How To Pray While in Depression–Psalm 77

How to pray in depression or in an extended time of sadness?

Our first three verses open up with emotions that go beyond a common sadness. There are daily pains that all who live must bear. Most of them we fight out of them with a simple cup of coffee or listening to some therapeutic music. Our psalmist finds relief in daily prayer.

“I cried unto God with my voice,

Even unto God with my voice; and he gave ear unto me.”

Verse 1

For the most part, daily prayer (along with a cup of coffee) is more than enough for the daily woes we have become familiar with. But in the peculiar counsel of God, there are troubles that are not so easily shaken off with only a few quiet moments with the Lord and a cup of dark roast.   

“In the day of my trouble I sought the Lord:

My sore ran in the night, and ceased not:

My soul refused to be comforted.”

Verse 2

Even with extra hours given to the Lord in fasting and prayer, this still seems to fall short to ease the burden. What is the purpose of this pain and grief over the course of many days, weeks, months, or years? It doesn’t seem to have a purpose. Why would the Lord let things get so bad to where I can’t even get to sleep? I’m at the point where I do not even want to pray.

“Thou holdest mine eyes waking:

I am so troubled that I cannot speak.”

Verse 4

What is different now that I cannot enjoy peace from God? What in my life has changed so that I cannot find relief? The “songs” that I used to sing no longer seem to soothe. The promises of God and themes of the songs have not changed, so what is different?  

“I have considered the days of old,

The years of ancient times.

I call to remembrance my song in the night:

I commune with mine own heart:

And my spirit made diligent search.”

Verses 5-6

Thinking about it has only made me more desperate. My wounds are not simple bruises and small pains I can ignore. I have gaping sores that rob me of rest. Has the Lord refused to heal me? Am I somehow different from everyone else that I cannot enjoy the benefit of His promises?

“Will the Lord cast off for ever?

And will he be favourable no more?

Is his mercy clean gone for ever?

Doth his promise fail for evermore?

Hath God forgotten to be gracious?

Hath he in anger shut up his tender mercies? Selah.”

Verses 7-9

When I think about it, it seems the joy I had before was predicated on what God was doing in my life. I gained more confidence in Him to work in me the more I thought about what He has already done.

“And I said, This is my infirmity:

But I will remember the years of the right hand of the most High.”

I found relief in thinking about God. I could briefly escape my own pain and thoughts when focusing on what I know about Him.

“I will remember the works of the Lord:

Surely I will remember thy wonders of old.

I will meditate also of all thy work, and talk of thy doings.

Thy way, O God, is in the sanctuary:

Who is so great a God as our God?”

Verses 10-13

So what has changed? I know that God is still the God that does mighty works. He is still the God who delights in helping His people. He is the God that has already completed the work of redemption for my soul.

“Thou art the God that doest wonders:

Thou hast declared thy strength among the people.

Thou hast with thine arm redeemed thy people,

The sons of Jacob and Joseph. Selah.”

Verses 14-15

Looking back, what are three beliefs we can hold onto while we are in depression?

1. Be Convinced that God hears you. v1 

Psalms 77 is for those who have already experienced a good measure of trust in God and can resonate with the psalmist’s frustrations. 

The details of this current trial do not change the necessity of having a daily relationship with God. The anguish you are experiencing may be of your own doing or is an outcome of forces beyond your control. But either way, the inner struggle is with God. 

For some reason, your common routine with the Lord doesn’t fill you up as it did before. Perhaps the guilt of sin or stresses of life seems to overpower the senses. Perhaps there is nothing else to do besides “turn your face to the wall and weep sore” (See 2 Kings 20:2-3). Often, in these moments of giving up in the face of inevitable failure, God has a purpose.

I do not think a book, sermon, or any other human device can produce the faith these trials introduce to the believer’s life. They appear chaotic and wildly uncomfortable, but they are still firmly in God’s sovereign hands to complete a purpose. If there is a constant truth that never changes in the darkness, it is that God hears the cry of His own.

2. Consider what is different in your relationship with God. v6 

The reason why Psalm 77 is written to experienced believers is that it assumes the one in desperation has had a measure of joyful history with God. “A song in the night” are the truths the believer took solace in night after night. These truths and relationship with God brought a measure of peace no small struggle can contest.

But now that peace is disturbed, yet confidence in God is still constant. In this lingering trial, pain, confusion, and anxiety are multiplied. Confidence in God draws us to cry to Him, as we are accustomed to, but after a prolonged period we seemingly still cannot find relief. This should naturally draw one to consider deeper or look into other causes.

If one’s usual headaches do not go away after the regular aspirin but instead get worse, one might consult a doctor or thoroughly examine potential causes.

This diligent search of the soul is the middle step of a grander work in the heart. Our misery is amplified while we spend the extra time we spend thinking about it. This soul search should lead us to a final step in finding some relief…

3. Focus on Him and His Goodness. v10 

Is it because God has stopped being good? Perhaps we think we must have done something particularly sinful for God to stop His ears from hearing us. Indeed there may be sin for us to confess. This diligent soul search may turn up several things God is not pleased about. But I believe the road to relief will be traveled much quicker if we are able to focus our thoughts on Him and His goodness.

As long as we are focused on our pain, its cause, the future worry, we will only continue the cycle of hopelessness. Without God, we were always hopeless. But God’s goodness has already been made clear to the experienced believer.

The history of God’s goodness is the story of the Gospel and the unchangeable truth of the resurrected Lord Jesus, who died for our redemption. If Jesus had paid such a high price to redeem your soul, how could He not be intimately interested in your well-being? The answer then is get the focus off yourself and onto Him. “This life which I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the son of God who loved me and gave himself for me.”

The final verses of Psalm 77 rehearse God’s redemption history for the Psalmist and His people. What has God done for you? What is the trajectory of His goodness? Where will His goodness, once it’s finished, finally accomplish in you?

He is the author and finisher of our faith. He will finish what He started in you.

 Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God. 

Hebrews 12:2 

Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ: 

Philippians 1:6