Crying out to God

Psalm 77:1-9 (NLT)

I cry out to God; yes, I shout.  Oh, that God would listen to me!  When I was in deep trouble, I searched for the Lord.  All night long I prayed, with hands lifted toward heaven, but my soul was not comforted. I think of God, and I moan, overwhelmed with longing for His help.  You don’t let me sleep.  I am too distressed even to pray!  I think of the good old days, long since ended, when my nights were filled with joyful songs.  I search my soul and ponder the difference now.  Has the Lord rejected me forever?  Will He never again be kind to me?  Is His unfailing love gone forever?  Have His promises permanently failed?  Has God forgotten to be gracious?  Has He slammed the door on His compassion?

Haven’t you felt like speaking (even yelling) at God like this psalmist does in this passage?  In fact, this passage teaches that it is acceptable to question God, baring your soul to Him even if it means ventilating your frustrations at Him.  Haven’t you been frustrated with God---maybe you are right now—that you don’t see Him helping you, don’t see your prayers being answered, don’t sense that He even cares about you anymore? 

People who experience natural disasters and others who witness such disasters on TV ask questions like these.  Anyone who has experienced a major disaster in your life (personal tragedy, loss of job, unfair treatment, sudden illness, any other calamity) starts asking questions like these.  Has the Lord rejected me?  Has his compassion vanished?  Indeed, there are six probing and desperate questions asked in this passage.  Why God, why?  Why have You allowed these tragic events to happen?  Why life-destroying tsunamis, tornadoes, earthquakes, hurricanes, terrorist bombs, massive accidents, cancer? 

Christians are not exempt from suffering.  Always remember that Jesus suffered while on earth.  People cannot preach that knowing Jesus prevents suffering.  Knowing Jesus enables Him to share your suffering because He knows what you are going through (Heb 2:18, I Peter 2:21-25).

When you are suffering, you have every right to complain about it with respect to asking these kinds of questions to God.  God, where are You?  Where is Your compassion?   Have You forgotten me?  God, are Your promises untrue?   You can even experience times where you cannot pray at all.  The point is that these questions and reactions are normal so you should not feel guilty when you question God and when you have these same reactions as the psalmist wrote. 

So, what’s the answer, what’s the bottom line?  If you read on in Psalm 77, note what is written starting in verse 10:  “Then I thought, to this I will appeal: the years when the Most High stretched out His right hand. I will remember the deeds of the LORD; yes, I will remember Your miracles of long ago.  I will consider all Your works and meditate on all Your mighty deeds. Your ways, God, are holy. What god is as great as our God?  You are the God who performs miracles; You display Your power among the peoples”.   The psalmist has a lot of questions about God, but then writes that all he can do is “return to the basics” and remind himself of God’s past mercies and miracles and acts of love.   We don’t have answers to “why suffering?”, but we can always remember many past evidences of God answering prayer and performing miracles not only in our lives but also in the lives of millions of others.  There’s a lot that you don’t know and cannot explain, but there’s also a lot that you do know and can believe about God and His actions on behalf of mankind over the millennia.  What it comes down to it, it boils down to hope---hope in God and what He can do in His time and will (Psalm 42:11, Rom 15:13, II Thess 2:16-17).

The experience of what is expressed in the psalms so well relate to everyone’s experiences.  May Psalm 77 give you comfort, give you permission to speak your mind to God, keep you from feeling guilty when you need to ask God these kinds of questions, and give you hope through studying His Word that He really is there, really is faithful and really will come to your aid to answer your prayers for relief and grace and mercy and peace.  Because of your faith and dedication to the Lord in the year to come, may He grant you what the psalmist writes in Psalm 1:1-3----

“How blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked, nor stand in the path of sinners, nor sit in the seat of scoffers!  But his delight is in the law of the LORD, and in His law he meditates day and night. He will be like a tree firmly planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in its season and its leaf does not wither; and in whatever he does, he prospers.”