Dear Amy,
Does God forget, such that he needs to be reminded? A strange question to be sure, but what of this?
Remember your word to your servant, in which you have made me hope.
― Psalm 119:49
Such prayers appear throughout the Bible. Over and over we observe the Lord’s most faithful servants crying out to him, O Lord, remember! Must he be reminded of things he has overlooked?
We saw something similar when the Israelites were crying out for rescue from slavery in Egypt.
During those many days the king of Egypt died, and the people of Israel groaned because of their slavery and cried out for help. Their cry for rescue from slavery came up to God. And God heard their groaning, and God remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob. God saw the people of Israel⸺and God knew.
― Exodus 2:23-25
Do we imagine a heavenly face palm here, as God suddenly realises what he has overlooked? Of course not! How utterly ridiculous! What is this remembering then?
We gain understanding by looking at what came next. What came next is that God spoke to Moses out of the burning bush, unleashed ten plagues upon the Pharaoh who imagined he himself held all the power, delivered his people from slavery, and led them, eventually, into the promised land, fulfilling the covenant that he had made with Abraham so many years previously. Praise the Lord!
The Lord’s remembering, then, is about him acting with great power on behalf of his beloved ones to fulfil his promises to them. Nothing is ever forgotten and nothing is ever overlooked. All his ways are steadfast love and faithfulness.
And with this understanding we can return to our verse.
Remember your word to your servant, in which you have made me hope.
― Psalm 119:49
This is the heart-cry of one holding a promise from the Lord⸺an incredible, joyous, life-giving promise. It is a cry to the Faithful One for him to deliver on this as yet unfulfilled promise. It is a cry of faith, believing not doubting. It is a cry of longing and of waiting and of pain in the waiting. It is a cry for the Lord to act with great power, and that the time to act is now, please Lord may it be so!
But there is more. This is the promise in which you have made me hope. The psalmist’s faith journey of receiving the promise, hoping in it and resting on it, is the Lord’s work. It is a work of grace, and it is a gift of grace.
O Lord, remember!
The very next verse reveals the psalmist’s heart.
This is my comfort in my affliction, that your promise gives me life.
― Psalm 119:50
The promise is not yet realised. The fulfilment is to come and yet the comfort in the promise is now. It is present tense comfort which comes from resting confidently in the Lord’s steadfast love and faithfulness. The promise is life-giving ahead of time, and the cry is, O Lord, remember!
Cry out, Amy, to the Faithful One: O Lord, remember! 🙏