Psalm 77; For the director of music. For Jeduthun. Of Asaph. A psalm.

Before beginning the verse, we see the original purpose of the passage.  It is written for the director of music, and it’s a psalm.  This means it’s a praise and worship song that was written by Asaph for Jeduthun and his choir.  Who are they?  1 Chronicles 25:1-8

1 David, together with the commanders of the army, set apart some of the sons of Asaph, Heman, and Jeduthun for the ministry of prophesying, accompanied by harps, lyres and cymbals. Here is the list of the men who performed this service: 2 From the sons of Asaph:  Zakkur, Joseph, Nethaniah and Asarelah. The sons of Asaph were under the supervision of Asaph, who prophesied under the king’s supervision. 3 As for Jeduthun, from his sons: Gedaliah, Zeri, Jeshaiah, Shimei, Hashabiah and Mattithiah, six in all, under the supervision of their father Jeduthun, who prophesied, using the harp in thanking and praising the LORD. 4 As for Heman, from his sons: Bukkiah, Mattaniah, Uzziel, Shubael and Jerimoth; Hananiah, Hanani, Eliathah, Giddalti and Romamti-Ezer; Joshbekashah, Mallothi, Hothir and Mahazioth. 5 (All these were sons of Heman the king’s seer. They were given him through the promises of God to exalt him. God gave Heman fourteen sons and three daughters.) 6 All these men were under the supervision of their father for the music of the temple of the LORD, with cymbals, lyres and harps, for the ministry at the house of God.  Asaph, Jeduthun and Heman were under the supervision of the king. 7 Along with their relatives—all of them trained and skilled in music for the LORD—they numbered 288. 8Young and old alike, teacher as well as student, cast lots for their duties.

 Jeduthun – lauder; praising – the name of one or two men in the Bible.

• A Levite of the family of Merari, and one of the three masters of music appointed by David. (1 Chr. 16:41, 42; 25:1-6) His office was generally to preside over the music of the temple service, Jeduthun’s name stands at the head of the 39th, 62d and 77th Psalms, indicating probably that they were to be sung by his choir.

The word “Jeduthun” means a lauder or someone who is praising.  As is often the case in the Bible, it has a meaning and it’s also somebody’s name.  The name is fitting for the person because he was appointed by King David to this ministry.  He was a Levite of the family of Merari.  1 Chronicles 25:1 says he, along with two other guys Heman and Asaph, were set apart to run a ministry in service to the people of God.  They were to prophesy, accompanied by harps, lyres and cymbals.  It wasn’t just a band of three guys.  Jeduthun had six sons listed in 1 Chronicles 25:3.  Asaph had four sons listed in 1 Chronicles 25:2. The other guy, Heman, whose name doesnt show up on this psalm, but is part of this ministry had 14 sons and 3 daughters listed in 1 Chronicles 25:4-5.  In verse 6 it says that these three men reported directly to the king and they presided over their sons and other relatives, and the number of musicians in this particular ministry was 288.

This family choir was very large.  To me, 288 people is a big church, and that’s just the band.  Even crazier still is that this 288 is only a small portion of the total number of musicans.  1 Chronicles 23:3-4 lists the number as 4000.  The importance that God places on praise and worship is noteworthy.  Of 38,000 Levites, 4000 are musicians, just over 10% of the levites were to sing or play musical instruments.

So back to Psalm 77.  We know it was written by Asaph, and it was written for Jeduthun and his choir.  This fact is important because many psalms were written by David, and to study those and to figure out their deeper meaning, it makes sense to get into David’s head or draw from David’s experiences to more fully understand the psalm. For instance Psalm 142 starts by saying “a maskil of David.  When he was in the cave.  A Prayer”. The context is crucial to study God’s word.

This Psalm is a bit more straightforward because we know it was written by a musician, especially for another musician.  Asaph wrote the psalm, and he wrote it for Jeduthun. Jeduthun’s name appears at the top of the 39th, the 67th and the 77th psalms.  Since it was their occupation to be skillful, professional musicians and lyricists, they could write parts for specific people keeping in mind their vocal range, their abilities on Lyre, Cymbal and Harp.  We also know that these families were very close, so they also can write lyrics that speak to someone else’s experiences.

