Psalm 77 – “Your new name shall be … overcoming one”
Being overcome
Often it’s not the problem itself that threatens to overcome us, but thinking that we are on own with little or no help makes it sometimes seem insurmountable.v1 “I cried out to God with my voice – … and he gave ear to me”
v3 “… I complained, and my spirit was overwhelmed.
v4 You hold my eyelids open; I am so troubled that I cannot speak.”
- Focusing on your problems can be overwhelming.
- It can keep you from sleeping.
- It can create a sense of helplessness and inertia.
The road to overcoming
Changing our thinking is a positive action.v5 “I have considered the days of old the years of ancient times.
v6 I call to remembrance my song in the night; I meditate within my heart, And my spirit makes diligent search.”
- Consider what God has done in the past for us. Find your ‘God story’. It might be a personal encounter but could be a parable Jesus taught or even like the psalmist an old testament story. Our own journey is inextricably linked back through the ages to the foundation of creation.
- What is ‘my song in the night’? I remember when I was happy and that thought alone can go a long way to changing my current state of mind.
- To meditate requires thinking time - well we have that because we’re thinking about our problems!
- and to be diligent means to keep bringing our thoughts back from what’s threatening to overcome us, to our ‘God story’.
Will the Lord walk off and leave us for good?
Will he never smile again?
Is his love worn threadbare?
Has his salvation promise burned out?
Has God forgotten his manners?
Has he angrily stalked off and left us?
“Just my luck,” I said. “The High God goes out of business just the moment I need him.”
Back to my New King James:
v10 “And I said, “this is my anguish”
- The psalmist is real. He’s in a very low place. Because he can’t see these attributes he has previously seen in God, he doubts them. But he also doubts his doubts - perhaps he knows his thoughts are not reliable. Are your thoughts reliable? So in defiance of his doubts he says v11 “I will remember the works of the Lord; … Your wonders of old” – He diligently turns his mind.
v12 “I will also meditate on all Your work, And talk of your deeds”It’s not enough just to remember the ‘God Story’. It’s a good start but what does the event tell you about God’s character? Ask the six questions in verses 7-9:
Did the Lord cast the people off?
Was He favourable to them?
Did His mercy cease?
Did His promise fail?
Did His anger stop His tender mercies?
Then v12 “talk of your deeds”!! That’s right – go find someone you can talk to about how great God has been, whether it’s to you personally or what you’ve learned from meditating on your ‘God story’. It does our whole being good to talk about how great God has been and by doing so it’s stopping the problem overcoming our joy.
By v13 the psalmist has reconnected to the living God. We know this because now he turns to worship – he can’t help himself. It’s no longer about what ‘I’ see, feel, think but about “Your way, O God…”
In v3 the psalmist felt ‘overwhelmed’, a word that always reminds me of water, but in v16 he remembers and worships the God of whom the waters were afraid. What a change in his state of mind. His problem may not have gone away, but he no longer feels overcome by it. His hope is restored because he knows a God who has overcome.
Finally he answers his last question “Has he in anger shut up his tender mercies?” v20 “You led Your people like a flock…” As a gentle shepherd leading silly wayward sheep. “… By the hand of Moses and Aaron.” Moses and Aaron were God’s provision for the children of Israel but we have the Son of God as our provision – The Good Shepherd who promised never to leave us and he overcame everything, even death.
I will change your name
You shall no longer be called
Wounded, outcast
Lonely or afraid
I will change your name
Your new name shall be
Confidence, joyfulness
Overcoming one
Faithfulness, friend of God
One who seeks my face
(DJ Butler, Copyright 1987, Mercy Publishing)Lydia Tebbutt
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