THE PSALMS

Chapter 77

"Effect Outside the Sanctuary. Misery. [1-12]"

"The Sure Result. Happiness. [13-20]"

This Bible Study is is provided by http://www.theseason.org/ and shared with permission from it's author R. Christopherson

This Psalms of Asaph, a collector of the congregation, continues right on from Chapter 76. It is also a Psalm or "Mizmor" that gives us instruction as to what is going to happen. Remember that this is talking about the destroying of the enemy in the Temple, and this tell us what can happen to you if you are not careful in the way that you live your daily life. So this chapter deals with man living outside the Sanctuary, and the results of living that kind of life bring only Misery.

This is written to the chief Musician, to Jeduthun. "Jeduthun" was one of the three directors [or the chief Musician] of the temple of worship as given in I Chronicles 16:41, and 42. The three sons of Aaron were being represented by these three in the Temple worship. These three were Jeduthun, the son of Merari; Asaph, a descendant of Gershom; and Heman of Kohath. Details of these three are in Appendix 65 of your Companion Bible. The meaning of the name "Jeduthun" is "enduring", and this is how anyone learns their lesson. You can either learn your lessons from others telling you, or by the other way, by experiencing life the hard way, by making all the mistakes yourself.

Psalms 77:1 "I cried unto God with my voice, Even unto God with my voice; and He gave ear unto me."

Even though he cried unto God with his voice, and even though God heard ever word of his prayer, he will still go wrong. Why? This poor fellow is outside the Sanctuary. You must be inside the Sanctuary for the Lord God to give His protection. The Sanctuary is the "Body of Christ", which is to say, "The many membered body of Christ, the believers".

Psalms 77:2 "In the day of my trouble I sought the Lord: My sore ran in the night, and ceased not: My soul refuse to be comforted."

This is a very bad translation, no wonder there is so much confusion over the words given here. What God is saying here in the Hebrew Text is; "I held my hand out all night in praise", [sore ran in the night] has no record anywhere other than in some Kenite translators mind. it is very confusing to what is being said, and has nothing to do with what has been said and written. When you leave your translation to any Kenite, Christians have no chance of getting the truth.

Psalms 77:3 "I remembered God, and was troubled: I complained, and my spirit was overwhelmed. Selah."

"Complained" as given in the Hebrew Text is "I communed [with myself]". So what is wrong with what this person was doing? He was suppose to be communing with God, not trying to figure it all out himself. This is one that is inside the Sanctuary, and not one outside the body of Christ. Any time you are outside the Sanctuary you are heading into trouble. When I tried to figure everything out myself, the best I could do was just overwhelm myself in my thoughts of stupidity.

Selah, stop and think a moment on what has just been said. This Selah or pause is to connect those thoughts of self-introspection, of feeling sorry for yourself, with the misery that it is bring on you for doing such a thing.

Psalms 77:4 "Thou holdest mine eyes waking: I am so troubled that I cannot speak."

This is saying, I couldn't close my eyes all through the night. Do you see all the "I"s stated here, for that is all this man can think of is himself. He is a very self centered person, and that is where is trouble is, for he is outside of the Sanctuary.

Psalms 77:5 "I have considered the days of old, The years of ancient times."

I tried to make things understandable by looking back into history, and dwelling on those thoughts.

Psalms 77:6 "I call to remembrance my song in the night: I commune with mine own heart: And my spirit made diligent search."

No wonder this person is so miserable, look at all the I's. This man is looking to his own efforts and ways of doing things; he is not looking to Father and the help of the Holy Spirit. It doesn't matter how long you search for the truth, if you don't look in the right place and seek the guidance of the Holy Spirit, you will never find it. All your efforts will bring you nothing but misery. If you allow yourself to convince you, in your own mind that you are something special outside the Sanctuary, you are not going to make it. Being self centered with all those I's, me, and my stuff of personal pride will cause your downfall.

Psalms 77:7  "Will the Lord cast off for ever? and will he be favourable no more?"


