Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Psalms 77:3
I remembered God, and was troubled: I complained, and my spirit was overwhelmed. Selah.
3. When I would fain remember God, I was disquieted:
When I would fain muse in prayer, my spirit fainted.
The precise force of the tenses of the original is difficult to determine. The perfects in Psa 77:2, and again in Psa 77:4-5, however, shew that the poet is relating a past experience. In Psa 77:1 he quotes, as it were, the words in which, in that hour of sorrow, he resolved to betake himself to prayer, and in Psa 77:3, in tenses which recall the emotion of the time, though their force can hardly be given in a translation, he describes his failure to find comfort.
In its rendering my sore ran, the A.V. follows Jewish authorities in taking hand in the sense of blow or wound (Job 23:2). ‘My wound was unstanched,’ is a metaphor for ‘my sorrow was unrelieved.’ But the rendering of R.V. given above is preferable. He sought God day and night, with hands unceasingly outstretched in the attitude of prayer (Psa 28:2, note; Exo 17:11-12). The text however is doubtful. The verb which means literally ‘was poured out,’ is not a natural one to apply to the hand; and the use of the same verb, and substantives derived from the root of the verb rendered ‘slacked,’ in Lam 2:18-19; Lam 3:49, with reference to tears, suggests that the original reading may have been, ‘Mine eye poured down in the night, and slacked not.’ So the Targ.
my soul &c.] Like Jacob, mourning for the loss of Joseph (Gen 37:35); and Rachel, weeping for her children (Jer 31:15).
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
3. For the word rendered ‘disquieted’ cp. Psa 42:5; Psa 42:11; Psa 43:5. In Psa 55:17 it is joined with that rendered ‘muse in prayer,’ which recurs in Psa 77:6 b, 12 b, and denotes meditation, musing prayer, musing or plaintive speech.
my spirit &c.] Cp. Psa 142:3; Psa 143:4, in contexts full of parallels to this Psalm.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
I remembered God – That is, I thought on God; I thought on his character, his government, and his dealings; I thought on the mysteries – the incomprehensible things – the apparently unequal, unjust, and partial doings – of his administration. It is evident from the whole tenor of the psalm that these were the things which occupied his attention. He dwelt on them until his whole soul became sad; until his spirit became so overwhelmed that he could not find words in which to utter his thoughts.
And was troubled – The Septuagint renders this, euphranthen – I was rejoiced or delighted. So the Vulgate. Luther renders it, When I am troubled, then I think on God. Our translation, however, has probably given the true idea; and in that has expressed
(a) what often occurs in the case of even a good man – that by dwelling on the dark and incomprehensible things of the divine administration, the soul becomes sad and troubled to an extent bordering on murmuring, complaint, and rebellion; and may also serve to illustrate
(b) what often happens in the mind of a sinner – that he delights to dwell on these things in the divine administration:
(1) as most in accordance with what he desires to think about God, or with the views which he wishes to cherish of him; and
(2) as justifying himself in his rebellion against God, and his refusal to submit to him – for if God is unjust, partial, and severe, the sinner is right; such a Being would be unworthy of trust and confidence; he ought to be opposed, and his claims ought to be resisted.
I complained – Or rather, I mused or meditated. The word used here does not necessarily mean to complain. It is sometimes used in that sense, but its proper and common signification is to meditate. See Psa 119:15, Psa 119:23, Psa 119:27, Psa 119:48, Psa 119:78,Psa 119:148.
And my spirit was overwhelmed – With the result of my own reflections. That is, I was amazed or confounded by the thoughts that came in upon me.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Psa 77:3
I remembered God, and was troubled.
Remembering God
This was a very sad condition. Asaph must have felt that it was unnatural to entertain such gloomy thoughts of God.
I. A test of our condition. Do we remember Him and become troubled? Then our state is wrong. If troubled now at the remembrance of His holiness, how much greater will the trouble be when we meet Him face to face in all His terrible glory. But if we remember Him with joy, happy indeed is our condition.
II. An intimation of duty–I remembered God. Alas, how few do remember God I And yet this is the first of all duties. We get a glimpse of Asaphs character. He was not a bad man. But he felt that it was better to probe the wound and open the sore, rather than that it should fester to the death. He would remember God; he would take his sin to God, so as to have it mortified, and then forgiven. (Homilist.)
The memory of God a trouble
I. An important mental exercise. I remembered God.
II. A sad spiritual experience. I remembered God, and was troubled. What a deplorable fact is this: a soul troubled at the memory of God.
1. This is unnatural. It can never be that the great Father of our spirits formed us to think on Him in order to be miserable.
