Psalms 77:4

"I remember God, and I groan. I complain, and my spirit is overwhelmed. Selah."

Key Reflection

In Psalms 77:4, the psalmist expresses deep distress and anguish through vivid imagery of spiritual struggle. By remembering God, the psalmist opens up to a flood of emotions, groaning out his troubled heart and feeling overwhelmed by the weight of his sorrows. The term "Selah" often suggests a musical pause or emphasis, indicating that this verse serves as a poignant moment of reflection in the psalm's emotional journey.

From the Scholars: Barnes' Notes

Thou holdest mine eyes waking -literally, “Thou holdest the watchings of my eyes.” Gesenius (Lexicon) translates the Hebrew word rendered “waking,” “eyelids.” Probably that is the true idea. The eyelids are the watchers or guardians of the eyes. In danger, and in sleep, they close. Here the idea is, that God held them so that they did not close. He overcame the natural tendency of the eye to shut. In other words, the psalmist was kept awake; he could not sleep. This he traces to God. The idea is, that God so kept himself before his mind - that such ideas occurred to him in regard to God - that he could not sleep.

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