I think back over the years there has never been a time that God's timing was not the perfect time in my life.   I've learned to practice our training principle "be patient" and wait upon God.

Friends, we read in Psalm 75:6-7

For exaltation comes neither from the east,
Nor from the west nor from the south.
But God is the Judge:
He puts down one,
And exalts another.

This should give us some pause and perspective. It is contrary to the idea of the "self-made" man. These verses teach that God raises up and God also tears down. Recall the voice from heaven, which came to the great Babylonian king, Nebuchadnezzar, because he did not acknowledge God's sovereignty: "You will be driven away from people and will live with the wild animals; you will eat grass like the ox. Seven times will pass by for you until you acknowledge that the Most High is sovereign over all kingdoms on earth and gives them to anyone he wishes" (Daniel 4:32).

What does this mean for you and me? God owns and controls everything, so that He gives to some and takes away from others just as He wishes. So we also read in Ephesians 1:11 that God "works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will." Therefore, why do we strive for things as if we can make them happen apart from God's enablement and blessing. The saying, "God helps those that help themselves," is not in the Bible. It is not independent effort that God blesses but rather effort that acknowledges total dependence upon God and that is directed toward obeying God's Word.

This country became great because of the Protestant ethic, which coupled hard work and Christian faith. Our forefathers worked hard, even to make life better for others, even those that had not been born yet. And they were able to do this because of a faith in God, who was preparing a better place in heaven for them, such that whatever sacrifices they made in this life would only pale in comparison.

The greatness of America is being threatened, but it is not because of any lack of hard work, but rather the replacement of Christian faith with a narcissistic hyper-consumerism, which sees little else but immediate personal gratification. Christian faith teaches us to have this attitude toward our personal wealth: How can I best and most give it away to others for the glory of God? Yet, today, our mentality is this: How can I best and most use it for myself before I die? Many today could care less about future generations, and who today could ever be accused of being too heavenly minded? If we put all our hope in God and in heaven, then we would not hold on so tightly to our purse strings and we would not be so concerned with what happens to us in this life.

I must confess that I am most guilty of this very narcissistic hyper-consumerism. I feel my guilt even as I type these words on my iPad. I feel it as I read magazine articles from my Kindle just before. I feel it as I began the day eating cereal and watching news in front of a 47-inch LG LED. As I reflect on the past year that found these things in my life, I realize that I'm not nearer to God because of them. I do not read better or understand my world because of them. I certainly am not more faithful to obey God because of them. Now, I just reflect on how the money and time that I wasted on these things could have been employed to blessing others and furthering God's kingdom. I can sort of relate to the Preacher of Ecclesiastes, who wrote about how he tried everything and discovered that all of it is vanity.

After all of this, my encouragement to you is this: "Fear God and keep His commandments" (Ecclesiastes 12:13). Put another way, trust God for everything and do your best to obey His Word. Whether with greater or lesser success, this is my ambition. I pray it will be yours as well.

Time flies as usual! Let us not waste our time by disciplining ourselves with God's Word and prayer.

 The psalmist sees the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple and the enemies of the God's chosen people trample down on the promised land. The seeming evil is triumphant in its scheme and he does not see God's presence. I see myself in the same situation as the psalmist many times constantly. "Never" is one of my children's favorite armament of words that they choose to use when things are not favorable to them:"I never get to do that" or "I will never have that." The psalmist in his great distress says the same here in 74:1

 O God, why have you rejected us forever?

 When circumstances around us are not as good as we expected, those extreme adverbs come out of our mouth to express frustration. Just as Job said in his misery, God doesn't seem nowhere to be found, hidden from our sight. But this is what God says to us,

 “I choose the appointed time;
it is I who judge with equity.
³ When the earth and all its people quake,
it is I who hold its pillars firm.

 There is appointed time for everything. If we wait patiently and remain faithful to Him, God promised that we will see that it is God who holds the pillars firm when our world quakes violently. Brothers and sisters! Let us remind ourselves of the deed that God showed us 2000 years ago, and then it will give us strength to keep on just as psalmist was encouraged and strengthened in his faith by remembering "the deeds of the LORD" and His "miracles of long ago." Have a blessed day!

