Psalm Meditation 821
Fifth Sunday in Lent
March 13, 2016

Psalm 77
1 I cry aloud to God, aloud to God, that he may hear me.
2 In the day of my trouble I seek the Lord; in the night my hand is stretched out without wearying; my soul refuses to be comforted.
3 I think of God, and I moan; I meditate, and my spirit faints. Selah
4 You keep my eyelids from closing; I am so troubled that I cannot speak.
5 I consider the days of old, and remember the years of long ago.
6 I commune with my heart in the night; I meditate and search my spirit:
7 “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?” Selah
10 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. Selah
16 When the waters saw you, O God, when the waters saw you, they were afraid; the very deep trembled.
17 The clouds poured out water; the skies thundered; your arrows flashed on every side.
18 The crash of your thunder was in the whirlwind; your lightnings lit up the world; the earth trembled and shook.
19 Your way was through the sea, your path, through the mighty waters; yet your footprints were unseen.
20 You led your people like a flock by the hand of Moses and Aaron.
(NRSV)

We each have events in our lives that are life altering. Some of those are lessons learned and the actual events are forgotten as inconsequential even as the learning remains. Other life changing experiences are memorable as events as well as in lessons learned. The important part may not be the event or series of events themselves as much as the lessons we learn as we go through these trials. Is the psalmist going through things that will be remembered years from now or will the only memory be of the importance of calling to mind the deeds of the Lord?

Whether it is a first time to feel abandoned by God or something deeper that opens the psalmist to question God’s presence, there is a darkness to face. The psalm teaches us to face the question of God’s absence or presence by looking to all the ways God has been present in the past. With a slight change of perspective we can see that God is at work in a variety of ways no matter the circumstances in which we find ourselves.

If God is not always directly involved in the resolution of events in my life, God has been at work in and around me. I may not be able to notice how God is active in my life without looking back on the events with a bit more wisdom and a more distant view of a particular experience. While we may not notice in the heat of the moment we know with the assurance of history and experience that God is with us.

March 8, 2016
LCM