Psalm 77: Will God Cast Me Off?

The psalmist David in his experience had many changes of mind.

At times, as he obtained views of God’s will and ways, he was highly exalted.

Then as he caught sight of the reverse of God’s mercy and changeless love, everything seemed to be shrouded in a cloud of darkness.

But through the darkness he obtained a view of the attributes of God, which gave him confidence and strengthened his faith. But when he meditated upon the difficulties and danger of life, they looked so forbidding that he thought himself abandoned by God because of his sins. He viewed his sin in such a strong light that he exclaimed, ‘Will the Lord cast off for ever? [and] will he be favorable no more?’ [Psalm 77:7.] “But as he wept and prayed, he obtained a clearer view of the character and attributes of God, being educated by heavenly agencies, and he decided that his ideas of God’s justice and severity were exaggerated.

He rejected his impressions as being the result of his weakness, ignorance, and physical infirmities, and as dishonoring to God, and with renewed faith he exclaimed, ‘This is my infirmity; but I will remember the years of the right hand of the Most High.’ [Verse 10.] Most earnestly he studied the ways of God, expressed by Christ when enshrouded in the pillar of cloud, and given to Moses to be faithfully repeated to all Israel. He called to mind what God had wrought to secure for Himself a people to whom He could entrust sacred and vital truth for future ages.

“God wrought most wondrously to free more than a million people; and as David considered His pledges and promises to them, knowing they were for all who need them as much as for Israel, he appropriated them to himself, saying, ‘I will remember the works of the Lord: surely I will remember thy wonders of old. I will meditate also of all thy work, and talk of thy doings.’ [Verses 11, 12.]” David testified that God cares for all with love, tender mercy, and patience. “Blessed Lord, how much I need Thee! / Weak and sinful, poor and blind; / Take my trembling hand and lead me; / Strength and sight in Thee I find.”