Psalms 77:5,6 - Joseph Benson’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

I have considered the days of old The mighty works of God, wrought for his people in former times, if by that means I could get any comfort. I call to remembrance my song in the night The many and great mercies and favours of God vouchsafed to me and his people, which have obliged me to adore him and sing his praise, not only in the day, the time appointed for that work, but also by night, as often as they came into my mind. My spirit made diligent search What should be the reason of this strange and vast alteration, and how this sore trouble could come from the hand of so gracious and merciful a God as ours is, and what might be expected as to its continuance or removal. “A recollection of former mercies is the proper antidote against a temptation to despair in the day of calamity: and as in the divine dispensations, which are always uniform and like themselves, whatever has happened may, and probably will, happen again when the circumstances are similar; the experience of ancient times is to be called in to our aid, and duly consulted. Upon these topics we should, in the night of affliction, commune with our own hearts, and make diligent search, as Daniel did in Babylon, into the cause of our troubles, with the proper methods of shortening and bringing them to an end; by suffering them to have their intended and full effect in a sincere repentance, and thorough reformation.” Horne.