2. It is unnecessary. The memory of God with some is blessedness; it is so with the hosts of heaven, it is so with the saints on earth, it might be so with all. Thank God there is no need to be troubled at the idea of Him.
3. It is ungodly. It argues a morally corrupt state of soul. It is a sense of guilt that makes the idea of God so troubling. The idea of God to a depraved soul is hell. Here–
(1) Appears the necessity for regeneration.
(2) Appears the value of the Gospel. Its grand work is to cleanse the soul from all evil, to redeem it from all iniquity, and to fill it with the love and life of God. (Homilist.)
Troubled thoughts of God and the remedy for them
To the unconverted, thoughts of God come laden with trouble.
I. Because coupled with the consciousness of guilt. Adam: I heard Thy voice . . . and was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself.
II. Coupled with thoughts of Gods presence. i am. Thou, God, seest me. Your own personality face to face with Gods personality!
III. Coupled with thoughts of Gods emotional nature. God loves good, hates evil, with all His infinite nature. Sinner must forsake sin or go down, along with it, under His wrath.
IV. Coupled with thoughts of His attributes. Holiness brings out the awful bleakness of sin. Justice and Truth–I will by no means clear the guilty. Omniscience (Psa 89:2-6; Psa 89:11-12). Omnipresence (Psa 139:7-10). Omnipotence (Dan 4:35; Luk 12:5). Immutability–He will never alter His decrees against sin. Eternity–He will always live to execute them. Goodness and Love–leave the sinner without excuse.
V. Coupled with thoughts of the judgment. For God shall bring every work into judgment with every secret thing (Rev 20:11-15).
VI. The remedy. Being justified by faith we have peace with God, etc. (Homiletic Monthly.)
Recollections of God painful to the wicked
I. What we mean by remembering God. I mean, as the psalmist undoubtedly meant, recollecting those ideas which the term God is used by the inspired writers to signify. When they use the word, they use it to denote an eternal, self-existent, infinitely wise, just, and good Being, who is the Creator and Upholder of all things, who is our Sovereign Lawgiver, and who worketh all things according to the counsel of His own will; who is always present with us, who searches our hearts, who approves or disapproves our conduct, who loves holiness.
II. Why the recollection of such a being should ever be painful. If our hearts condemn us not, says the apostle, then have we confidence towards God; and the man who has confidence towards God, cannot be troubled at the remembrance of Him. But on the other hand, if our hearts or consciences condemn us, it is impossible to remember Him without being troubled. It will then be painful to remember that He is our Creator and Benefactor; for the remembrance will be attended with a consciousness of base ingratitude. It will be painful to think of Him as Lawgiver; for such thoughts will remind us that we have broken the law. It will be painful to think of His holiness; for if He is holy, He must hate our sins. It will be painful to think of Him as Judge; for we shall feel, that as sinners, we have no reason to expect a favourable sentence from His lips.
III. Application.
1. This subject affords a rule, by which we may try ourselves, and which will assist us much in discovering our real characters; for the moral character of every intelligent creature, corresponds with his habitual views and feelings respecting God.
2. From this subject we may learn how wretched is the situation of impenitent sinners; of those who cannot remember God without being troubled.
3. How great are our obligations to God for the Gospel of Christ, the Gospel of reconciliation! Were it not for this, the remembrance, and still more, the presence of God, would have occasioned nothing but pure unmingled wretchedness to any human being.
4. Is sin alone the cause which renders the remembrance of God painful? Then let all who have embraced the terms of reconciliation offered by the Gospel, all who desire to remember God without being troubled, beware, above all things, beware of sin. (E. Payson, D. D.)
Trouble at the thought of God
I. The strangeness of such an experience–that a man should remember God and yet be troubled.
1. Such an experience is against all that is made known to us of the nature of God. Many think the Bible hard because it speaks so of sin and the sinners doom. But let it be borne in mind that the Gospel finds the disease in our world; it does not make it. I am come not to destroy mens lives, but to save them. Is it not, then, strange that there should be men who, with this Word before them, can remember God and be troubled?
2. It becomes strange when we reflect on His promises. They are so universal, so free, so full, that they seem fitted to meet every want and satisfy every yearning of the human soul.
3. Trouble at the thought of God is declared to be against the experience of all sincere seekers. Gods own declaration is, I never said to any of the seed of Jacob–to any of those who wrestled as he did ill the dark with God–Seek ye My face in vain.
4. Such an experience is against all that we can reasonably believe of the nature of the soul of man. Out of God no full satisfying end can be found for it.
