Trevor Laurence
Psalm 77 is the prayer of a shattered soul.
There are many laments, complaints, and expressions of sorrow in the Psalter. Often, the psalmist honestly articulates his grief to God, but in a way that yet remains open to the comfort God can bring—in a way that actively pursues relief and renewal from God. But that is not the kind of suffering Psalm 77 describes. Asaph’s is a different kind of agony:
[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] When I remember God, I moan;
when I meditate, my spirit faints.
[4] You hold my eyelids open;
I am so troubled that I cannot speak.
Asaph experiences a pain so deep, so basic, so fundamental that the idea of solace is almost offensive. His soul rejects comfort. The memory of God induces groaning, the gag reflex of the soul. Meditation is so burdensome it brings on fainting. His sleepless anxiety feels like God himself is prying his eyelids open. The panic in his heart and body resists being captured in words.
In his turmoil, Asaph makes his groan his prayer, voicing his anguish to God in the flicker of faith that God will yet give ear (v. 1). But he does not stop with naming and expressing the hurt to the Lord. In verse 6, he takes the step of actively addressing his own heart: “Let me remember my song in the night.”
In the movements of psalm and soul that follow, remembering his song prompts Asaph to interrogate himself and his fears (vv. 7–9) and to rehearse the story of God’s works in the past in a way that envelops the psalmist, animates hope, and accelerates into worship (vv. 10–20).
Interestingly, Asaph never tells us the song he remembered in the night, but I think the story he rehearses reveals the song in his heart.
The first song Israel ever sang as a nation was the Song of the Sea in Exodus 15. After God rescued his people from Egypt, brought them through the sea, and swept away the soldiers pursuing at their heels, Moses led the people in a song about Yahweh’s right hand, his holiness, his strength in moving waters and deeps to redeem his people and work wonders—a song that asks, “Who is like you, O Lord, among the gods?” (v. 11).
Like a modern musician sampling or reworking an earlier song, in Habakkuk 3 the prophet composes his own prayer-song that integrates the lyrics and melody of Exodus 15 in a fresh recitation of God’s delivering deeds.
And in Psalm 77, Asaph appears to use these songs as a template—as the raw ingredients for his rehearsal of the saving grace of God. The table below maps out some of the conceptually significant thematic and verbal parallels between Psalm 77, Exodus 15, and Habakkuk 3:
| Psalm 77 | Exodus 15 | Habakkuk 3 |
|---|---|---|
| I said, “Let me remember my song [נְגִינָה] in the night . . .” (v. 6) | Then Moses and the people of Israel sang this song to the LORD, saying, “I will sing to the LORD . . .” (v. 1) And Miriam sang to them: “Sing to the LORD . . .” (v. 21) | . . . To the choirmaster: with stringed instruments [נְגִינָה]. (v. 19) |
| Then I said, “I will appeal to this, to the years of the right hand [יָמִין] of the Most High.” (v. 10) | Your right hand [יָמִין], O LORD, glorious in power, your right hand [יָמִין], O LORD, shatters the enemy. (v. 6) You stretched out your right hand [יָמִין]; the earth swallowed them. (v. 12) | |
| I will remember the deeds of the LORD [יָהּ]; yes, I will remember your wonders [פֶּלֶא] of old. (v. 11) | The LORD [יָהּ] is my strength and my song . . . (v. 2) Who is like you, O LORD, among the gods? Who is like you, majestic in holiness, awesome in glorious deeds, doing wonders [פֶּלֶא]? (v. 11) | |
| I will ponder all your work [פֹּעַל], and meditate on your mighty deeds. (v. 12) | O LORD, I have heard the report of you, and your work [פֹּעַל], O LORD, do I fear. . . . (v. 2) | |
| Your way, O God, is holy [lit. “in holiness,” בַּקֹדֶשׁ]. What god is great like our God? (v. 13) | Who is like you, O LORD, among the gods? Who is like you, majestic in holiness [בַּקֹדֶשׁ], awesome in glorious deeds, doing wonders? (v. 11) | |
| You are the God who works wonders [עשׂה פֶּלֶא]; you have made known [ידע] your might [עֹז] among the peoples [עַמִּים]. (v. 14) | The LORD is my strength [עֹז] and my song . . . (v. 2) Who is like you, majestic in holiness, awesome in glorious deeds, doing wonders [עשׂה פֶּלֶא]? (v. 11) You have led in your steadfast love the people whom you have redeemed; you have guided them by your strength [עֹז] to your holy abode. (v. 13) The peoples [עַמִּים] have heard; they tremble; pangs have seized the inhabitants of Philistia. (v. 14) | O LORD, I have heard the report of you, and your work, O LORD, do I fear. In the midst of the years revive it; in the midst of the years make it known [ידע]; in wrath remember mercy. (v. 2) His brightness was like the light; rays flashed from his hand; and there he veiled his power [עֹז]. (v. 4) |
