◄ Psalm 77:13 ►
Your way, O God, is holy. What god is so great as our God?
Study Bible
Your way
The phrase "Your way" refers to the path or manner in which God operates. In Hebrew, the word "way" is "דֶּרֶךְ" (derekh), which can mean a road, journey, or course of life. This suggests that God's actions and plans are purposeful and directed. Historically, the Israelites understood God's "way" as His divine guidance and providence, leading them through the wilderness and into the Promised Land. This phrase invites believers to trust in God's sovereign plan, recognizing that His ways are higher than human ways (Isaiah 55:8-9).

O God
The term "O God" is a direct address to the Almighty, emphasizing a personal relationship with the Creator. The Hebrew word for God here is "אֱלֹהִים" (Elohim), a plural form that denotes majesty and power. This name for God is used throughout the Old Testament to highlight His supreme authority and creative power. In the context of this psalm, it underscores the psalmist's reverence and awe for God's holiness and greatness.

is holy
The word "holy" in Hebrew is "קָדוֹשׁ" (qadosh), meaning set apart, sacred, or pure. God's holiness is a central theme in Scripture, signifying His absolute moral perfection and separateness from sin. Archaeological findings, such as ancient temple inscriptions, often highlight the concept of holiness as a divine attribute. For believers, God's holiness is both a source of comfort and a call to live a life set apart for Him, reflecting His purity and righteousness.

What god
This phrase introduces a rhetorical question that emphasizes the uniqueness of the God of Israel. In the ancient Near Eastern context, many nations worshiped a pantheon of gods, each with limited power and domain. The psalmist challenges this notion by asserting the incomparable nature of the one true God. This question invites reflection on the futility of idolatry and the supremacy of the God of the Bible.

is so great
The word "great" in Hebrew is "גָּדוֹל" (gadol), which conveys the idea of magnitude, importance, and power. God's greatness is a recurring theme in the Psalms, often linked to His mighty acts of creation and salvation. Historically, the Israelites experienced God's greatness through miraculous events such as the Exodus and the conquest of Canaan. For Christians, God's greatness is ultimately revealed in the person and work of Jesus Christ, who embodies God's power and love.

as our God
The phrase "as our God" personalizes the relationship between the psalmist and the divine. It reflects a covenantal bond, where God is not just a distant deity but a personal Lord who is actively involved in the lives of His people. This relationship is rooted in the promises made to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and fulfilled in the New Covenant through Christ. For believers, this phrase is a reminder of the intimate and personal nature of their faith, encouraging them to rely on God's greatness and holiness in their daily lives.

Persons / Places / Events
1. Asaph
The author of Psalm 77, Asaph was a prominent Levite singer and seer in David's court. He is credited with writing several psalms and was known for his deep spiritual insight and musical talent.

2. God
The central figure in this verse, God is depicted as holy and incomparable. The psalmist reflects on God's greatness and holiness, emphasizing His unique nature.

3. Israel
While not directly mentioned in this verse, the context of the psalm reflects the experiences and history of the nation of Israel, particularly their reliance on God's guidance and deliverance.
Teaching Points
Understanding God's Holiness
God's holiness is central to His character. It sets Him apart from all other beings and underscores His purity, righteousness, and perfection.

Recognizing God's Uniqueness
The rhetorical question "What god is so great as our God?" invites believers to reflect on the uniqueness of God compared to any other entity or idol.

Trusting in God's Ways
Even when circumstances are challenging, believers can trust that God's ways are holy and perfect, leading to ultimate good.

Worshiping God for His Greatness
Worship should be a response to recognizing God's greatness and holiness, acknowledging His supreme authority and power.

Reflecting on God's Past Faithfulness
Remembering how God has acted in history, particularly in the lives of His people, can strengthen faith and trust in His ongoing work.
Bible Study Questions
1. How does understanding God's holiness influence your daily decisions and actions?

2. In what ways can you remind yourself of God's greatness when facing difficult situations?

3. How does the concept of God's unique holiness challenge the way you view other influences or "gods" in your life?

4. Reflect on a time when you experienced God's holy and perfect way in your life. How did it impact your faith journey?

5. How can you incorporate the themes of God's holiness and greatness into your personal or corporate worship practices?
Connections to Other Scriptures
Exodus 15:11
This verse echoes the sentiment of Psalm 77:13, where Moses and the Israelites sing of God's unmatched holiness and greatness after their deliverance from Egypt.

