“I Will Call to Remembrance My Song in the Night”

The psalmist, Asaph, finds himself in a night-time crucible. God has withdrawn. But Asaph, while treading deep waters, shows us a pattern, an ancient rhythm:

I will call to remembrance my song: and in the night I commune with mine own heart, and search out my spirits. Psalm 77:6

The rhythm begins with complaint and ascends in song. David’s psalms illustrate this pattern frequently, but here Asaph, too, unapologetically pours out his complaint. It sounds something like this:

What’s wrong with me, God?!

And then, with even more gut-level honesty:

What’s wrong with You, God?!

But Asaph doesn’t stop there. Like the pattern showed often by David, he transitions to take a Deep Breath of Remember. A breath so deep, it takes the rest of Psalm 76 and the entirety of Psalm 77 to fully rehearse the ancient works and wonders God has accomplished for His people. It’s a powerful and beautiful song bursting from a heart intent on glorifying God.

Asaph’s song punches through the thick, foggy layer of his current circumstances filled with a multitude of voices demanding his attention and allegiance. His choice, in essence, means he must forget the moment in order to remember the moment rightly. Remembering realigns his loves!

Do you have a song in the night? A song that abandons the grip of disordered, misplaced loves and dreams of a selfish “good life?” A song in which you discover you can glorify God and enjoy Him forever?[1]

Consider these few snippets of Asaph’s song of remembrance:

Who is so great a God as our God?

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

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

As you begin to craft your own personal song in the night, consider Who it is you’re singing to. Listen to Asaph’s contemporary singer, David, as he turns his complaint to a song of remembrance:

The Lord,

• My strength
• Stony rock
• Defense
• Savior
• My God
• Might
• Trust
• Buckler
• Horn of salvation
• Refuge
• Worthy to be praised
• Show’s lovingkindness and mercy.

[1] Taken from Westminster Catechism Question #1: What is the chief end of man?

We Found Our Name

Want your love for something, someone to grow? Get around somebody who loves. Go ahead, get addicted. You and I are already “shooting up” on numerous addictive behaviors. We’re wired to crave, but you already know this. You already know we’re driven by passions. Maybe even some of them are passions for good things. No doubt, we turn some of those passions for good things into ultimate things. Things we can’t live without. Something close to worship. Something close to idols. Idols because they dilute or replace supreme loves.

So, how do we cut through the daily frenzy of many voices demanding our love? How do we keep in perspective our better loves? Eternal loves? Eternal loves that start now?

I’m talking about a love for God and a love for His Word. Ever hear God speak to that deep part of your soul, your name? Ever read scripture and somehow find your name? Find your identity? A name like “beloved?”

I cherish the picture of my twin grandsons, Braden and Colin, picking up volumes of C. H. Spurgeon’s Treasury of David I had on my coffee table, intently searching through the pages for their name. All they needed to flame their passions, to give out a whoop of joy, was to find a “B” or a “C.”

I’d like to think they found something to love because of my love for C. H. Spurgeon’s love for God’s Word. After all, he wrote three substantial volumes of commentary on one book of the Bible, Psalms. Braden and Colin got around something I love because I got around someone who loves. We found our name.

Maybe we could get addicted to finding, reading, listening for our name. Maybe we should get around those who love the things we want to love forever. I have an example. My pastors. When they have prayed with me, they always sneak in a request that God would grow my love for Him and His Word. They extend it to include my family. They ask God to direct our supreme love toward Him and His Word. My wife. My daughter and sons. My grandchildren.

The prayers of my pastors, elders, and friends, on my behalf, mostly unheard by me, stealthily shape my loves.

Inside the volumes Braden and Colin were probing are some words written by Asaph, author of a few Psalms. They are words from a love song (Psalms 73:25) expressed to the One who knew his name:

“Whom have I in heaven but you?

And earth has nothing I desire besides you.”

Asaph, or rather the God who wooed him, makes me want to load these words in a needle and shoot them in my veins so I gain proper perspective on my loves! Join me for this addiction, for in them we find our name.