I remember God, and I groan. I complain, and my spirit is overwhelmed.
Parallel Translations
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I remember God, and I groan. I complain, and my spirit is overwhelmed.
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I remembered God, and was troubled: I complained, and my spirit was overwhelmed. Selah.
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(77-4) When I think thereon, O God, I must moan; when I muse thereon, my spirit fainteth. Selah
Cross-references (16)
Passages linked to Psalms 77:3 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Psalms 61:2 From the end of the earth, I will call to you when my heart is overwhelmed. Lead me to the rock that is higher than I.
- Psalms 142:2-3 I pour out my complaint before him. I tell him my troubles. When my spirit was overwhelmed within me, you knew my route. On the path in which I walk, they have hidden a snare for me.
- Job 31:23 For calamity from God is a terror to me. Because of his majesty, I can do nothing.
- Job 6:4 For the arrows of the Almighty are within me. My spirit drinks up their poison. The terrors of God set themselves in array against me.
- Job 7:11 “Therefore I will not keep silent. I will speak in the anguish of my spirit. I will complain in the bitterness of my soul.
- Job 23:15-16 Therefore I am terrified at his presence. When I consider, I am afraid of him. For God has made my heart faint. The Almighty has terrified me.
- Psalms 42:5 Why are you in despair, my soul? Why are you disturbed within me? Hope in God! For I shall still praise him for the saving help of his presence.
- Psalms 42:11 Why are you in despair, my soul? Why are you disturbed within me? Hope in God! For I shall still praise him, the saving help of my countenance, and my God.
- Psalms 43:5 Why are you in despair, my soul? Why are you disturbed within me? Hope in God! For I shall still praise him: my Savior, my helper, and my God.
- Psalms 55:4-5 My heart is severely pained within me. The terrors of death have fallen on me. Fearfulness and trembling have come on me. Horror has overwhelmed me.
- Psalms 102:3-28 For my days consume away like smoke. My bones are burned as a torch. My heart is blighted like grass, and withered, for I forget to eat my bread. By reason of the voice of my groaning, my bones stick to my skin. I am like a pelican of the wilderness. I have become as an owl of the waste places. I watch, and have become like a sparrow that is alone on the housetop. My enemies reproach me all day. Those who are mad at me use my name as a curse. For I have eaten ashes like bread, and mixed my drink with tears, because of your indignation and your wrath; for you have taken me up and thrown me away. My days are like a long shadow. I have withered like grass. But you, Yahweh, will remain forever; your renown endures to all generations. You will arise and have mercy on Zion; for it is time to have pity on her. Yes, the set time has come. For your servants take pleasure in her stones, and have pity on her dust. So the nations will fear Yahweh’s name, all the kings of the earth your glory. For Yahweh has built up Zion. He has appeared in his glory. He has responded to the prayer of the destitute, and has not despised their prayer. This will be written for the generation to come. A people which will be created will praise Yah. For he has looked down from the height of his sanctuary. From heaven, Yahweh saw the earth; to hear the groans of the prisoner; to free those who are condemned to death; that men may declare Yahweh’s name in Zion, and his praise in Jerusalem; when the peoples are gathered together, the kingdoms, to serve Yahweh. He weakened my strength along the course. He shortened my days. I said, “My God, don’t take me away in the middle of my days. Your years are throughout all generations. Of old, you laid the foundation of the earth. The heavens are the work of your hands. They will perish, but you will endure. Yes, all of them will wear out like a garment. You will change them like a cloak, and they will be changed. But you are the same. Your years will have no end. The children of your servants will continue. Their offspring will be established before you.”
- Psalms 143:4-5 Therefore my spirit is overwhelmed within me. My heart within me is desolate. I remember the days of old. I meditate on all your doings. I contemplate the work of your hands.
- Jeremiah 17:17 Don’t be a terror to me. You are my refuge in the day of evil.
- Lamentations 3:39 Why does a living man complain, a man for the punishment of his sins?
- Psalms 88:3-18 For my soul is full of troubles. My life draws near to Sheol. I am counted among those who go down into the pit. I am like a man who has no help, set apart among the dead, like the slain who lie in the grave, whom you remember no more. They are cut off from your hand. You have laid me in the lowest pit, in the darkest depths. Your wrath lies heavily on me. You have afflicted me with all your waves. You have taken my friends from me. You have made me an abomination to them. I am confined, and I can’t escape. My eyes are dim from grief. I have called on you daily, Yahweh. I have spread out my hands to you. Do you show wonders to the dead? Do the departed spirits rise up and praise you? Is your loving kindness declared in the grave? Or your faithfulness in Destruction? Are your wonders made known in the dark? Or your righteousness in the land of forgetfulness? But to you, Yahweh, I have cried. In the morning, my prayer comes before you. Yahweh, why do you reject my soul? Why do you hide your face from me? I am afflicted and ready to die from my youth up. While I suffer your terrors, I am distracted. Your fierce wrath has gone over me. Your terrors have cut me off. They came around me like water all day long. They completely engulfed me. You have put lover and friend far from me, and my friends into darkness.