Psalm 77 is very much like Psalm 73. Once again, Asaph, the worship leader, is the writer. If you recall in Psalm 73 (yesterday's comments), I mentioned that the first verse laid out Asaph's theological understanding, but then his experience was contrary to this knowledge (73:2-16). Finally, he finds resolution to his dilemma when he enters the house of God (73:17-28). We have something similar here. I'm using the NASB translation (a bit more literal than NIV).

In Psalm 77:1 Asaph lays out his theological understanding:

My voice rises to God, and I will cry aloud;
My voice rises to God, and He will hear me. .

According to Asaph's class notes from theology 101, he learned that when a believer prays to God, God will hear him. But like a good student, he takes the generic truth and makes it personal: "My voice...I will cry...My voice...hear me." There is only one problem. It does not seem true to the reality of his experience.

In the next verses, Asaph describes how he cried out to God, not just once but continuously ("without weariness," v. 2a), but his soul just "refused to be comforted" (v. 2b). In fact, when he thought about God, he was "disturbed" (v. 3a) and his spirit grew "faint" (v. 3b). Then he writes that God had kept him from sleep ("You have held my eyelids open," v. 4b), and so troubled was he, that he could not even speak - so much for "crying out to God" any longer.

Then Asaph muses of "years long ago" when instead of sorrow he had a "song" (v. 6). Keep noticing that his complaint remains very personal. It is as though he is saying, "Pay attention to me! Why don't you help me?!" His complaints come to a crescendo in verses 7-9 as he questions God's faithfulness.

    Will the Lord reject forever?
         And will He never be favorable again?
    Has His lovingkindness ceased forever?
         Has His promise come to an end forever?
    Has God forgotten to be gracious,
         Or has He in anger withdrawn His compassion? Selah.

Just as an aside, I love how the psalms, which are God-ordained prayers, give us permission to be honest with God about our emotions. Sometimes, they even give us the language with which we can voice our complaints to God.

Back to the psalm... In each of these verses, you could put the word "me," so that we read, "Will the LORD reject me forever? And will He never be favorable again to me?", etc. Asaph's complaint is highly personal, but by omitting the personal reference, he enlarges the complaint so that it appears larger than it really is. Remember, God's Name and His character, as revealed from the first to Israel, is detailed in Exodus 34:5-7 (cf. Psalm 103:8):

Then the LORD came down in the cloud and stood there with him and proclaimed his name, the LORD. And he passed in front of Moses, proclaiming, "The LORD, the LORD, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin.

Asaph's complaint strikes directly at the Name and character of God in His relationship to His people. If Asaph continued in this regard and allowed his grief to become despair, then, as in Psalm 73:2, his feet would have "slipped" and he would have went the way of the wicked. But he again finds resolution, or at least explanation, for his inner conflict in verse 10:

Then I said, "It is my grief,
That the right hand of the Most High has changed."

Asaph realized that God had not changed, but his extreme sorrow made it appear to him like God had changed. His grief made him only see his troubles and magnified his personal hardship so much that he forgot that God was the God of all Israel, even of the whole world. With this realization his tune changes. In spite of his grief, Asaph declares emphatically,

"I SHALL remember the deeds of the LORD" (v. 11a).
"Surely I WILL remember Your works" (v. 11b).
"I WILL meditate..." (v. 12a).

Following these resolutions of devotion, Asaph reaffirms God's holy, good and powerful Name, recalling God's deliverance of Israel from Egypt in the Exodus (verses 14-20, notice v. 15 "sons of Jacob and Joseph" and v. 20, "hand of Moses and Aaron" as clues that the Exodus was in mind). and God's power over the waters, the skies, the earth and the sea.

Yes, God sees our personal griefs and cares, but we must not allow our personal griefs to cause us to forget that God is God to all His people, and His power extends to the entire world. The chief end of man is not to glorify man, and certainly not to glorify me. It is to glorify God and to enjoy HIM forever. Asaph began his psalm with "My voice rises to God...and He will hear me" (v. 1). This is a truth, but this does not mean that God will come running to our rescue on every occasion. God's program does not revolve around us. It revolves around His glory. No matter how deep or how long our grief, we must remember this and not cease from giving praise to God, who is always worthy of our praises.