Ps 76:1

“"With my voice," he says, "to the Lord I have cried" [Psalm 77:1]. But many men cry unto the Lord for the sake of getting riches and avoiding losses, for the safety of their friends, for the security of their house, for temporal felicity, for secular dignity, lastly, even for mere soundness of body, which is the inheritance of the poor man. For such and such like things many men do cry unto the Lord; scarce one for the sake of the Lord Himself. For an easy thing it is for a man to desire anything of the Lord, and not to desire the Lord Himself; as if forsooth that which He gives could be sweeter than Himself that gives. Whosoever therefore does cry unto the Lord for the sake of any other thing, is not yet one that leaps over....He does indeed hearken to you at the time when thou dost seek Himself, not when through Himself thou dost seek any other thing. It has been said of some men, "They cried, and there was no one to save them; to the Lord, and He hearkened not unto them." For why? Because the voice of them was not unto the Lord. This the Scripture does express in another place, where it says of such men, "On the Lord they have not called." Unto Him they have not ceased to cry, and yet upon the Lord they have not called. What is, upon the Lord they have not called? They have not called the Lord unto themselves: they have not invited the Lord to their heart, they would not have themselves inhabited by the Lord. And therefore what has befallen them? "They have trembled with fear where fear was not." They have trembled about the loss of things present, for the reason that they were not full of Him, upon whom they have not called. They have not loved gratis, so that after the loss of temporal things they could say, "As it has pleased the Lord, so has been done, be the name of the Lord blessed." [Job 1:21] Therefore this man says, "My voice is unto the Lord, and He does hearken unto me." Let him show us how this comes to pass.”