“Will the Lord cast off forever? And will He be favorable no more? Has His mercy ceased forever? Has His promise failed forevermore? has God forgotten to be gracious? Has He in anger shut up His tender mercies? And I said, ‘This is my anguish; But I will remember the years of the right hand of the Most High.’ I will remember the works of the Lord; Surely I will remember Your wonders of old. I will also meditate on all Your work, and talk of Your deeds. Your way, O God, is in the sanctuary; Who is so great a God as our God?” Ps. 77:7-13.

When the Psalmist first starts questioning God in verses 7 and 8, he is coming from an overwhelmed and troubled point of view because the obvious answer to all his questions were ‘no’. God has not cast off forever nor has His mercy ceased forever. But, the Psalmist still asked the questions because he was in a difficult spot. He said in the previous verses, “I remembered God, and was troubled; I complained, and my spirit was overwhelmed.” and “I am so troubled that I cannot speak.”

But there is a change of perspective when he chooses to remember God’s works and His wonders of old from years past, while in his anguish. This puts everything in a different perspective. He then chooses to meditate on these works and to proclaim them which cements in his mind a different focus. In the end he could say, “Your way O God, is in the sanctuary; Who is so great a God as our God?”. The Psalmist took his thoughts captive by jerking them over to a better place by remembering what was true.

When we lose perspective, sometimes it helps to analyze where we went off, and other times, it is just better to not give the thoughts any credence and to just say ‘no’ as we jerk them back into safer territory. A good metaphor of this is how a rider uses a small bit to steer a charging horse, or a helmsman uses a small rudder to steer a ship in a raging storm. Both the ship and horse would be out of control if they were not steered in the right direction during a turbulant time. Our thoughts also can charge in the wrong direction if we let them. But, we have a choice, and that choice is to say ‘no’ to the errant thoughts and then to actively remember the works of God and His wonders of old, that His faithfulness is new every morning.