Daily Devotions
Psalms
Psalm 77:9b "Has He in anger shut up His tender mercies?"
Day 92 – Psalm 77
“Has He in anger shut up His tender mercies?” Psalm 77:9b
THE SIXTH QUESTION
Israel had seen the wrath of God displayed from time to time. And anyone who has ever experienced the wrath of God would always have to factor in this thought.
“Has He in anger shut up His tender mercies?”
Psalm 77:9b
1. The wrath of God
This was something that even the great Moses feared with all his heart. Moses was also a psalmist and he wrote the following words about the anger of God.
“For we have been consumed by Your anger,
And by Your wrath we are terrified.Who knows the power of Your anger?
For as the fear of You, so is Your wrath.”
Psalm 90:7, 11
a) Israel could easily be consumed by God’s anger.
b) Even Moses was “terrified” of God’s wrath.
i) This does not mean a morbid fear of God.
ii) It means that he never took God and His graciousness for granted.
iii) He would always have the utmost reverence for God.
2. Has He in anger shut up His mercies?
a) Asaph had learned to fear God too.
b) This was a healthy reverence for God.
c) Hence He raised this question about God shutting up His mercies because of His holy anger.
i) God would be well within His sovereign right to shut up His mercies because of the gross sins of Israel.
ii) He would not have done wrong if He were to withhold His mercies!
iii) His holy anger was based on righteousness and justice and never on whimsical feelings.
No answers were forthcoming yet! But he had to raise these six questions that troubled him deeply. Asaph would search most diligently till he found some answers.