- Lamentations 3:17 You have removed my soul far away from peace. I forgot prosperity.
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (16 sources)
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John Calvin 1540 · Public Domain 3. I will remember God, and will be troubled.…
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.
John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain He showeth that we must patiently abide, although God…
He showeth that we must patiently abide, although God deliver us not out of our troubles at the first cry.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Psa 77:3 I remembered God, and was troubled: I…
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.
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My spirit was overwhelmed] With sense of sin and fear of wrath. This was a very grievous and dangerous temptation, such as we must pray not to be led into, or at least not be left under, lest we utterly despair.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain Yea, the thoughts of God, and of his infinite…
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.
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My spirit was overwhelmed; so far was I from finding relief by my complaints, that they increased my misery.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain I remembered God, and was troubled,.... Either the mercy,…
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:
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and my spirit was overwhelmed; covered with grief and sorrow, pressed down with affliction, ready to sink and faint under it:
Selah: See Gill on Psa 3:2.
(l) "meditabor", Montanus, Junius & Tremellius, Gejerus; "meditabor", Musculus, Piscator, Cocceius.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain Troubled - Yea, the thoughts of God were now…
Troubled - Yea, the thoughts of God were now a matter of trouble, because he was angry with me. Overwhelmed - So far was I from finding relief.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain Verse 3. My spirit was overwhelmed.] As the verb…
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;
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It spreads itself abroad through all the public,
And feels for every member of the land."
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain Psa 77:3. I remembered God, and was troubled —…
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 אהמיה, 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, אשׁיחה ותתעשׂŠ רוחי, 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.”
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain I remembered God - That is, I thought on…
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, εὐφράνθην euphranthēn - 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
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(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.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain 3. I remembered God, and was troubled—Or, moaned. This…
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.”
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 3. When I would fain remember God, I was…
3. When I would fain remember God, I was disquieted:
When I would fain muse in prayer, my spirit fainted.
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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).
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.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain (3) I remembered.—Better,
(3) I remembered.—Better,
“If I remember God I must sigh;
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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.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain I remembered God, and was troubled. The tenses used…
I remembered God, and was troubled. The tenses used are present rather than past; they mark continuance; they describe the condition in which the writer remained for days or weeks. He thought of God, but the thought troubled him. It was God who had brought the calamity, whatever it was, upon his people. Seemingly, he had "cast them off he had "forgotten to be gracious" (see vers. 7-9). I complained; rather, I muse or meditate (Hengstenberg, Kay, Cheyne). And my spirit was overwhelmed; or, waxeth faint, as in the Prayer book Version.
Sick bed promises.
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"I remembered God, and was troubled: I complained, and my spirit was overwhelmed." "Conversion during trouble difficult and unsatisfactory." Most men forget God while they are free from trouble; some remember him in trouble, and the remembrance brings an increase of trouble. Salvation, conversion, on a sick bed (death bed) difficult and doubtful.
I IT IS DIFFICULT.
1. The mind is sometimes oppressed with such fears as to prevent the exercise of faith and love. Prospect of immediate death, and the sudden light cast upon the memory.
2. The enfeebled state of the mind and the pains of the body hinder us from receiving any spiritual impressions.
3. The greatness of the change requires all the powers of health. Painter and astronomer in a storm.
II THE REALITY OF IT IS DOUBTFUL.
1. The want of experience to prove its soundness. Temptation, etc.
2. The suddenness of it, without striking a blow.
3. The mind may have been deeply impressed without being changed.
In prospect of eternity, remembered sins would impress. Faith, love, hope, necessary to change the mind.
Address two classes.
1. Those who have not fulfilled their sick bed promises.
2. Those who are trusting to a future sick bed conversion. S.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Charles H. Spurgeon 1885 · Public Domain Ver. 3. I remembered God, and was troubled. He…
Ver. 3. I remembered God, and was troubled. He who is the wellspring of delight to faith becomes an object of dread to the psalmist's distracted heart. The justice, holiness, power, and truth of God have all a dark side, and indeed all the attributed may be made to look black upon us if our eye be evil; even the brightness of divine love blinds us, and fills us with a horrible suspicion that we have neither part nor lot in it. He is wretched indeed whose memories of the Ever Blessed prove distressing to him; yet the best of men know the depth of this abyss.
