This is another psalm of Asaph with a secondary ascription provided, it is according to Jeduthun (Psalm 39, 62, and 89). It can be divided into four parts: sighing (1–3), sinking (4–9), singing (10–15), and soaring (16–20).
Verses 1-3-Asaph is in distress. He is crying out to God with outstretched hand seeing direction and help.
Selah-In your troubles, where do you go? To whom do you turn?
Verses 4-9-God will use sleepless nights to draw us closer to Him, to have us contemplate our purpose and worldview, even to have us struggle with sin both known and unknown. During these times we scream out to God and wonder if He has forgotten His promises to us (2 Peter 3.8-9). When we are in these circumstances we need to remember what He has done or else we will begin to think He is who He is not. Remember, one felt need not met will distort our view of all other needs being met. When we ponder Him, we bring our understanding of Him back to what the Scripture states about Him. In this chapter, He is holy and great (13).
Asaph provides six questions whose answers are ridiculous when the nature of God is known. However, these questions are always on the minds of those who do not know the God presented in the Bible.
- Will God leave me?
- Will God never grant His goodness to men?
- Will God cease to show His mercy?
- Will God fail to keep His promises?
- Will God forsake grace?
- Will God, in anger, refuse to bless His chosen?
Selah-Ponder those times when God creates restlessness for you. When you are awakened at night, do you fight it off and go back to bed or do you wrestle with what God is doing?
Verses 10-15-Asaph remembers to recall the goodness of God in a situation such as these. When we are struggling, it is good to recall what God has done in prior years. In this Psalm, it is what God did during the Exodus (a thousand years prior).
It is in verse ten that Asaph answers the questions from verses 7-9. He realizes that God does not change! It was Asaph’s false perspective of the circumstances that brought this line of questioning. All the answers to these questions and the questions themselves are found to be absurd in light of the truth of whom God is. This is Isaiah’s argument too (Isaiah 55.7-9).
Selah-Asaph made a conscious choice to remember. Journaling is a conscious choice to do something to recall. It is a wonderful method of being able to recall what God has done in your life. Knowing what He has done through your ancestors is also a means of remembering God’s continual faithfulness to you. Why not pick up this habit today?
Verses 16-20-The recalling of Exodus 14 is poetic. God’s work is unseen for a moment then it rushes through and we see He was there all the time. When these verses are read in connection with the previous verses, we gather the idea that God’s ways are not thwarted by man’s interventions. God is God.
My testimony from the late 1980s into the early 1990s is reflected in these verses. In days to come, I may add this to these posts.