II. Some of the reasons that may be given for such an experience.
1. Many men do not make God the object of sufficient thought, and so they hang in wretched suspense, remembering God only to be troubled.
2. Another reason why many are troubled at the thought of God is that they are seeking Him with a wrong view of the way of access. The most frequent mistake of all is that men think they cannot look God in the face without trouble, unless they have some good works or good thoughts, some outward reformation or inward repentance. They do not perceive, or at least they do not feel, the all-sufficiency of Christ as a Saviour.
3. A third reason why some are troubled at the thought of God is, that they are seeking Him with some reserved thought of sin.
4. Some have a mistaken view of Gods manner of dealing with us in this world. There are so many things in the world most dark which He permits–so much of difficulty in the Bible which they feel He could have made more clear–such troubles in our life, in what we may call our true life, our spiritual life, which we long to have ended, and which still go on. These questions of Gods ways are still for our study, for nothing that belongs to Him can be indifferent to us, and earnest souls will thirst for light on all that concerns Him. But we shall not wait for the answer before we embrace Him; we embrace Him first that we may find rest, and from that centre pursue our search, or calmly wait till God disclose it. (John Ker, D. D.)
The remembrance of God
I. The remembrance of God.
1. There is a necessity for constantly urging this duty, inasmuch as the cares and occupations and temptations of this present life are constantly more or less shutting out from our memory the truths of the Divine existence and presence.
2. Apart from all judgments as to the consequence of forgetfulness of God, consider the naturalness of the duty. He should be remembered as our Father, as the best and the most faithful of friends, as the Redeemer of our souls by the blood of His Son, and as the everlasting portion of all His believing and enduring people.
3. Consider, too, that the duty of remembering God is imperative. It is a law which is enforced by the most positive commands and illustrated by examples of the most illustrious character. We can not only point to these in the Scripture testimony of patriarchs, kings, prophets, and apostles, but also to the usages of enlightened governments, to the kings, nobles, warriors, and statesmen.
II. The effects which the remembrance of God produces.
1. The effects are various, and depend in a great measure upon the character of the individual, and the particular circumstances and seasons in which the memory of God operates. Their memory is uninfluential, cold, inactive for good, and dead as regards any practical and lasting result, except when some sudden calamity visits them, or when some visitation of disease sweeps their immediate neighbourhood, or when death itself knocks at the door of their own hearts. In such seasons the memory of God wakes up from its long slumber, and the image of wrath breaks upon it with an untold terror. But again, there are persons to whose hearts the Almighty is no stranger, and consequently when any trouble overtakes them and they are brought low like Jonah, they can say with him–When my soul fainted within me, I remembered the Lord. To such persons, in the darkest hour of their trials, the memory of God is attended with much comfort.
2. Another result of this remembrance may be traced in its expediency. It becomes the means of leading us to the consummation of our highest purposes and ends: Perhaps there is no stronger faculty than that of memory, nothing more adapted to call into exercise the affections, and to wind its way into our deepest sympathies. How wonderfully it acts in the hour of danger, in the time of estrangement, from home and kindred, and in the closing scene of all. Thus as a means to an end, what better calculated to bring back the wanderer, to overthrow the intrigues of an enemy, and to restore the soul to its proper place in its relations to the Father of all our mercies! It is the memory of God in His relations to our past days of childhood, and to the-years through which we have passed, which induces a feeling of gratitude, and which supplies a motive-power for the future obedience and dedication of our lives.
3. The remembrance of God disturbs the rest of a false security. It produces the effect of breaking up the illusion of a peace founded upon a mistaken notion of the Divine character. In other words, it leads the mind of a thoughtful and honest professor of religion to the conclusion that it is impossible to serve God and mammon, to make a compromise with principle and inclination, and to unite the Church with the world.
4. To the humble and penitent; to the man who honestly rejects all false subterfuges, and with a trustful heart seeks for mercy through the sacrifice and intercession of Christ, there is much comfort in the remembrance of God. (W. D. Horwood.)
On the advantages of affliction
(P.B.V.: When I am in heaviness, I will think upon God):–
I. The happiness and reasonableness of turning our thoughts to God in general.
II. Adversity has its peculiar advantages, to bring us to a just sense of God, and our duty to Him.
1. Adversity will make us, however unwilling, reflect and descend into ourselves.
2. Adversity puts our virtue to the test, and proves the sincerity of it.
3. Adversity is of service to disengage our minds from earthly pursuits, and to fix our thoughts where true joys are to be found. Convinced by melancholy proof of the insufficiency of worldly things, we take sanctuary in the fulness of the Divine sufficiency. (J. Seed, M. A.)
