And I say, It is my grief that the right hand of the Most High has changed
(Psalm 77:10 RSV).
Here is a man who is really trying to be honest. He says, I have analyzed my situation: I tried prayer all night long. In the past I have been given help, but no help has come now. God has made my heart to sing in the past, but it is empty, barren, and cheerless now. Why is this? I have thought about it: I searched my own life, my own heart, and these questions have come to me, and I cannot answer them. My conclusion must be that I have misjudged God. I have thought that God was changeless, that He would always respond every time I came to Him, but He has not. Therefore, I am driven to the irresistible conclusion that He is like a man, and you cannot count on Him.
This psalmist is facing the possibility of losing his faith. All that he once rested on, which has been such a comfort to him, which has strengthened him and given him character and power among men, seems to be nothing but a crumbling foundation that is disappearing fast. Soon he must lose all that he has held onto in the past. This is the day of [his] trouble
and his present distress. Is that not the hidden problem with many of us? I have lost track of the times people have called me up and said, I just don’t know what to do. I’ve tried prayer, I’ve tried reading my Bible, I’ve tried to think through, but nothing seems to help. I don’t know what to do. What’s happening to me?”