Counseling from Psalm 77

He remembers that God chose a hard path - through the sea, for the great moment of redemption that the Hebrew people had clung to in their collective history. 

He remembers the Exodus (v.16-20). He remembers the very story that was given to the Israelites to be passed from generation to generation as a testimony to who God is. Salvation for a nation, but also for people, to know and experience the love of God. A promise that God will not abandon those he loves, no matter the trouble.