For example, imagine I were in a musical ministry band, full-time. I see my bandmates every day and get the pleasure of practicing, arranging music, running my own choir.  For Asaph and Jeduthun, this was the case.  They share daily life experiences and pray for each other. Maybe Jeduthun tells Asaph one day that he needs prayer because he’s so angry, or frustrated (or sleep deprived, as the case in Psalm 77).  They pray and talk and then imagine next Sunday Jeduthun shows up, and him and his whole family’s choir has new music written out, expertly arranged and harmonized for each singer beautifully crafted for everyone’s own vocal range.  And the lyrics that Asaph writes are about going through a season of anger, frustration, and sleep deprivation.  The level of skill and customization of music must have been astounding in these Levitical ministry groups.   Praise and worship are important to God, and that’s what we read in Psalms.

Back to Psalm 77.  So far, all I’ve talked about is the caption; lets get started.

1 I cried out to God for help; I cried out to God to hear me. 2 When I was in distress, I sought the Lord at night I stretched out untiring hands, and I would not be comforted. 3 I remembered you, God, and I groaned; I meditated, and my spirit grew faint. 4 You kept my eyes from closing; I was too troubled to speak.

We immediately see that this is an emotional psalm, but it isn’t positive emotion.  The psalmist draws us into the thoughts of a soul that’s too troubled to speak (verse 4).  We read that the person is in distress and is crying out to God. The picture is not one of rest or comfort.

Insomnia is not a new phenomenon.  The National Sleep Foundation’s 2002 Sleep in America poll showed that 58% of adults in the U.S. experienced symptoms of insomnia a few nights a week or more.  Today, there are numerous remedies for lack of sleep.  Some swear by natural methods, like warm milk, herbal teas like chamomile, melatonin supplement pills.  Over the counter antihistimine pills are readily available, and for more serious conditions, doctors can prescribe Ambien, Lunestra, Sonata.

We can learn a couple of things so far from this passage.  1) the cause of insomnia and restlessness.  From our perspective, we can give different excuses for not sleeping. Worrying, restlessness, distress, physical illness.  But in psalm 77:4 it says “You kept my eyes from closing.” Even when there are natural explanations for things we see on this Earth, there is also always a supernatural and overarching theme that God is sovereign.

Examples of this concept are everywhere in the Bible.  When God parted the Red Sea in Exodus 14:21, it says Moses stretched his Hand, the Lord drove the sea back with a strong East wind.  The atheistic, but correct explanation to the miracle of the parting of the Red Sea is that there was a favorable strong wind from the East. But that answer is only half right.  The Lord sent the wind.  God was behind it.  In this Psalm, the atheistic and half correct answer to the question of why the psalmist can’t sleep is that the psalmist is troubled and distressed. But the Lord is sovereign and is behind everything.  The second thing we can learn from this first bit is that while many remedies exist for problems, sometimes God is using these situations and problems to draw us near to Him.  And the best solution is to search out God.

On a personal note, whenever I have trouble sleeping, my first instinct is to get frustrated (that always happens without fail). But frustration doesn’t last long, because I’ve come to use those times to pray and search out God.  While there may be many known explanations for my insomnia, God allows it to happen for His reasons, and I’d do well to make the best of it.

I’ve experienced both ends of the spectrum too.  In the past, for many years I used to fall asleep praying every night.  There were Christians in my life that bothered me (we called them “accountability partners”), and would ask me if my prayer times were fruitful.  I admitted that many of them ended up with me asleep.  They would shake their heads, empathetically and say they’d pray for me.  But I’ve learned that for every difficulty, there’s an appropriate solution.  For me, it was good to remember that I definitely needed to have fruitful prayer time.  If, like me, you fall asleep during some prayer times, I don’t think you should necessarily feel convicted or guilty.  If God is the one behind keeping insomniacs awake, He has to be behind lulling me to sleep while we talk.  But if that is happening to you, like it sometimes happens to me, just make sure that you set aside other times where you can have full wakeful prayer times, so that the drowsy ones aren’t your only time to talk with God.

Let’s read on and see what the psalmist does with this sleep deprived, troubled time crying out to God:

5 I thought about the former days, the years of long ago. 6 I remembered my songs in the night. My heart meditated and my spirit asked: 7 “Will the Lord reject forever? Will he never show his favor again? 8 Has his unfailing love vanished forever?  Has his promise failed for all time? 9 Has God forgotten to be merciful?  Has he in anger withheld his compassion?”

