I cry aloud to God and he will hear me. In the day of my trouble, I seek the Lord.
– Psalm 77:1–2
Part of me wants to just keep reading throughout psalm because right after this, the psalmist begins describing how he is weary with his moaning and crying out to God how his soul is longing for comfort.
Psalm 77:1–2 Shows us the Psalmist Calling Upon God’s Mercy
He is struggling. When he says, “In the day of my trouble, I seek the Lord,” he basically elaborates on how troubled he is in his heart and mind. And it just continues to develop until you get to verse 10. And then the psalmist says, “Then I said, I will appeal to this. To the years of the right hand of the most high. I will remember the deeds of the Lord. Yes, I’ll remember your wonders of old. I will ponder all your work and meditate on your mighty deeds.”
And what he does after that is he begins to recount all the ways God has always shown himself faithful on behalf of his people. And I give you that whole context now to come back to the first couple of verses to remind you, if you find yourself today or whenever you find yourself in a day of trouble, seek the Lord for the comfort you need. Seek the Lord for the strength you need. Seek the one who has always, always, always been faithful on behalf of his people, who look to him, and who trust in him.
Look back at the years of the right hand of the most high. Remember the deeds of the Lord. It is so good. We see this command all throughout the Bible to remember. To remember, remember, remember what God has done. Remember who God is, especially when your soul is weary with moaning.
Psalm 77:1–2 Portrays the Psalmist Seeking the Light in the Depths of Suffering
Psalms 77:2–3. “When your soul is longing for comfort, cry aloud to the Lord.” Seek the Lord in the day of trouble and trust that he will do what he has always done on behalf of his people. He will not let you down. Oh God, we praise you for your mighty works. And think about Psalms 77:19. “Your way was through the sea, your path through the great waters, yet your footprints were unseen.”
When your people were standing at the edge of a sea with an army about to overtake them, you split the sea in half and led them through the waters. Great are your mighty deeds that you have always performed on behalf of your people, as they trust in you, as they look to you. So God, I pray that over every one of us right now who’s walking through days of trouble, we remember the years of the right hand of the most high.
We remember the deeds of the Lord. We praise you for who you are and how you defend, how you help, how you provide, for how you guide your people. And we cry aloud for your help, for your guidance, for your defense, for your provision in every way we need. God, I pray that over every single person walking through the day of trouble right now. We cry aloud to you and we praise you, God, that there is no day of trouble we will ever face alone. No day of trouble we will ever face without you and your help and your strength, your peace, and your hope that the day of trouble will not have the last word. And
Praying for the Nyi People
God, we pray in light of that for people who don’t know you, and specifically have never even heard of you. Jesus, God, we pray for the Lahu Nyi people of Thailand, a small group of people in Thailand, among whom there is no known, has never been a known church.
God, we pray that there would be disciples made and a church planted among the Lahu Nyi people of Thailand. God, they are in the day of trouble now. They need your mercy. They need the good news of the gospel. Please cause the gospel to go to them. We pray for your blessing on the church in Thailand, for the spread of the gospel to the Lahu Nyi. For the raising up of laborers to go to the Lahu Nyi people of Thailand, that they might cry aloud to you and be saved from their sin. And that amidst the trouble of this world, they might know the hope that is found in Jesus alone. We love you, God. We praise you that we can cry aloud to you in the day of trouble. In Jesus’ name we pray, according to Psalms Psalm 77:1–2. Amen.
David Platt serves as a pastor in metro Washington, D.C. He is the founder of Radical.
David received his Ph.D. from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary and is the author of Don’t Hold Back, Radical, Follow Me, Counter Culture, Something Needs to Change, Before You Vote, as well as the multiple volumes of the Christ-Centered Exposition Commentary series.
Along with his wife and children, he lives in the Washington, D.C. metro area.