Now this old boy simply can't understand why the Lord will not listen to him, and in his mind he thinks that he will be lost for ever. He has lost sight of the way to the Father, he is looking to all the good things that he has done, and his pride overwhelms him to the point that the Sanctuary, the work on the cross of Lord Jesus Christ [the path to our Heavenly Father], is completely out of his mind. He is so wrapped up in I and me that this poor soul has lost sight of the Sanctuary.

Psalms 77:8 "Is His mercy clean gone for ever? Doth His promise fail for evermore?"

Now he asks the question, "Has God forgotten me?"

Psalms 77:9 "Hath God forgotten to be gracious? Hath He in anger shut up His tender mercies? Selah."

This poor fellow is on a pity trip, feeling sorry for himself, and he just can't see that it is him that left God out of his life. God is gracious to those that are in the Sanctuary, and have their eyes focused on our Heavenly Father. The Selah spoken of here connects all those I's of self pitty that are the cause of his misery, to the only remedy possible; that of seeking God and passing from "I" and "my" to "Thou" and "Thy". Of turning all his attention from focusing on himself, to given praise back to the Father, and our Lord Jesus Christ. Anytime you are outside the Sanctuary and without God, you will have a problem. So now we see that there is understanding where his trouble is coming from, and those I's will stop.

Psalms 77:10 "And I said, "This is my infirmity: But I will remember the years of the right hand of the Most High."

This fellow is going to start turning his life around, and putting God, the Most High back in the center of his life.

Psalms 77:11 "I will remember the works of the Lord: Surely I will remember Thy wonders of old."

Thy wonders of old are the works of God's creation, and the blessings and care that God has given His people when they turn to Him.

Psalms 77:12 "I will meditate also of all Thy work, And talk of Thy doings."

Does this say, "meditate with ourselves?" No, I will meditate of all Thy works and talk of Thy doings. I worried all night over my doings and it just didn't help, but when I meditate of our Heavenly Father and talk of those wonderful things that He has done in our lives, then we know we will have His continuous protection. You pray to the Father in Jesus name, and turn your problems over to Him. Think of His Work, and on His Word. The point in our lives is, How can Father better use me in His Word? How can I become a better testimony for Father?

Psalms 77:13 "Thy way, O God, is in the sanctuary: Who is so great a God as our God?"

this is the most important thing is your life. "Thy way, O God, is in the sanctuary:" Not outside the Sanctuary, but in the body of Christ, and under the shed blood of our Lord Jesus Christ. It becomes very hard for mortal man to learn the simplicity of the teaching of God's Word. Here some Kenite comes along and adds "my sore ran all night" and it threw your entire thinking of what was said in this chapter off. It turned you attention from God to yourself. Satan had his way of working his hand into the hand of his translating children. The purpose was to cause you to lose that in-depth truth of God's Word. Don't take your eyes of our Heavenly Father, and remember to tell Him that your Love Him. Be wise enough to know that God knows more about this life than you do, for He created all of it, and you also.

Psalms 77:14 "Thou art the God That doest wonders: Thou hast declared Thy strength among the people."

There is nothing that happens that is outside God perfect plan. He created it all, and He controls it all. He sets up nations and He take nations down.

Psalms 77:15 "Thou hast with Thine arm redeemed Thy people, The sons of Jacob and Joseph. Selah."

Just as God spelled out in detail how He watches over His people and will redeem them, in a prophetic sense, he will redeem you also when you are in His Sanctuary. This Selah tells us to stop and meditate on those things in our Father's perfect plan. He spelled it out in His Word. This Selah is connecting the redemption from Egypt of the children of Israel, with the accomplishment all the events as they are recorded in "the Scriptures of truth". He gives us His protection with His arm and with His strength.

Psalms 77:16 "The waters saw Thee, O God, The waters saw Thee; they were afraid: The depths also were troubled."

The subject in these verses is the "waters" of the Red sea, and those that were afraid, were those in Egypt. The thing that brought them trouble was the fact that God had complete power over them.