The thought of God, the stay of the soul
(P.B.V.):–
I. The thought of God as the remedy against despondency. When I am in heaviness; whenever that may be, or whatever may be the character of my woe, I have one and only one method of meeting it, and that is, by the thought of God.
II. Consider, then, how this thought will act. When we first look at it, we deem it almost impossible that it should be the remedy which it is here declared to be. For what is the thought of God naturally? lt is the thought of One infinitely above us, transcendently great and good, fearful, indeed, from His very holiness, as well as from His power. Yet the very greatness of God in the majesty of His outward creation is a comfort to a thoughtful soul. True, I am insignificant, and as a shadow before Him; but I feel that He is the author and the fountain of my being. If I die, therefore, must I not be before Him, just as I am now? Wide, therefore, and great, and awful, as the universe may seem, there is no terrible void in it, for He who made it fills it; and everything that it contains, the smallest particle of dust, yea, even such a worm as I am, is ever under His immediate eye, and must be the object of His special protection.
III. Revelation confirms this thought. From first to last, God manifests Himself as our Father, yea, and our Friend. Friends may be false, and earthly streams grow dry; but the Lord God is my sun and my shield: I cannot be sad while He Smiles on me; I will dread no danger while He defends. Only remember this. While He is ever ready to help even those who have marred their own happiness; yet it is they who walk with Him, to whom He is a special source of peace. An allowed sin will drive Him away. He cannot dwell in the same heart with a cherished lust. (C. E. Kennaway, M. A.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 3. My spirit was overwhelmed.] As the verb is in the hithpael conjugation, the word must mean my spirit was overpowered in itself. It purposed to involve itself in this calamity. I felt exquisitely for my poor suffering countrymen.
“The generous mind is not confined at home;
It spreads itself abroad through all the public,
And feels for every member of the land.”
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Yea, the thoughts of God, and of his infinite power, and truth, and goodness, which used to be very sweet and comfortable to me, were now matter of terror and trouble, because they were all engaged against me, and God himself, my only friend, was now very angry with me, and become mine enemy.
I complained unto God in prayer.
My spirit was overwhelmed; so far was I from finding relief by my complaints, that they increased my misery.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
3-9. His sad state contrastedwith former joys.
was troubledliterally,”violently agitated,” or disquieted (Psa 39:6;Psa 41:5).
my spirit was overwhelmedor,”fainted” (Psa 107:5;Jon 2:7).
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
I remembered God, and was troubled,…. Either the mercy, grace, and goodness of God, as Jarchi; how ungrateful he had been to him, how sadly he had requited him, how unthankful and unholy he was, notwithstanding so much kindness; and when he called this to mind it troubled him; or when he remembered the grace and goodness of God to him in time past, and how it was with him now, that it was not with him as then; this gave him uneasiness, and set him a praying and crying, that it might be with him as heretofore, Job 29:2, or rather he remembered the greatness and majesty of God, his power and his justice, his purity and holiness, and himself as a worm, a poor weak creature, sinful dust and ashes, not able to stand before him; he considered him not as his father and friend, but as an angry Judge, incensed against him, and demanding satisfaction of him:
I complained; of sin and sorrow, of affliction and distress: or “I prayed”, or “meditated” l; he thought on his case, and prayed over it, and poured out his complaint unto God, yet found no relief:
and my spirit was overwhelmed; covered with grief and sorrow, pressed down with affliction, ready to sink and faint under it:
Selah: [See comments on Ps 3:2].
l “meditabor”, Montanus, Junius Tremellius, Gejerus “meditabor”, Musculus, Piscator, Cocceius.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
3. I will remember God, and will be troubled. The Psalmist here employs a variety of expressions to set forth the vehemence of his grief, and, at the same time, the greatness of his affliction. He complains that what constituted the only remedy for allaying his sorrow became to him a source of disquietude. It may, indeed, seem strange that the minds of true believers should be troubled by remembering God. But the meaning of the inspired writer simply is, that although he thought upon God his distress of mind was not removed. It no doubt often happens that the remembrance of God in the time of adversity aggravates the anguish and trouble of the godly, as, for example, when they entertain the thought that he is angry with them. The prophet, however, does not mean that his heart was thrown into new distress and disquietude whenever God was brought to his recollection: he only laments that no consolation proceeded from God to afford him relief; and this is a trial which it is very hard to bear. It is not surprising to see the wicked racked with dreadful mental agony; for, since their great object and endeavor is to depart from God, they must suffer the punishment which they deserve, on account of their rebellion against him. But when the remembrance of God, from which we seek to draw consolation for mitigating our calamities, does not afford repose or tranquillity to our minds, we are ready to think that he is sporting with us. We are nevertheless taught from this passage, that however much we may experience of fretting, sorrow, and disquietude, we must persevere in calling upon God even in the midst of all these impediments.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(3) I remembered.Better,
If I remember God I must sigh;
I meditate, and my spirit faints.
