Lent Meditation: Day 20 - March 9, 2026

📖 Scripture Verse

I cry aloud to God, aloud to God, that he may hear me.

In the day of my trouble I seek the Lord;

in the night my hand is stretched out without wearying;

my soul refuses to be comforted.

I think of God, and I moan;

I meditate, and my spirit faints.

You keep my eyelids from closing;

I am so troubled that I cannot speak….

Will the Lord spurn forever, and never again be favorable?

Has his steadfast love ceased forever?

Are his promises at an end for all time?

Has God forgotten to be gracious?

Has he in anger shut up his compassion?

Psalm 77:1-3, 7-9

🕯️Meditation

Psalm 77 is a psalm expressing the anguish and agony that can emerge in the dark of night when everything seems to be falling apart.  The psalmist cannot sleep because his mind is racing with the tormenting questions of why God allows suffering, why does God’s promise of love and faithfulness seem to go forgotten.  This psalm is a raw and human expression of the confusion and anguish that we are right to bring to God in prayer.  These questions are not impious to ask—they are the genuine cries of the human heart, and eve faithful people can wonder, “has his steadfast love ceased? Has God forgotten?”

Late at night, after a bad day, with no relief promised by the dawn, we may find ourselves offering prayers of anguish.  It is a genuine, appropriate, human, and holy thing to do—to cry aloud in the day of trouble, to stretch out our hands in prayer at night.  The second half of psalm 77 seems to be disconnected to the first.  The psalmist begins to recount the story of God’s saving deeds: “You are the God who works wonders; you have displayed your might among the peoples. With your strong arm you redeemed your people….” (77:14-15a).

The memory and retelling of God’s goodness is an act of spiritual resistance against the troubles and uncertainties of current suffering.  In days of trouble and nights of fear, it is good to question God in prayer.  It is also good to tell the story of God’s goodness in days past—the covenant faithfulness in the story of scripture, and our own stories of where God has been good to us.

🙏 Prayer

God, when I am in trouble, I wonder where you are and why these things happen.  Help me to remember the good you have done, especially what you have done for us in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus our Savior. Amen.

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