“Will the Lord spurn forever, and never again be favorable? ⁸ Has his steadfast love ceased forever? Are his promises at an end for all time? ⁹ Has God forgotten to be gracious? Has he in anger shut up his compassion?”Selah¹⁰ And I say, “It is my grief that the right hand of the Most High has changed.” ¹¹ I will call to mind the deeds of the Lord; I will remember your wonders of old. ¹² I will meditate on all your work, and muse on your mighty deeds. ¹³ Your way, O God, is holy. What god is so great as our God? ¹⁴ You are the God who works wonders; you have displayed your might among the peoples. ¹⁵ With your strong arm you redeemed your people, the descendants of Jacob and Joseph.” Psalm 77:7-15

Note the change in tone in this Psalm, from despair to hope in Psalm 77 in verses 10 – 12. The Psalmist goes from lamenting that G-d’s love has ceased to be known in his life, to praising the greatness of G-d. There obviously is the belief that, even though we will hit stretches in our lives where it seems as if G-d has forgotten about us, this ultimately is not true. What happens in our lives that changes our trust in G-d? Do we have emotional swings in our faith? Do we find that from day to day, or even from hour to hour, do we find that we move from despair to hope regularly?

Psalm 77 reminds us that we are people of memory but also of hope. Faith is no guarantee against the real possibility of despair, but even in the midst of despair, we will remember the words of that old hymn, that G-d that has been our help in ages past – and will continue to be our help, and our hope.

Pastor Dave