Prayer is no pat answer

Earlier this week I had a devotion in Psalm 77 from Radio Bible class. Today I took time to study psalm 77 and to read it carefully. Looking at it right now from the HCSB Bible. If you're trying to make sense of Psalm 77 it is a good idea to have an English Bible that attempts to put the verses together in paragraphs. You can divide the Psalm into sections: 77:1-9 and 77:10-20. The first section can be divided 1-3; 4-6; 7-9. The second section can be divided 10-12; 13-15; 16-20. If you want on outline you can use the following format.

77:1-9 (Big idea) - 

• 1-3 (support idea) -
• 4-6 (support idea) - 
• 7-9 (support idea) - 

77:10-20 (Big Idea) - 

• 10-12 (support idea) - 
• 13-15 (support idea) - 
• 16-20 (support idea) - 

Read the verses then make up the two big ideas of the Psalm. Have a little fun and use only 3 to 5 words to describe those big ideas.

Then read the Psalm again using the support ideas and again only use 3 to 5 words to give the idea of each supporting section. Force yourself to come up with these brief titles we'll give you a good handle on what the Psalm is all about. I also think you'll get a good sense of difficult times and trying to come to terms with it.

We are in a time of crisis we may pray but I have no sense that God is answering our prayer. We may in fact be in the middle of a problem that we have to go through. It may be the most unpleasant of experiences. Our reactions maybe a ton of questions. We may in fact experienced the most negative emotions. Our perspective could be unbalanced at the time and we may not be seeing everything.

What did the writer draw upon to understand his own circumstances? How did he get through his awful night? When do you think he know he had answers to prayer? Prayers not a cliché nor is it a pat answer. It is not the why that gets us through, but the who. Prayer is honest in heartfelt. Songs in the night… keep walking