The Years of the Right Hand

“And I said, This is my infirmity: but I will remember the years of the right hand of the most High.”
Psalms 77:10

I originally was going to write a short devotional, but upon examining the text, this is probably more of an explanation of what it might mean as it’s not readily apparent what the best translation is.

The original text for this verse can be translated in several different ways. Consider the way it is translated in Young’s Literal which is as it’s name suggests, more literal in translation: “And I say: ‘My weakness is, The changes of the right hand of the Most High.’ The ‘but I will remember’ is included in many versions as an inference from the following verses. But what if there’s another explanation?

In Song of Solomon 5:8, the bride says, “Tell him that I am sick (same word here as ‘this is my infirmity’) of love.”
In so saying, she is not indicating that she does not wish for her love to be with her, but rather, the need and affection for him causes her to be sick in his absence.

Could it be that we see a similar vein in Psalm 77, which opens with the Psalmist speaking of his desperation and trouble to the point he is speechless (verse 4) And now in verse 10, so speaks he, I am sick of the years of the right hand of the most High.
That is to say, he is in desperate need of the years of the right hand of the most High. He yearn for it. It’s where his heart is set. We can see this clearly illustrated in the rest of the chapter as he speaks of remembering the Lord’s works and wonders and how he will declare the Lord’s deeds.

So too it was in that moment, the Psalmist finds himself in a place of weakness, it feels as though he has been abandoned by God, forgotten. As he reaches the fever pitch of doubts, there is the recollection of what has been: the years of the right hand of God.

The right hand of God was a common way of describing God’s power in action, such as in Exo 15:6 and 1Ch 29:11-12. As the darkness of despair and depression are threatening to bury him forever, he looks back to recall the works and wonders of his God, punctuated with the exclamation: I am made sick in the absence of the years of the right hand of God. It’s a different season of his life now, one of the valley of the shadow of death.

If you were to take the time to read Psalms 77, note the tone and how it changes. Verse 10 is almost as it were a pivot point, for as he longs for the return of the years of the right hand, he begins to call to mind what God has done. The complaints and doubts that were there at the start of the Psalm fade away and end with: You (God) led your people like a flock. This statement is made long after the fact, meaning, You led them all the way out. Even if at times they felt abandoned, You were still there, just as right now, I can’t feel or see You working, but I know from my past experiences that You are still there despite what I see around me.

There is an important pattern here for us to adopt. When we find ourselves in the valley of the shadow of death, when it feels we’re forsaken and abandoned. When in our souls we are crying out as a result of seeming end of the years where God’s power was at work in our lives. We need to recall, remember, bring back to mind, the mighty works and wonders of God.

He who called all that is into existence. He that made man from the dust. He that parted the Red Sea. He that called Lazarus from the grave. He that shut the wind and sea up in a small fishing boat. He that conquered death, hell, and the grave. When we find ourselves in that dark place that the Psalmist did, when sickness eats into our spirits because the power of God is seemingly extinct. We need to recall, remember, bring back to mind what God has done.

If you can do that, it will lead you to praise and worship and it will bring restoration of the spirit, for God inhabits the praises of His people. (Psa 22:3, 50:23) If you are pining away because God’s power is seemingly gone in your life, then bring back to mind His great deeds of the past, for in doing so, you open the door back into His presence where there is fulness of joy (Psa 16:11).

I can’t say I’m definitely right, but I think there is some legitimacy to Psalms 77:10 being best translated as:

And I said, “I am sick for the years of the right hand of the Most High”.

If you find yourself in that place, then the right action to take is in the following verse:

“I will remember the works of the LORD: surely I will remember thy wonders of old.“