Asaph is troubled......in anguish he longs for comfort in the night, reaching out to find God. I get the picture of someone groping through the dark, desperately reaching for something firm and sure.
No specific enemy is named. No sin exposed. The nature of his turmoil is really unknown. But it is intense.
Even thinking of God is not a comfort. He recalls times when his heart was full of song in the night......but not now! This is what he longs for though.
>>>> I am reminded of a phrase I hear quite often..."I'm just not feelin' it..." with regard to primarily petty things.....like Chinese for dinner, or going shopping, or playing a game, etc. But I also know from the testimony of others, and personally, the experience of 'just not feelin' it' with regard to a closeness to God. Prayer seems bland or forced.....or perhaps redundant. Worship is emotionless and flat. This song of Asaph's is a good place to go for those times......<<<<<<<
Asaph's situation seems severe. Again, there is no mention of enemies or specific sin......so I wonder if the problem is purely internal?
He asks 6 questions in his anguish......questions about God's character and committment.
All anticipate a 'no!' answer.
It seems he is spent. Cried out perhaps. Not the calm (yet anyway) that comes after the storm, but the silence after you've 'let it all out'.
And in that moment, he intentionally re-focuses from his own circumstances to who God is....in direct answer to the questions he just asked in those moments of intense emotion. Now he's thinking a little more than feeling.
He sets his mind to actively remember God's works and to meditate on them and to talk about them. (Remember......he's not 'feelin' it' so this is an intentional, forced action on his part.....probably not easy.) And as he does, it seems he begins to 'feel it' again.
Suddenly he is back at the point of expressing, "Who is so great as our God? You are the God who does wonders! You have redeemed and saved us!"
He recounts God's might and presence as if in a thunderstorm. Great and awesome, yet invisible. He treads the waters of the earth, but his footsteps are not seen.
and He has let His people like a flock.
~~~~~~~~~
Note that he doesn't revert back to focusing on himself and his 'feelings'. He stays focused on God. Note also that the next psalm is a 'parable', used to teach coming generations of all of God's great wonders. I wonder if he got the idea for the next psalm while going through the experiences of psalm 77?
At any rate.......there is so much to be learned from Asaph here. How often do I struggle with 'just not feelin' it'? I keep on doing what needs to be done, day after day, prayer after prayer, worship service after worship service, ministry after ministry, study after study....but I seem to be spinning my wheels. Or perhaps the problem is some heartache too deep to share, that I can sit and cry over day after day. Perhaps a trial that never seems to end. Whatever.
In these times, I need to stay focused on what I know to be True, and Right, and Eternal. There is nothing lost in expressing those feelings, provided I express them to the One who can make things right, and that I am not willing to stay there wallowing in self pity and despair.
Re-focus. Sometimes the hardest thing in the world to do. Make myself recall all that God has done. Think about them. Ponder them. And talk about them.
Mind you this isn't a magic formula that works in a *poof*. Sometimes it takes a l-o-n-g time to start 'feelin' it' again. But I must press on, focusing on the right thing.
In the end......I know beyond all shadow of doubt that all will be well. God has promised it. And when I don't see the 'well' like He does, I can trust Him. Even when I'm not 'feelin' it', because I can look back, and see His hand in all that has pertained to me.
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