Isaiah 6:3
The prophet Isaiah's vision of God's holiness in the temple aligns with the psalmist's declaration of God's holy ways.

1 Samuel 2:2
Hannah's prayer acknowledges that there is no one holy like the Lord, reinforcing the theme of God's unique holiness.
Sermons
God's Way in the SanctuaryJ. Vaughan, M. A.Psalm 77:13
God's Way in the SanctuaryH. Melvill, B. D.Psalm 77:13
God's Way in the SanctuaryS. Conway Psalm 77:13
God's Way Revealed in the SanctuaryH. Johnstone, M. A.Psalm 77:13
The Holiness of Divine DealingsR. Tuck Psalm 77:13
Refuge in God's UnchangeablenessC. Short Psalm 77:1-15
From Darkness to DawnS. Conway Psalm 77:1-20
God's Ear Open to the Cry of the NeedyJ. C. Ryle.Psalm 77:1-20
The Faculty of Human ThoughtHomilistPsalm 77:1-20
People
Aaron, Asaph, Jacob, Jeduthun, Joseph, Psalmist
Places
Jerusalem
Topics
Holiness, Holy, O, Sanctuary
Dictionary of Bible Themes
Psalm 77:13

     1065   God, holiness of
     8608   prayer, and worship

Psalm 77:10-20

     8724   doubt, dealing with

Psalm 77:11-15

     4945   history

Psalm 77:13-15

     5955   strength, divine

Library
June the Eleventh the Path Across the Sea
"Thy way is in the sea." --PSALM lxxvii. 11-20. And the sea appears to be the most trackless of worlds! The sea is the very symbol of mystery, the grim dwelling-house of innumerable things that have been lost. But God's way moves here and there across this trackless wild. God is never lost among our mysteries. He knows his way about. When we are bewildered He sees the road, and He sees the end even from the beginning. Even the sea, in every part of it, is the Lord's highway. When His way is in …
John Henry Jowett—My Daily Meditation for the Circling Year

A Question for a Questioner
The question which makes our text is meant to end other questions. You may carry truth as far as ever you like, and it will always be truth. Truth is like those crystals which, when split up into the smallest possible fragments, still retain their natural form. You may break truth in pieces, you may do what you like with it, and it is truth throughout; but error is diverse within itself, and evermore bears its own death within itself. You can see its falsehood even in its own light. Bring it forward, …
Charles Haddon Spurgeon—Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 31: 1885

Ere Another Step I Take
"I commune with mine own heart." -- Psalm 77:6. Ere another step I take In my wilful wandering way, Still I have a choice to make -- Shall I alter while I may? Patient love is waiting still In my Savior's heart for me; Love to bend my froward will, Love to make me really free. Far from Him, what can I gain? Want and shame, and bondage vile -- Better far to bear the pain Of His yoke a little while. Soon I might its comfort find; Soon my thankful heart might cry, "In Thy meek obedient mind, As …
Miss A. L. Waring—Hymns and Meditations

Despondency Self-Corrected. --Ps. Lxxvii.
Despondency Self-Corrected.--Ps. lxxvii. In time of tribulation, Hear, Lord, my feeble cries, With humble supplication To Thee my spirit flies: My heart with grief is breaking, Scarce can my voice complain; Mine eyes, with tears kept waking, Still watch and weep in vain. The days of old, in vision, Bring vanish'd bliss to view; The years of lost fruition Their joys in pangs renew; Remember'd songs of gladness, Through night's lone silence brought, Strike notes of deeper sadness, And stir desponding …
James Montgomery—Sacred Poems and Hymns

A Path in the Sea
'And the angel of God, which went before the camp of Israel, removed and went behind them; and the pillar of the cloud went from before their face, and stood behind them: 20. And it came between the camp of the Egyptians and the camp of Israel; and it was a cloud and darkness to them, but it gave light by night to these: so that the one came not near the other all the night. 21. And Moses stretched out his hand over the sea; and the Lord caused the sea to go back by a strong east wind all that night, …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

How the Whole and the Sick are to be Admonished.
(Admonition 13.) Differently to be admonished are the whole and the sick. For the whole are to be admonished that they employ the health of the body to the health of the soul: lest, if they turn the grace of granted soundness to the use of iniquity, they be made worse by the gift, and afterwards merit the severer punishments, in that they fear not now to use amiss the more bountiful gifts of God. The whole are to be admonished that they despise not the opportunity of winning health for ever. …
Leo the Great—Writings of Leo the Great

