Pressures From Problems You Face
By: Dr. Mike Jones
Down through the annals of time when God’s people sought relief from the problems of life, they would immediately turn to the Psalms, because they reflect the experience of men and women in the life of faith. And Psalms has been crowned the most loved of all books of the Old Testament.
We’re going to concentrate on Psalms 77 because Asaph [who was King David’s music director] faced the exact same problems that many of us are facing today.
Saints, if we’d all examine our Christian walk, each of us can think back and remember at least one experience of turning to God in a moment of desperate need, praying and asking God to help, and it seemed as through nothing happened; and in desperate situations, when there seem to be no answer, we find ourselves asking WHY? One Bible teacher said, “Doubt flood minds and we wonder what is wrong, either with God or with us.”
Someone amongst us right now may be saying, “That’s me! Dr. Mike, I’ve cried to God for help, but no help is given.” This is the same problem that King Asaph in this Psalm had. The Psalm was written to help people who have cried out to God, but no answer; and it drove him almost to the point of giving up. Then wisdom kicked in, and he realized he had to change and correct his thinking, and it brought him to the place of trust, of peace, and of strength again. Psalm 77 is about moving from the place of giving up to receiving God’s peace.
Now that we’ve laid the foundation for our study in Psalms 77, let’s look at the first four verses: I cried unto God with my voice, even unto God with my voice; and He gave ear unto me. In the day of my trouble I sought the Lord: my sore rain in the night, and decreased not: my soul refused to be comforted. I remember God and was troubled: I complained, and my spirit was overwhelmed. Selah. Thou holdest mine eyes waking: I am so troubled that I cannot speak.”
These four verses tell us that King Asaph faced a deep and serious problem. When you read the entire Psalm (77), we’re never told what specific trouble or problem that he was facing; but whatever it was, it was severe! Some Bible scholars have speculated what they believe the problem was: Some say, it was some deep disappointment, such as what many of us experience from time to time. Others say, it could be a sorrow that came into his life, or the death of a love one or friend. We really don’t know, so the Psalmist only refers his problem as, “the day of my trouble.”
We see him crying out to God, with out stretched hands as in Today (I surrender) Praise. Those of us who have been in a bad place can relate with king Asaph: things get to bad; all you can do is throw up your hands-LORD….HELP!
Like us, we try to drown the sorrow in work, pleasures, etc., but the verse says, “…his soul refuses to be comforted.” This means whatever the problem was, it literally hampered him: he can’t even sleep.
I truly love how the scripture doesn’t seek to leave stuff out, so the reader feels good reading it. God tells it like it is! This is why we can feel the pain of King Asaph, because that’s where some of us are now.
Do me a quick favor: Take your mind off this man’s problems and yours, and realize what else we know about him; that he’s a believer in God, that he brought his trouble to God, and last but not least, he know there is help in God.
God had provided an answer to the king (Asaph), and he found it. And in our temptations, pressures, we (too) must find the answer and not be content with the problems that we face each day, praying the same prayer over and over again, destroying our faith in God’s sovereignty over every area of our lives.
So, what was the answer Asaph, finally learned from the distress he was facing and it’s the same for us (today)? Those temptations/pressures are going to face us each day: But God is FAITHFUL and He uses these troubles in our lives to discipline us. And as it quotes in 1 Corinthians 10:13 that God is faithful, in the temptations to make a way for us to escape (not from the temptation, but escape from DEFEAT caused by the temptation).
(Adapted from When A Situation Is Critical: But Not Hopeless; all Scripture references are taken from the KJV unless otherwise noted.)