Changing My Tune

I’ve recently been studying Psalm 77 and picking through the treasures I have found.

Psalm 77:1-20

 [To the chief Musician, to Jeduthun, A Psalm of Asaph.]

1 I cried unto God with my voice, even unto God with my voice; and he gave ear unto me.

 2 In the day of my trouble I sought the Lord: my sore ran in the night, and ceased not: my soul refused to be comforted.

3 I remembered God, and was troubled: I complained, and my spirit was overwhelmed. Selah.

4 Thou holdest mine eyes waking: I am so troubled that I cannot speak.

5 I have considered the days of old, the years of ancient times.

6 I call to remembrance my song in the night: I commune with mine own heart: and my spirit made diligent search.

 7 Will the Lord cast off for ever? and will he be favourable no more?

8 Is his mercy clean gone for ever? doth his promise fail for evermore?

9 Hath God forgotten to be gracious? hath he in anger shut up his tender mercies? Selah.

10 And I said, This is my infirmity: but I will remember the years of the right hand of the most High.

11 I will remember the works of the LORD: surely I will remember thy wonders of old.

12 I will meditate also of all thy work, and talk of thy doings.

13 Thy way, O God, is in the sanctuary: who is so great a God as our God?

14 Thou art the God that doest wonders: thou hast declared thy strength among the people.

15 Thou hast with thine arm redeemed thy people, the sons of Jacob and Joseph. Selah.

16 The waters saw thee, O God, the waters saw thee; they were afraid: the depths also were troubled.

17 The clouds poured out water: the skies sent out a sound: thine arrows also went abroad.

18 The voice of thy thunder was in the heaven: the lightnings lightened the world: the earth trembled and shook.

19 Thy way is in the sea, and thy path in the great waters, and thy footsteps are not known.

20 Thou leddest thy people like a flock by the hand of Moses and Aaron.

We read of Asaph a few times in the Bible. Actually, there are three Asaphs mentioned in the Bible, but the one that we read of in Psalms was one of King David's musicians. He was a Levite and we find him first mentioned when the Ark of the Covenant was moved to Jerusalem from Obed-Edom in 1 Chronicles 16:1, 4-5

1 So they brought the ark of God, and set it in the midst of the tent that David had pitched for it: and they offered burnt sacrifices and peace offerings before God. ...

 4 And he appointed certain of the Levites to minister before the ark of the LORD, and to record, and to thank and praise the LORD God of Israel:

5 Asaph the chief, and next to him Zechariah, Jeiel, and Shemiramoth, and Jehiel, and Mattithiah, and Eliab, and Benaiah, and Obededom: and Jeiel with psalteries and with harps; but Asaph made a sound with cymbals;

1Ch 6:31-32, 39

31 And these are they whom David set over the service of song in the house of the LORD, after that the ark had rest.

32 And they ministered before the dwelling place of the tabernacle of the congregation with singing, until Solomon had built the house of the LORD in Jerusalem: and then they waited on their office according to their order. ...

39 And his brother Asaph, who stood on his right hand, even Asaph the son of Berachiah, the son of Shimea,

Asaph is known to be the author of 12 Psalms, and although they often touched a minor key, Asaph remembered the Lord and gave him the glory, rising from despair to praise.

He was a gifted man, otherwise why would King David put him in charge of the music before the Ark of the Covenant? He was gifted, yet he used his music and his talent to praise the Lord and communicate loudly and clearly, God’s Word to his people.

In this particular Psalm, Psalm 77, we see Asaph’s mind racing down a track of despair. Although we don't know exactly what is troubling Asaph, we read of his cry to God. Wearied of his heaviness of heart, until he rushes to the Lord with arms outstretched crying for mercy.

In verses 1 to 3, we see Asaph pleading with the Lord. In verses 4 to 9, we see him arguing with himself, but in verse 10 there is a pivotal moment. In this verse we see the whole Psalm turn.

10 And I said, This is my infirmity: but I will remember the years of the right hand of the most High.

As Asaph’s mind was racing down a track of despair, he saw a track ahead that led to peace and he made a decision to follow that track. He made a choice. He was resolved. He chose to remember. It was an intentional choice.

Asaph realised that if God had been faithful in the past, as of course he had been, then he would be faithful in the present and in the future.

In verses 10 and 11, Asaph remembers. And in verse 12, he meditates and he talks.

We see three steps that would be good for us to keep in mind.

1 Remember

2 Meditate

3 Talk

Interestingly enough, in the first part of the Psalm, Asaph refers to himself 22 times and to God only 11 times. But in the second part of the Psalm, after verse 10, he refers to God 24 times, and to himself, only 3 times, those being the “I will” times. I will remember. I will remember. I will meditate.

Asaph’s sob of sorrow turned into a song of praise!

He remembered God’s works of old, then he chose to meditate on those things, and then he talked of them to others. Remember, that God’s blessings are not just for our own benefit. If we remember God’s goodness and we meditate on it, we should share it!

Did you notice the progression of his troubled soul from anguish to praise?

Verse 1. Firstly, he cried unto God.

1 I cried unto God with my voice, even unto God with my voice; and he gave ear unto me. ...

Verse 3. He remembered God.

3 I remembered God, and was troubled: I complained, and my spirit was overwhelmed. Selah. ...

Verse 5. He considered.

5 I have considered the days of old, the years of ancient times. ...

Verse 10. He said. Resolve!

10 And I said, This is my infirmity: but I will remember the years of the right hand of the most High.

How often do you or I need to ‘change our tune’? Are we continually singing in a minor key? Are we in a state of despair and discouragement? Do we find ourselves looking at things upside down? Half empty instead of half full. Is it time to change your tune?

Our song can change from minor to major. All it takes is a decision. An intentional choice to remember God’s works, to meditate on them, to talk of them. If all you have to remember is the day God saved your wretched soul, then sing about that! But, you and I both know, that God didn’t just stop the blessings when we gave our lives to him, no! He continues to shower his love and mercy on us every day. Stop right now and jot down some of God’s blessings to you from the past few hours. You know, even the sun shining down upon you is a blessing. Or the rain, if that be the case. Rain brings life, causing the seed to grow and giving us rainbows of promise across the sky!

G. Campbell Morgan said this,

“To brood upon sorrow is to be broken

 and disheartened, while to see God is to sing on the darkest day”

And as God’s children, we should be able to sing on the darkest day. Sometimes, I think we suffer from spiritual amnesia. We have a loss of spiritual memory of all the things God has done in our lives and we think we have nothing to sing about.

Lamentations 3:22-23

 22 It is of the LORD'S mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not. 23 They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness.

Let’s learn a lesson from the musician, Asaph. Although we may start out singing in a minor key, there is no reason we have to stay there.

We can send out an SOS to God. We can choose to redirect our thoughts. And we can choose to praise the Lord! Taking our focus from inward to upward! There’s nothing like worshipping the Lord wholeheartedly to bring us up out of our pit of despair. Magnifying God has a way of diminishing our problems.

Force yourself to continually go over past blessings of God’s faithfulness, and your hope for the future will be strengthened.

“The troubled fountain will work itself clear again; and the recollection of former times of joyful experience often raises a hope, tending to relief” M. Henry