Psalm 25:1-10, God Remembers! (2)

God’s people will, at times, wonder if God has forgotten them.  We should not be judgmental towards people today who might feel that way.  Sometimes the trials go on for a long time, or our trial might be secret, something that very few know about.  Or perhaps we might just not have any people who check in on us or ask about how we’re doing.  Remember Job, the primary illustration of suffering.  Sometimes he wished God would forget him (Job 10:18); other times he bemoaned the sense that God had “hidden His face” from him (Job 13:24).

We have, in our previous post, noted some assurances that God does remember, even when we don’t sense His presence or activity in our lives.  Here’s another question: just what does God remember that is important to us?

·       God remembers our need and our frailty.

The Psalmist speaks of this often with various terms.  He remembers our “lowly state” (136:23).  “Remember how short my time is” (89:47).  “He knows our frame; He remembers that we are dust” (104:14).  “He remembered that they were but flesh, a breath that passes away and does not come again” (78:39). “Do not forget the life of Your poor forever” (74:19).  “Do not forget the humble” (10:12).  Job also counts on God to “remember that my life is a breath” (7:7) and “that You have made me like clay” (10:9).  And Jeremiah in The Lamentations, another book set in the suffering of God’s people, he pleads with God to remember and “behold our reproach” (5:1).  When God promised not to give us more trials than we can handle (1 Cor. 10:13) we know that He is fully aware of our limits.

However, a good con-man also will have some knowledge of our weaknesses, desiring to take advantage of them for his benefit.  Thus, it is critical for us that …

·       God remembers His mercy.

Mary, the mother of Jesus, in her song, recognized that it was the remembrance of God’s mercy that was involved in sending His Son (Lk. 1:54).  Here are three reminders for us.  The remembrance of His mercies pre-dates by sin (Ps. 25:6-7), brings salvation (Ps.98:3) and outlasts and limits wrath (Hab. 3:2).  Meditate on these magnificent passages.

Remember, O LORD, Your tender mercies and Your lovingkindnesses, for they are from of old.  Do not remember the sins of my youth, nor my transgressions, according to Your mercy remember me, for Your goodness’ sake, O LORD. 

He has remembered His mercy and His faithfulness to the house of Israel.  All the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of our God. 

O LORD, I have heard Your speech and was afraid; O LORD, revive Your work in the midst of the years!  In the midst of the years make it known; in wrath remember mercy.