The Psalmist ponders and thinks about the former days.  He reminisces about how much better things used to be.  In the sad darkness what does he do?  He remembers his songs in the night (verse 6).  Remember, he is a psalmist, in the ministry of making prophetic songs.  This is THE gift that God has given him. He remembers his songs.  Music is the talent and portion that makes Asaph who he is, and this is how he muses and meditates about God. His spirit begins to stir and uncover the hidden layers of distress.  In the first four verses, we see trouble and distress, but in these next five verses we start to see why the trouble and distress is there.  He recalls the Lord’s favor, the Lord’s unfailing Love, God’s promises and mercy and compassion.  Why is Asaph troubled?  Because he feels rejected by God! Not only that, but from Asaph’s eyes it seems to last forever.  God’s favor is unseen.  God’s unfailing love has vanished.  It’s disappeared.  God’s promises?  Right now it looks like they’ve failed to come to fruition.  Where’s God’s mercy??  Has God forgotten me? What about the Lord’s Compassion? All Asaph (channeling Jeduthun) feels from God is anger.

His circumstances are so troubling, but we are starting to realize that the trouble isn’t from all the things of this world weighing down on Him.  The main problem isn’t something bad that’s present in his life.  The problem is something exceedingly Good that’s ABSENT.  Where’s my God? Where is the Lord?  Without God, there can be no peace.  Without God, we can be overcome by ANYTHING and EVERYTHING.  Do you have a good job?  Without peace from God, this job will overwhelm you.  Too difficult, too easy, bad hours, not enough pay; it could be perfect, but you are scared to be laid off or forced to take a pay cut. When you don’t believe in God or you don’t have confidence in His plan, even good things have the potential to overwhelm your life.

This passage doesn’t just speak to evangelize and say that life is better with God.  We need to go a step further. Asaph’s psalm explains that sometimes even believers in God, even people who run ministries and have been set apart for God’s purposes, even these people can find themselves feeling distant from God.  Your loved one is sick in the hospital, you were counting on a blessing or a circumstance that never happened, you recognize a pattern of sin in your life that won’t seem to go away no matter how much you pray, you can’t seem to catch a break, you don’t have the strength or will to do the things that you know you need to do… Like Asaph, we can start to question whether or not the Lord will show his favor, mercy, compassion, or love again.   Let’s see where Asaph goes from here.

10 Then I thought, “To this I will appeal: the years when the Most High stretched out his right hand. 11 I will remember the deeds of the LORD; yes, I will remember your miracles of long ago. 12 I will consider all your works  and meditate on all your mighty deeds.” 13 Your ways, God, are holy.  What god is as great as our God? 14 You are the God who performs miracles;  you display your power among the peoples.

When we lose sight of God, we only need to go back to the Bible to find Him! Asaph had a change in thought.  He started thinking of the times that God DID reveal himself in power and glory.  This is exactly why we need to study and understand the scripture.  When we don’t see God revealing himself in our lives or our circumstances, we need to look a little deeper.  Time and time again, Generation after Generation God reveals Himself.  He shows us his mercy, compassion, love and favor.  He stretched out his right hand and freed Hebrew slaves.  He delivered the enemies of Israel to the Isrealites and brought them to the promised land.  God performs miracles for a people that return the favor with a stiff neck and hard heart.  Let’s see some of the examples that Asaph mentions in the psalm.

15 With your mighty arm you redeemed your people, the descendants of Jacob and Joseph. 16 The waters saw you, God, the waters saw you and writhed; the very depths were convulsed. 17 The clouds poured down water, the heavens resounded with thunder; your arrows flashed back and forth. 18 Your thunder was heard in the whirlwind, your lightning lit up the world; the earth trembled and quaked. 19 Your path led through the sea, your way through the mighty waters, though your footprints were not seen. 20 You led your people like a flock by the hand of Moses and Aaron.

This passage is very motivating! But WE know of an even greater redemption that Asaph never got to see.  God redeems his people with a mighty arm.  Jesus redeemed his people with outstretched arms driven into a cross.  In Exodus, God made the waters writhe and convulse. God made storms pour water with thunder and lightening.  In Luke 8:24 Jesus rebukes the wind and calms the waters in the sea of Galilee.  In the Red Sea, God made a path through the parted sea, through mighty waters where footprints were not seen.  In Matthew 14:22 Jesus walks across the sea of Galilee, over the top of the water. God led his people like a flock by the hand of Moses and Aaron, but Jesus explains to us, “I am the good shepherd.”  Our hope and our peace are assured through a wonderful and capable savior, Jesus Christ.