It’s never if trouble will come; it’s when. And when it does, it’s better to cry out to God, having already been in a close relationship with Him. The most awkward moments of crying to God are the ones where, instead of going right to Him, we’re like, “Hey God, remember Me?” The Psalmist in Psalm 77 expresses a little different scenario that maybe we’ve been through. What do you do when trouble comes, and God seems distant or silent? No, really, what do we do?

Many times, I have had this experience. And it’s not like God is not there. It’s times like these that give reasons for the atheist or the skeptic to make their condemning statements of unbelief. It’s times like this that can cause us to doubt God. So what do we do?

Keep crying and remember.

You see more than once in Scripture, and definitely in this Psalm, the Lord reminds us to keep crying and remember what God has done in the past.

God is not afraid of our cries. It’s interesting, too, to note that as you read through the Psalms and other Scripture, the Israelites seem like cry babies most of the time. And yet these Psalms have been read aloud and used as words of worship to our God. Part of the experience God gives us on this planet is for crying to God. One might say that God uses it as a process of prayer or to bring us to a better place of prayer to Him.

I think of it this way. When my kids were little, and I wanted to teach them something, did I do it for them, or did I wait and watch them fail some and complain a lot until they realized, wait, I should ask Daddy? I should cry out to someone who can help me and teach me. He’s done it before. He will do it again!