Sep-11-0510-The light of God’s faithfulness in dark days
510_The light of God’s faithfulness in dark days Psalm 77 I cry aloud to God, aloud to God, and he will hear me. 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. Selah 4 You hold my eyelids open; I am so troubled that I cannot speak. 5 I consider the days of old, the years long ago. 6 I said, “Let me remember my song in the night; let me meditate in my heart.” Then my spirit made a diligent search: 7 “Will the Lord spurn forever, and never again be favorable? 8 Has his steadfast love forever ceased? Are his promises at an end for all time? 9 Has God forgotten to be gracious? Has he in anger shut up his compassion?” Selah 10 Then I said, “I will appeal to this, to the years of the right hand of the Most High.” 11 I will remember the deeds of the Lord; yes, I will remember your wonders of old. 12 I will ponder all your work, and meditate on your mighty deeds. 13 Your way, O God, is holy. What god is great like our God? 14 You are the God who works wonders; you have made known your might among the peoples. 15 You with your arm redeemed your people, the children of Jacob and Joseph. Selah When William Carey, the great missionary to India, returned home one evening in 1812, expecting the familiar comfort of his study, he was greeted instead by the charred remains of his house and printing press. Almost all his work had been consumed by the fire. Years of painstaking work—the manuscripts of his translations of the scriptures into Indian languages, dictionaries, and other writings—lay in ashes. Carey had devoted countless hours to this work, but much of it was now irretrievably lost. Instead of collapsing in despair, Carey revealed remarkable composure. He wrote to a friend, “The loss is heavy, but as traveling a road the second time is usually done with greater ease than the first, so I trust the work will lose nothing of real value. We are not discouraged. We will begin again with redoubled vigor.” Such resilience in the face of devastating loss was driven by Carey’s secret strength. This lay in the constant habit of looking beyond immediate circumstances to the unchanging faithfulness of God. He focused, not on the ashes of his labor, but on the God whose wonderful deeds in the past assured him of His goodness in the future. This is the very melody of Psalm 77. It is a psalm for those walking through fire, for those standing among the ruins of what once was, for those facing questions with no immediate answers. This psalm of Asaph begins with anguish. “I cry aloud to God, aloud to God, and He will hear me. In the day of my trouble I seek the Lord; in the night my hand is stretched