Today we’ll begin to look at this psalm of lament, which is, again, by Asaph. In an earlier lament, he wrote: “And I said, ‘This is my anguish; but I will remember the years of the right hand of the Most High.’ I will remember the works of the Lord; surely I will remember Your wonders of old. I will also meditate on all Your work, and talk of Your deeds. Your way, O God, is in the sanctuary; who is so great a God as our God? You are the God who does wonders; You have declared Your strength among the peoples” (Psalm 77:10-14).
Asaph had anguish. Do you ever feel anguished? There are two cures for it: if it’s self-inflicted (i.e., caused by your own sin), then repent; if the cause of anguish is outside of your control, then remember God’s faithfulness.
This psalm is of dual character—it’s a psalm of praise and also an admonition to the hearers to listen to the Lord. Here, similar to what we saw in Psalms 74 and 75, a petition is made in one song, and the divine response is in the next. Look back in your Bible to Psalm 80, where the psalmist wrote, “Restore us, O God; cause Your face to shine, and we shall be saved! O Lord God of hosts, how long will You be angry against the prayer of the people? You have fed them with the bread of tears, and given them tears to drink in great measure. You have made us a strife to our neighbors, and our enemies laugh among themselves. Restore us, O God of hosts; cause Your face to shine, and we shall be saved!” (vv. 3-7).
Psalm 81 is a prescriptive psalm. In other words, “If such-and-such happens, here’s what you need to do,” says the Lord. Although God through Asaph is addressing the nation of Israel, our own country would do well to heed these words. Sadly, our nation also comprises many individuals who have rejected the Lord, or have a false idea of who He is. For example, there’s a popular mindset among some, especially in the United States, that God just wants everybody to be happy, healthy, and wealthy. There’s even a book about that, familiar to most: Your Best Life Now. The fact is, we don’t have full control over the circumstances in our lives. We can’t “attract” wealth; we can’t repel sickness and disease by merely “having enough faith.” There are poor and sick godly Christians of great faith all over the world! Saints, we live in a fallen world, where sickness, death, disease, and poverty impact people of faith every day. What we need and want to do is to learn how to arrive at a place in life, even in this world such as it is, that we can describe as “As good as it gets.”
Israel’s sin was the cause of Asaph’s plea, and God graciously responds with the cure. This also comes down to a personal level in the way of the need in this land for national repentance, but that’s probably not going to happen. So the point is, how can this life be “as good as it gets” and remain content with that until we arrive at our “best life” in the next life? Listen, no matter what comes our way, no matter how far our country slides or how hard life becomes, God has a plan, and He will show us how to live our lives under any circumstances with the attitude that this is as good as it gets here, and He will be with us through it all. There’s a lot that is praiseworthy in that thought. May we lift our praise to Him for seeing us through this day, giving us hearts and voices that can still sing of the wonders of His love— in the good, the bad, the mundane, the ugly, the scary, and the sad. “Weeping may endure for a night, but joy comes in the morning.” God is with us, and nothing gets any “gooder” than that.
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