Psalms 77:17 "The clouds poured out water: The skies sent out a sound: Thine arrows also went abroad."

There in the wilderness, the clouds sent them the water, and the skies rocked with the sound of thunder as the lightning shot across the sky. God brought many terrible storms upon Egypt, and their people.

Psalms 77:18 "The voice of Thy thunder was in the heaven: The lightnings lightened the world: The earth trembled and shook."

Our heavenly Father controls all the elements of this world and this earth age. When He brings down these lightning's and thunder, and shakes the earth with earthquakes, He is sending a message to us living here on this earth in these flesh bodies. This is history, and in the next chapter it will get deeper into this control.

Psalms 77:19 "Thy way is in the sea, And Thy path in the great waters, And thy footsteps are not known."

As the children of Israel followed their leader Moses, He led their path right through the Red Sea, and they went on dry ground. Though this verse loses much in the translation, it is saying that "you decided in your strength that you were going to walk, and you chose to walk by faith right through the Red sea. With your footsteps on dry ground, after you passed, the sea covered over them, and it is not known today were those footsteps went. Your footprints can no longer be seen.

God is asking you, is that the way that you treat God's history. After you partake of God's blessings, do you forget those things that He has done for you, or do you remember them, and use those things as an example in your trust of God for your life on a daily basis? Do you tell yourself, if I can't see it, it didn't happen? We take that fact in history by faith as it is written in His Word. Sure there is no way to prove those things that happened, for God covered over them, and the only way we can accept them now is by faith. I HOPE THAT YOU HAVE THE SPIRITUAL UNCTION TO KNOW THAT IT DID HAPPEN!

Remember also that those things that have happened are reminders to us living in these end times, " as an ensample [example] whereby we would know what would befall us in the end times." I Corinthians 10:11 As it was in the beginning, so shall it be at the end. The flood of waters that will come on our generation will not be in the form of water, but of lies of deception flowing from the mouth of Satan, the dragon.

Revelation 12:15 "And the serpent cast out of his mouth water as a flood after the woman, that he might cause her to be carried away of the flood."

Revelation 12:16 "And the earth helped the woman, and the earth opened her mouth, and swallowed up the flood which the dragon cast out of his mouth."

You will either be in the Sanctuary, the body of Christ, and know the truth, or you will be swallowed up by the lies and deceiving wonders that Satan the devil, the dragon will cast out of his mouth to deceive the people of this generation. It is going to happen, and you either take it as truth from God's Word and believe it, or you will be swallowed up just as Pharaoh's army was taken by the Red Sea as God brought the waters back after the Children of Israel passed over. Christ is not taking anyone before this event happens, for there is no rapture, no fly away to anywhere until our Lord returns at the seventh trump. The Christian world today is being deceived by this flood of lies that would have them believe that they will miss all the prophecies that God has told us about within His Word.

Psalms 77:20 "Thou leddest Thy People like a flock By the hand of Moses and Aaron."

Where ever these Children of Israel went, it was Moses and Aaron that stood at the forefront, and let the way across the sea, through the wilderness, and through what ever troubles came their way. Though they were up front while it happened, it was God that made it all happen. This is the same God that loves you, and stands ready to whether any storm that comes into your life. He can lead the way, and get those obstacles out of your way also. God makes things happen in a natural way for your benefit, for those that love Him, and seek to do His will.

 

_______________________________________________________________________________________

Last Chapter Psalms Next Chapter
Old Testament Return to all Books New Testament

PLEASE NOTE: These studies may be stored on your private computer as a library, printed out in single copy (or you may print enough for a study group) for private study purposes provided the Author and Source are included with each and every excerpt or copy.

These studies
may not be reproduced collectively ONLINE , or in successive part, on any WEBSITE, EMAIL LIST or PUBLIC ELECTRONIC LIBRARY without expressed written consent.

©2006 http://www.theseason.org 

Home   Plough   Seeds  Vine   Potter   Seasons   Sonshine   Rain  Field