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Psalm 77

1  I cry aloud to God; ♦︎
   I cry aloud to God and he will hear me.
2  In the day of my trouble I have sought the Lord; ♦︎
   by night my hand is stretched out and does not tire;
      my soul refuses comfort.
3  I think upon God and I groan; ♦︎
   I ponder, and my spirit faints.
4  You will not let my eyelids close; ♦︎
   I am so troubled that I cannot speak.
5  I consider the days of old; ♦︎
   I remember the years long past;
6  I commune with my heart in the night; ♦︎
   my spirit searches for understanding.
7  Will the Lord cast us off for ever? ♦︎
   Will he no more show us his favour?
8  Has his loving mercy clean gone for ever? ♦︎
   Has his promise come to an end for evermore?
9  Has God forgotten to be gracious? ♦︎
   Has he shut up his compassion in displeasure?
10  And I said, ‘My grief is this: ♦︎
   that the right hand of the Most High has lost its strength.’
11  I will remember the works of the Lord ♦︎
   and call to mind your wonders of old time.
12  I will meditate on all your works ♦︎
   and ponder your mighty deeds.
13  Your way, O God, is holy; ♦︎
   who is so great a god as our God?
14  You are the God who worked wonders ♦︎
   and declared your power among the peoples.
15  With a mighty arm you redeemed your people, ♦︎
   the children of Jacob and Joseph.
16  The waters saw you, O God;
      the waters saw you and were afraid; ♦︎
   the depths also were troubled.
17  The clouds poured out water; the skies thundered; ♦︎
   your arrows flashed on every side;
18  The voice of your thunder was in the whirlwind;
      your lightnings lit up the ground; ♦︎
   the earth trembled and shook.
19  Your way was in the sea, and your paths in the great waters, ♦︎
   but your footsteps were not known.
20  You led your people like sheep ♦︎
   by the hand of Moses and Aaron.

9 ‘And you saw the distress of our ancestors in Egypt and heard their cry at the Red Sea.^{* 10}You performed signs and wonders against Pharaoh and all his servants and all the people of his land, for you knew that they acted insolently against our ancestors. You made a name for yourself, which remains to this day. ¹¹And you divided the sea before them, so that they passed through the sea on dry land, but you threw their pursuers into the depths, like a stone into mighty waters. ¹²Moreover, you led them by day with a pillar of cloud, and by night with a pillar of fire, to give them light on the way in which they should go. ¹³You came down also upon Mount Sinai, and spoke with them from heaven, and gave them right ordinances and true laws, good statutes and commandments, ¹⁴and you made known your holy sabbath to them and gave them commandments and statutes and a law through your servant Moses. ¹⁵For their hunger you gave them bread from heaven, and for their thirst you brought water for them out of the rock, and you told them to go in to possess the land that you swore to give them.

Do Not Make Another Stumble

13 Let us therefore no longer pass judgement on one another, but resolve instead never to put a stumbling-block or hindrance in the way of another.^{* 14}I know and am persuaded in the Lord Jesus that nothing is unclean in itself; but it is unclean for anyone who thinks it unclean. ¹⁵If your brother or sister^* is being injured by what you eat, you are no longer walking in love. Do not let what you eat cause the ruin of one for whom Christ died. ¹⁶So do not let your good be spoken of as evil. ¹⁷For the kingdom of God is not food and drink but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. ¹⁸The one who thus serves Christ is acceptable to God and has human approval. ¹⁹Let us then pursue what makes for peace and for mutual edification. ²⁰Do not, for the sake of food, destroy the work of God. Everything is indeed clean, but it is wrong for you to make others fall by what you eat; ²¹it is good not to eat meat or drink wine or do anything that makes your brother or sister^* stumble.^{* 22}The faith that you have, have as your own conviction before God. Blessed are those who have no reason to condemn themselves because of what they approve. ²³But those who have doubts are condemned if they eat, because they do not act from faith;^* for whatever does not proceed from faith^* is sin.^*

Please Others, Not Yourselves

15We who are strong ought to put up with the failings of the weak, and not to please ourselves. ²Each of us must please our neighbour for the good purpose of building up the neighbour.