Or,
Let me remember God, and sigh;
I must complain, and my spirit faints.
The word rendered overwhelmed (comp. Psa. 142:3; Psa. 143:4) means properly covers itself up. In Psa. 107:5 it is translated fainted.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
3. I remembered God, and was troubled Or, moaned. This remembrance of God corresponds to his seeking him in the previous verse, and the trouble, or moaning, to the stretching out of his hand, specimens of poetic parallelism. He was “troubled” because God was now withdrawn and hidden from him.
I complained Hebrew, meditated, same word as is rendered “commune,” Psa 77:6. To meditate is to hold a subject steadily before the mind, to consider it in all its relations; more intensive than remember; thus, “I remembered God and was troubled; I meditated and was overwhelmed.”
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
There is somewhat very singular, and, at first reading, very strange, in these expressions. Doth the remembrance of God, as a gracious covenant God, tend to increase affliction? Surely every remembrance of God, gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, must have a blessed tendency to give comfort. What is it then? I venture to consider these words as referring to Christ, who, as the sinner’s Surety, was looking forward to the conflicts of the garden and the cross: there Jesus had a baptism to be baptized within the contemplation of which he was straitened, until it was accomplished. God’s justice upon the sinner, and God’s holy law avenging itself upon the sinner’s Surety, might well be supposed to induce such afflictions in the mind. See the evangelist’s account, Mat 26:38 ; Mar 14:34 .
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Psa 77:3 I remembered God, and was troubled: I complained, and my spirit was overwhelmed. Selah.
Ver. 3. I remembered God, and was troubled ] Tumultuabar, fluctuando perstrepebam; for God seemed to be angry, and to cast out my prayers; this made me mourn, and little less than murmur.
My spirit was overwhelmed
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
complained = communed [with myself].
my spirit = I (emphatic). Hebrew. ruach. App-9.
Selah. Connecting this self-introspection with its sure result misery. See App-66.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
I remembered: Job 6:4, Job 23:15, Job 23:16, Job 31:23, Jer 17:17
I complained: Psa 88:3-18, Psa 102:3-28, Job 7:11, Lam 3:17, Lam 3:39
spirit: Psa 55:4, Psa 55:5, Psa 61:2, Psa 142:2, Psa 142:3, Psa 143:4, Psa 143:5
Reciprocal: Job 9:27 – General Job 21:4 – is my complaint Job 21:6 – Even when Psa 6:3 – My Psa 38:17 – sorrow Psa 102:1 – poureth Psa 102:4 – heart Pro 18:14 – but Son 5:6 – my soul Isa 26:9 – have I Jer 45:3 – I fainted Lam 1:7 – remembered Joh 14:1 – not Rom 7:24 – wretched
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Psa 77:3. I remembered God, and was troubled Yea, the thoughts of God, and of his infinite power, wisdom, truth, and goodness, which used to be very sweet and consolatory to me, were now causes of terror and trouble, because these divine attributes appeared to be all engaged against me; and God himself, my only friend, now seemed to be very angry with me, and to have become mine enemy. The word , ehemajah, here rendered I was troubled, properly signifies, I was in a state of perturbation, like that of the tumultuous waves of the sea in a storm. I complained Unto God in prayer; and my spirit was overwhelmed So far was I from finding relief by my complaints, that they increased my misery. Hebrew, , ashicha vetithgnatteph ruchi, I meditated, and my spirit covered, overwhelmed, or obscured itself. My own reasonings, instead of affording me light and comfort, only served to overwhelm me with greater darkness and misery. How frequently is this the case with persons in distress of soul, through a consciousness of their guilt, depravity, and weakness, and their desert of the wrath of God! This verse is a fine description, says Dr. Horne, of what passes in an afflicted and dejected mind. Between the remembrance of God and his former mercies, and the meditation on a seeming desertion, under present calamities, the affections are variously agitated, and the prayers disturbed like the tumultuous waves of a troubled sea; while the fair light from above is intercepted, and the face of heaven overwhelmed with clouds and darkness.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
77:3 I remembered God, and was {b} troubled: I complained, and my spirit was overwhelmed. Selah.
(b) He shows that we must patiently abide though God does not deliver us from our troubles at the first cry.