There are two points of view under which we wish to present this subject: the strangeness of such an experience and some of the reasons that may account for it.
I. The strangeness of such an experience that a man should remember God and yet be troubled. For consider: (1) that such an experience is against all that is made known to us of the nature of God. From the very first, revelation has had one purpose, and could have only one: to present God in such a light that His sinful creatures should come and find rest in Him. (2) It becomes strange when we reflect not only on the nature of God, but on His promises. They are so universal, so free, so full, that they seem fitted to meet every want and satisfy every yearning of the human soul. That the heart of a man who hears these words and believes that they come from the lips of God should be troubled at remembering Him must seem very strange. (3) It must appear strange further when we consider that trouble at the thought of God is declared to be against the experience of all sincere seekers. There is a history of cases reaching all through the Bible, and the burden of them is, "This poor man cried, and the Lord heard him, and saved him out of all his troubles." The appeal of all ages has been, "O Thou that hearest prayer, unto Thee shall all flesh come." (4) Such an experience is against all that we can reasonably believe of the nature of the soul of man. If one theory be true about man's soul, it is this: that out of God no full, satisfying end can be found for it. The soul is greater than the whole world, and the greater cannot be blessed of the less.
II. Consider some of the reasons that may be given for such an experience as this. (1) The first reason is that many men do not make God the object of sufficient thought. (2) Another reason why many are troubled at the thought of God is that they are seeking Him with a wrong view of the way of access. (3) A third reason is that they are seeking Him with some reserved thought of sin. (4) A fourth reason is that they have a mistaken view of God's manner of dealing with us in this world.
It is in the experience of the Divine life that doubts melt away or can be held in quiet expectancy of a solution, and that we approach gradually to the calm of those that rest beneath the altar. The thought of God that for a while brings trouble shall be made the source of hope, the pledge that all with you and with His universe shall be ordered to a happy end; and even here amid the trouble and struggle of earth, He can put into the mouth some notes of the praise of heaven.
J. Ker, Sermons,2nd series, p. 305.
References: Psalms 77:2. Spurgeon, Sermons,vol. xv., No. 853; J. Irons, Thursday Penny Pulpit,vol. xv., p. 237; R. D. B. Rawnsley, Sermons in Country Churches,1st series, p. 228. Psalms 77:3. Preacher's Monthly,vol. iii., p. 25; Parker, Old Testament Outlines,p. 122, and Christian Chronicle,Sept. 20th, 1883.Psalms 77:5. C. C. Bartholomew, Sermons chiefly Practical,p. 353.