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PROGRAM D-7977

Psalm 77 is a psalm by Asaph, and it begins with heartfelt cries to God—cries of despair and confusion. In verse three he says, “I remembered you, God, and I groaned; I meditated, and my spirit grew faint.” When you read these words, you want to say, “Really, Asaph? You groaned when you remembered God?” But as we can see from other verses in Psalm 77, after pouring out his pain to God and “telling it like it is,” he sets his will to remember who God is and to recall how God has seen him through so many things.

Is that where you are today? Are you in despair, confused as to what God is doing or allowing in your life? Are you ready to throw in the towel? Do you moan when you remember God? It happens to each of us along this journey here on earth, because we are imperfect people living in a broken world. Life can just be tough at times; there’s no other way to say it.

I want to encourage you from this Psalm. Let’s look at verses 18 through 20:

Your thunder was heard in the whirlwind, your lightning lit up the world; the earth trembled and quaked. Your path led through the sea, your way through the mighty waters, though your footprints were not seen. You led your people like a flock by the hand of Moses and Aaron.

Asaph reminded himself of how God had delivered his people through all kinds of desperate situations in the past, even though, as Asaph put it, his footprints were not seen. I encourage you to think of God’s unseen footprints in your life. How often has he been there when you couldn’t see him, when you couldn’t feel him, when you felt alone and abandoned, when you wanted to quit and run away? His footprints have been there in your life! Perhaps unseen, overlooked, and unrecognized, but they have been there, nonetheless.

Why do you now doubt his presence, his care, and his love for you? Isn’t it because you can’t see his footprints? Because he doesn’t operate the way you want him to? Because his timetable is not your timetable? It is at those times that our faith is tested.

Job’s response to his incredible testing time was this: “But he knows the way that I take; when he has tested me, I will come forth as gold” (Job 23:10). Can you believe this truth from Job today—that God knows the way you are taking? Though his footprints are not seen, he knows exactly where you are, what’s happening to you, and he has not forsaken you. Believe that God is leading you, as he did his people of old, and you will come through whatever mighty waters you are in now. He is a trustworthy God.