| You with your arm [זְרוֹעַ] redeemed [גאל] your people [עַמֶּךָ], the children of Jacob and Joseph. (v. 15) | You have led in your steadfast love the people [עַם] whom you have redeemed [גאל]. . . (v. 13) Terror and dread fall upon them; because of the greatness of your arm [זְרוֹעַ], they are still as a stone, till your people [עַמְּךָ], O LORD, pass by, till the people [עַם] pass by whom you have purchased. (v. 16) | You went out for the salvation of your people [עַמֶּךָ] . . . (v. 13) |
| When the waters [מַיִם] saw you [רָאוּךָ], O God, when the waters saw you, they were afraid [חיל]; indeed the deeps [תְהֹמוֹת] trembled [רגז]. (v. 16) | The floods [תהֹמֹת] covered them; they went down into the depths like a stone. (v. 5) At the blast of your nostrils the waters [מַיִם] piled up; the floods stood up in a heap; the deeps [תְהֹמֹת] congealed in the heart of the sea. (v. 8) You blew with your wind; the sea covered them; they sank like lead in the mighty waters [מַיִם]. (v. 10) The peoples have heard; they tremble [רגז]; pangs [חִיל] have seized the inhabitants of Philistia. (v. 14) | I saw the tents of Cushan in affliction; the curtains of the land of Midian did tremble [רגז]. (v. 7) The mountains saw you [רָאוּךָ] and writhed [חיל]; the raging waters [מַיִם] swept on; the deep [תְהוֹם] gave forth its voice; it lifted its hands on high. (v. 10) You trampled the sea with your horses, the surging of the mighty waters [מַיִם]. (v. 15) |
| The clouds poured out water [זֹרְמוּ מַיִם]; the skies gave forth [נתן] thunder [קוֹל]; your arrows [חֵץ] flashed on every side [הלך]. (v. 17) | The mountains saw you and writhed; the raging waters [זֶרֶם מַיִם] swept on; the deep gave forth [נתן] its voice [קוֹל]; it lifted its hands on high. (v. 10) The sun and moon stood still in their place at the light of your arrows [חֵץ] as they sped [הלך], at the flash of your glittering spear. (v. 11) | |
| The crash of your thunder was in the whirlwind; your lightnings [בָּרָק] lighted up [אור] the world; the earth [אֶרֶץ] trembled [רגז] and shook. (v. 18) | The peoples have heard; they tremble [רגז]; pangs have seized the inhabitants of Philistia. (v. 14) | His brightness was like the light [אוֹר]; rays flashed from his hand; and there he veiled his power. (v. 4) I saw the tents of Cushan in affliction; the curtains of the land [אֶרֶץ] of Midian did tremble [רגז]. (v. 7) The sun and moon stood still in their place at the light of your arrows as they sped, at the flash of your glittering [בָּרָק] spear. (v. 11) |
| Your way was through the sea [יָם], your path through the great waters [מַיִם רַבִּים]; yet your footprints were unseen. (v. 19) | For when the horses of Pharaoh with his chariots and his horsemen went into the sea [יָם], the LORD brought back the waters of the sea upon them, but the people of Israel walked on dry ground in the midst of the sea. (v. 19; cf. vv. 1, 4, 8, 10) | His brightness was like the light; rays flashed from his hand; and there he veiled his power. (v. 4) You trampled the sea [יָם] with your horses, the surging of mighty waters [מַיִם רַבִּים]. (v. 15) |
| You led [נחה] your people [עַמֶּךָ] like a flock by the hand of Moses and Aaron. (v. 20) | You have led [נחה] in your steadfast love the people [עַם] whom you have redeemed; you have guided them by your strength to your holy abode. (v. 13) Terror and dread fall upon them; because of the greatness of your arm, they are still as a stone, till your people [עַמְּךָ], O LORD, pass by, till the people [עַם] pass by whom you have purchased. (v. 16) | You went out for the salvation of your people [עַמֶּךָ] . . . (v. 13) |
Judging from his worshipful rehearsal, it appears that the song upon which Asaph draws in his sorrow is the Song of the Sea, both the original from Exodus 15 and the prophetic riff on a familiar tune in Habakkuk 3.
And because Asaph wrote down the prayerful journey of his song in the night, Psalm 77 can in turn become our song in the night—a new variation on an old melodic theme that we might sing so that the movements of Asaph’s sorrowful soul and the memory of Yahweh’s faithful deeds might become the music of our hearts.
Trevor Laurence is the Executive Director of the Cateclesia Institute and the author of Cursing with God: The Imprecatory Psalms and the Ethics of Christian Prayer (Baylor University Press, 2022).
Image: George Frederick Watts, Hope