Psalm 77:16-20 NKJV
16 The waters saw You, O God;
The waters saw You, they were afraid;
The depths also trembled.
17 The clouds poured out water;
The skies sent out a sound;
Your arrows also flashed about.
18 The voice of Your thunder was in the whirlwind;
The lightnings lit up the world;
The earth trembled and shook.
19 Your way was in the sea,
Your path in the great waters,
And Your footsteps were not known.
20 You led Your people like a flock
By the hand of Moses and Aaron.
The Psalmist is suffering and has been waiting a long time for the Lord to make it better. He has come close to despair. But now confusion and dwindling patience give way to the believer’s resolve to meditate on God’s Word, and specifically the Word that tells of God’s deeds of deliverance in the past. He turns to the most spectacular act of deliverance Israel had experienced, namely, God’s miraculous and extraordinary deliverance of Israel from slavery in Egypt, culminating in their exodus through the parted waters of the Red Sea.
The Psalmist personifies the weather in the last verses of Psalm 77. The waters (of the Red Sea) were “afraid.” They didn’t dare stand in the way of God’s people when He commanded the waters to part. But it wasn’t just a command issued from the heavens. God Himself walked ahead of the people and led them through the Red Sea, though His “footsteps were not known” (v. 19). It was God Himself, working through Moses and Aaron, who went ahead of Israel and led them, much like a shepherd leads his flock of sheep.
The Psalmist finds great comfort in God’s commitment to His people, because the LORD always led His people in just the right way, eventually accomplishing, in the exodus, the greatest act of deliverance the world had ever seen, even though His people had to wait a long time for that deliverance to come. Now the Psalmist, too, can keep waiting patiently for the LORD, because He knows exactly how and when to deliver His people.
When you’ve been waiting for the Lord’s deliverance and are growing weary of waiting, remember God’s redeeming acts recorded in Holy Scripture. Think back to the parting of the Red Sea and see your redemption there, because God was leading His people to the place where your Savior would eventually be born. Meditate on the great redemption accomplished by the Son of God on the cross. Take comfort in His resurrection from the dead, because Jesus still lives and reigns for your good. Remember that faith often requires waiting for deliverance, but faith in God and in His promises will never be disappointed. Let us pray: O Lord Jesus, as You shepherded Your people in the past, so lead and guide us now, through all the troubles and sorrows of this life, into Your heavenly pastures. Amen.