I complained, and my spirit was overwhelmed. He mused and mused but only sank the deeper. His inward disquietudes did not fall asleep as soon as they were expressed, but rather they returned upon him, and leaped over him like raging billows of an angry sea. It was not his body alone which smarted, but his noblest nature writhed in pain, his life itself seemed crushed into the earth. It is in such a case that death is coveted as a relief, for life becomes an intolerable burden. With no spirit left in us to sustain our infirmity, our case becomes forlorn; like man in a tangle of briars who is stripped of his clothes, every hook of the thorns becomes a lancet, and we bleed with ten thousand wounds. Alas, my God, the writer of this exposition well knows what thy servant Asaph meant, for his soul is familiar with the way of grief. Deep glens and lonely caves of soul depressions, my spirit knows full well your awful glooms!
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Selah. Let the song go softly; this is no merry dance for the swift feet of the daughters of music, pause ye awhile, and let sorrow take breath between her sighs.
Whole Psalm. See Psalms on "Ps 77:1" for further information.
Ver. 3. I remembered God, and was troubled. 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 Redeemer, 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 his law. It will be painful to think of his holiness; for if he is holy, he must hate our sins, and be angry with us as sinners: --of his justice and truth, for these perfections make it necessary that he should fulfil his threatenings and punish us for our sins. It will be painful to think of his omniscience--for this perfection makes him acquainted with our most secret offences, and renders it impossible for conceal them from his view; of his omnipresence--for the constant presence of an invisible witness must be disagreeable to those who wish to indulge their sinful propensities. It will be painful to think of his power--for it enables him to restrain or destroy, as he pleases: of his sovereignty, for sinners always hate to see themselves in the hands of a sovereign God: of his eternity and immutability--for from his possessing these perfections it follows that he will never alter the threatening which he has denounced against sinners, and that he will always live to execute them. 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. It will even be painful to think of the perfect goodness and excellence of his character; for his goodness leaves us without excuse in rebelling against him, and makes our sins appear exceedingly sinful. Edward Payson.
Ver. 3. I remembered God, and was troubled. All had not been well between God and him; and whereas formerly, in his remembrance of God, his thoughts were chiefly exercised about his love and kindness, now they were wholly possessed with his own sin and unkindness. This causeth his trouble. Herein lies a share of the entanglements occasioned by sin. Saith such a soul in itself, "Foolish creature, hast thou thus requited the Lord?" Is this the return that thou hast made unto him for all his love, his kindness, his consolations, mercies? Is this thy kindness for him, thy love to him? Is this thy kindness to thy friend? Is this thy boasting of him, that thou hadst found so much goodness and excellence in him and his love, that though all men should forsake him, thou never would do so? Are all thy promises all thy engagements which thou madest unto God, in times of distress upon prevailing obligations, and mighty impressions of his good Spirit upon thy soul, now come to this, that thou shouldest so foolishly forget, neglect, despise, cast him off? Well! now he is gone; he is withdrawn from thee; and what wilt thou do? Art thou not even ashamed to desire him to return? They were thoughts of this nature that cut Peter to the heart upon his fall. The soul finds them cruel as death, and strong as the grave. It is bound in the chains of them, and cannot be comforted, Ps 38:3-6. John Owen.
Ver. 3. There are moments in the life of all believers when God and his ways become unintelligible to them. They get lost in profound meditation, and nothing is left them but a desponding sigh. But we know from Paul the apostle that the Holy Spirit intercedes for believers with God, when they cannot utter their sighs. Ro 8:26. Augustus F. Tholuck.
Ver. 3. Selah. In the end of this verse is put the word Selah. And it doth note unto the reader or hearer what a miserable and comfortless thing man is in trouble, if God be not present with him to help him. It is also put as a spur and prick for every Christian man and woman to remember and call upon God in the days of their troubles. For as the Jews say, wheresoever this word Selah is, it doth admonish and stir up the reader or hearer to mark what was said before it; for it is a word always put after very notable sentences. John Hooper.
Charles H. Spurgeon's The Treasury of David (1869–1885) — public domain. Psalms only. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain I remembered God, and was troubled.
Psa_77:3
I remembered God, and was troubled.
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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.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 77:3 I think of God: God’s people inevitably face…
77:3 I think of God: God’s people inevitably face difficult times, but recalling his mighty acts at the beginning of their relationship assures them of God’s commitment. • Feeling overwhelmed, the psalmist is unable to deal with the crisis (142:3; 143:4).
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.