PSALM 77. THIS IS MY INFIRMITY. Our title is a phrase the psalmist uses in verse ten. "This is my infirmity." This psalm is a common form of prayer for the Church when she is in infirmity. Throughout the history of the Church the psalms have been used in this way. Folk have not only sung the psalms, but they have also used them in their approach to the Lord. It is good to use God's Word when we approach Him. Our own words may just be an expression of ourselves, but the Word of God is an expression of what God can do for us. What is my infirmity?. There are times when we look at ourselves very closely and ask the questions, "What ails us most? What upsets us most?". If we all gave individual answers to those questions, the answers would be as varied as we are individual. I might well say, "I get bouts of X, Y, and Z." Well, every one of us may have had bouts of Z, but most have never been afflicted by Y before. But, the writer of this psalm is not referring to illness or being upset. So often we confuse the Bible Word INFIRMITY with SICKNESS. Asaph is referring to something far deeper than sickness, painful though that be. To get the real meaning let us ask, "What ails us most?" Of all that can happen to us in this life, that which ails us most is yielding to a feeling of suspicion about Divine Love. To put it in one word - our greatest affliction is DOUBT. It becomes spectacular and particular when we find ourselves in a doubtful situation and we begin to ask questions like, "Did God really say that?. In Bible language "Hath God said?" (That was the first thought Satan put into the mind of Eve.), or we say, "Does God care?" It is one thing when an unbeliever, looking around a world of trouble, sickness and distress, says, "Does God really care?". But it is another thing when one who is a Believer asks the same question. Then again, we ask, "Will God ever move?" For there are times when we are so impetuous; God does not seem to move fast enough for us. Consider the implication that God does not move fast enough. In our hearts we know God moves at the speed of light at the right time. These three great questions, which continually crop up, are indications of a suspicion; perhaps suspicion is too strong a word; we just WONDER whether God loves us. The psalmist prays earnestly in this psalm, "I cried unto the Lord with my voice, even unto God with my voice, and He gave ear unto me." Yes, He heard me alright! But in the day of my trouble I sought the Lord, and my sore ran in the night, and ceased not, and my soul ceased to be comforted." The singer is referring to something which has happened to us all at one time or another. When a thing gets on our mind, it runs on all day and all through the night. It is like a running sore, nothing, no nothing, will stop it. The mind turns it over and over, and the more you think the bigger it greater it gets. Trouble - affliction - adversity - distress; they all pile up into a great heap. Underneath it all the psalmist sings, "I remembered God and was TROUBLED." In this situation his soul refused to be comforted. How often have you spent a sleepless night escalating your problems, until, when morning comes your comfortless soul is in itself a bigger problem than all your other problems put together?. Those occasions come, and these questions oscillate in our mind. In the day of our trouble we wonder whether God really loves us. What a terrible digression from the Truth. God's Love is unchanging; it is constant; it is true. YES, GOD LOVES ME! The psalmist remembers so many things, complains, and his soul is overwhelmed. This was his affliction - DOUBT. There are two circumstances in which we are prone to doubt. The one is, when we labour under a sense of guilt. "In the day of my trouble I sought the Lord. I complained and my spirit was overwhelmed." Just imagine it: remembering God, yet being troubled. What a strange thing, complaining and then being overwhelmed. We must realise that God does not love us any less when we have done something wrong. Whilst we were yet sinners, Christ died for us; and His death is the greatest proof of God's Love to us; for God so loved us that He gave Christ. We may be guilty, but we are still loved. The other circumstance in which we are prone to doubt is when God SEEMS to have forgotten us. Time and time again, whenever I read the story of the Flood and come to these words - "and the Lord remembered Noah", it comes forcibly to my heart that God had never forgotten him. It was just that in the situation it seemed to Noah that God had forgotten. We may forget God BUT He will never forget us. There is an antidote to DOUBT. Two virtues are fused together to make the cure - they are MEMORY and MEDITATION.. Note how memory works in the eleventh verse of this psalm, "I will remember the works of the Lord." Then the psalmist lets the truth ring out in song, "Thou art the God that doest wonders." Asaph remembers the Wonderful Works of God. God deals with every situation in a wonderful way. "I will Meditate also of all Thy works, and talk of Thy doing (Vs.12) The next time DOUBT assails you and you discover your infirmity, bring Memory and Meditation into operation. We are not following fables and follies. We meditate of FACTS - authenticated facts - a Book full of Facts - a record spreading over two Millennia. Let doubt disappear. Let Memory aid Meditation. Let us wait upon the Lord and we shall see His Word fulfilled and His Wonders demonstrated. Thus will we conquer our infirmity. Copyright (c) 1996, Hedley Palmer. All rights reserved. ---------------------------------------------------- file: /pub/resources/text/hpalmer/psalms: ps-077.txt .