Letter iii (A. D. 1131) to Bruno, Archbishop Elect of Cologne
To Bruno, [8] Archbishop Elect of Cologne Bernard having been consulted by Bruno as to whether he ought to accept the See of Cologne, so replies as to hold him in suspense, and render him in awe of the burden of so great a charge. He advises him to seek counsel of God in prayer. 1. You seek counsel from me, most illustrious Bruno, as to whether you ought to accept the Episcopate, to which it is desired to advance you. What mortal can presume to decide this for you? If God calls you, who can dare …
Saint Bernard of Clairvaux—Some Letters of Saint Bernard, Abbot of Clairvaux

Letter Xlii to the Illustrious Youth, Geoffrey De Perrone, and his Comrades.
To the Illustrious Youth, Geoffrey de Perrone, and His Comrades. He pronounces the youths noble because they purpose to lead the religious life, and exhorts them to perseverance. To his beloved sons, Geoffrey and his companions, Bernard, called Abbot of Clairvaux, wishes the spirit of counsel and strength. 1. The news of your conversion that has got abroad is edifying many, nay, is making glad the whole Church of God, so that The heavens rejoice and the earth is glad (Ps. xcvi. 11), and every tongue …
Saint Bernard of Clairvaux—Some Letters of Saint Bernard, Abbot of Clairvaux

Joy
'The fruit of the Spirit is joy.' Gal 5:52. The third fruit of justification, adoption, and sanctification, is joy in the Holy Ghost. Joy is setting the soul upon the top of a pinnacle - it is the cream of the sincere milk of the word. Spiritual joy is a sweet and delightful passion, arising from the apprehension and feeling of some good, whereby the soul is supported under present troubles, and fenced against future fear. I. It is a delightful passion. It is contrary to sorrow, which is a perturbation …
Thomas Watson—A Body of Divinity

Prayer
But I give myself unto prayer.' Psa 109: 4. I shall not here expatiate upon prayer, as it will be considered more fully in the Lord's prayer. It is one thing to pray, and another thing to be given to prayer: he who prays frequently, is said to be given to prayer; as he who often distributes alms, is said to be given to charity. Prayer is a glorious ordinance, it is the soul's trading with heaven. God comes down to us by his Spirit, and we go up to him by prayer. What is prayer? It is an offering …
Thomas Watson—The Ten Commandments

Covenant Duties.
It is here proposed to show, that every incumbent duty ought, in suitable circumstances, to be engaged to in the exercise of Covenanting. The law and covenant of God are co-extensive; and what is enjoined in the one is confirmed in the other. The proposals of that Covenant include its promises and its duties. The former are made and fulfilled by its glorious Originator; the latter are enjoined and obligatory on man. The duties of that Covenant are God's law; and the demands of the law are all made …
John Cunningham—The Ordinance of Covenanting

The Early Life of Malachy. Having Been Admitted to Holy Orders He Associates with Malchus
[Sidenote: 1095.] 1. Our Malachy, born in Ireland,[134] of a barbarous people, was brought up there, and there received his education. But from the barbarism of his birth he contracted no taint, any more than the fishes of the sea from their native salt. But how delightful to reflect, that uncultured barbarism should have produced for us so worthy[135] a fellow-citizen with the saints and member of the household of God.[136] He who brings honey out of the rock and oil out of the flinty rock[137] …
H. J. Lawlor—St. Bernard of Clairvaux's Life of St. Malachy of Armagh

Of Faith. The Definition of It. Its Peculiar Properties.
1. A brief recapitulation of the leading points of the whole discussion. The scope of this chapter. The necessity of the doctrine of faith. This doctrine obscured by the Schoolmen, who make God the object of faith, without referring to Christ. The Schoolmen refuted by various passages. 2. The dogma of implicit faith refuted. It destroys faith, which consists in a knowledge of the divine will. What this will is, and how necessary the knowledge of it. 3. Many things are and will continue to be implicitly …
John Calvin—The Institutes of the Christian Religion

Psalms
The piety of the Old Testament Church is reflected with more clearness and variety in the Psalter than in any other book of the Old Testament. It constitutes the response of the Church to the divine demands of prophecy, and, in a less degree, of law; or, rather, it expresses those emotions and aspirations of the universal heart which lie deeper than any formal demand. It is the speech of the soul face to face with God. Its words are as simple and unaffected as human words can be, for it is the genius …
John Edgar McFadyen—Introduction to the Old Testament

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