John Calvin Commentary Psalms 77:7

"Will the Lord cast off for ever? And will he be favorable no more?" — Psalms 77:7 (ASV)

and 8. Will the Lord cast off for ever? The statements made here undoubtedly form a part of the searchings which engaged the Psalmist’s mind. He intimates that he was almost overwhelmed by a long succession of calamities, for he did not break forth into this language until he had endured affliction for so long a period as to hardly venture to entertain the hope that God would in the future be favorable to him.

He might well argue with himself whether God would continue to be gracious, for when God embraces us with His favor, it is on the principle that He will continue to extend it toward us even to the end. He does not actually complain or find fault with God but, rather, reasoning with himself, concludes from the nature of God that it is impossible for Him not to continue His free favor toward His people, to whom He has once shown Himself to be a Father.

As he has traced all the blessings which the faithful receive from the Divine hand to the mere good pleasure of God as to a fountain, so a little later he adds the Divine goodness, as if he had said, “How can we suppose it possible for God to break off the course of His fatherly love, when it is considered that He cannot divest Himself of His own nature?”

We see, then, how by an argument drawn from the goodness of God, he repels the assaults of temptation. When he puts the question, Doth His word or oracle fail? he intimates that he was destitute of all consolation, since he met with no promise to support and strengthen his faith.

We are indeed thrown into a gulf of despair when God takes away from us His promises in which our happiness and salvation are included. If it is objected that those who had the Law in their hands could not be without the word of God, I answer that on account of the imperfection of the former dispensation, when Christ was not yet manifested, special promises were then necessary.

Accordingly, in Psalm 74:9, we find the faithful complaining that they no longer saw their usual signs, and that there was no longer a prophet among them who had knowledge of the time. If David was the author of this psalm, we know that in matters of doubt and perplexity it was usual for him to ask counsel from God, and that God was accustomed to grant him answers.

If he was deprived of this source of alleviation in the midst of his calamities, he had reason to bewail that he found no oracle or word to sustain and strengthen his faith. But if the psalm was composed by some other inspired prophet, this complaint will suit the period that intervened between the return of the Jews from the Babylonian captivity and the coming of Christ. For, during that time, the course of prophecy was, in a way, broken off, and there was no one endowed with any peculiar gift of the Holy Spirit to raise up the hearts of those who were cast down, or to support and keep them from falling.

In addition to this, it sometimes happens that although the word of God is offered to us, it still does not enter our minds because we are involved in such deep distress as to prevent us from receiving or admitting the smallest degree of comfort.

But I embrace the former sense: that the Church was then without those special announcements of prophecy with which she had previously been favored, and that as she still depended upon the mere sight of the shadows of that economy, she constantly needed fresh supports.

From this we may learn the profitable lesson that we should not be unduly disquieted if God should at any time withdraw His word from us. It should be remembered that He tries His own people by such wonderful methods that they imagine all of Scripture to be turned from its proper purpose, and that although they desire to hear God speaking, they still cannot apply His words to their own particular case. This, as I have said, is a distressing and painful thing, but it should not hinder us from engaging in prayer.