Zayin
49 Remember your word to your servant, for you have given me hope. 50 My comfort in my suffering is this: Your promise preserves my life. 51 The arrogant mock me without restraint, but I do not turn from your law. 52 I remember your ancient laws, O LORD, and I find comfort in them. 53 Indignation grips me because of the wicked, who have forsaken your law. 54 Your decrees are the theme of my song wherever I lodge. 55 In the night I remember your name, O LORD, and I will keep...
Zayin
49 Remember your word to your servant, for you have given me hope. 50 My comfort in my suffering is this: Your promise preserves my life. 51 The arrogant mock me without restraint, but I do not turn from your law. 52 I remember your ancient laws, O LORD, and I find comfort in them. 53 Indignation grips me because of the wicked, who have forsaken your law. 54 Your decrees are the theme of my song wherever I lodge. 55 In the night I remember your name, O LORD, and I will keep your law. 56 This has been my practice: I obey your precepts.
The Psalmist now he proceeds to the dual role of memory in the life of the servant of God - as both the one being reminded and the one who remembers! The Psalmist is under pressure and is enduring great suffering! He is being mocked, scorned and ridiculed relentlessly by his opponents. Where is his comfort and consolation coming from? What is his reaction to opposition? He is full of hope even though he is going through all of this!
The reason he is full of hope is because the Lord God is reminding the Psalmist of His promises! The Psalmist is still full of hope because he knows that God will fulfil his promises to him, and therefore has a confident hope in the God of his salvation. So, because of this reminder, the Psalmist takes consolation and comfort as he brings to mind what God reminds him of in His word. The Psalmist knows God's promises preserve and sustain in him in times of trouble.
Therefore, despite the arrogance of his persecutors, the Psalmist continues to obey God and follow His Law and commands. The Psalmist values his integrity before God as being higher than giving into the demands of those who seek to destroy him. Having been reminded and having reflected on the Lord, His Law and His Word, its time for action: and the act is that of remembering!
The first act of being able to remember is to have made some effort in the first place to get into the mind! So as we have seen in this Psalm so far, in relation to God's word, the Psalmist has read it faithfully, systematically and methodically. Repeating it to himself, so that when times of trouble come, it can be remembered easily! When times of injustice such as v53 come, he became very zealous for God against the law-breakers! Not only that, but he was aggrieved by the boldness and impudence of such people! How dare they, the Psalmist seems to be saying! By breaking God's Laws they are disavowing knowledge of God!
And why does he say that? In verse 54 we read how God's Laws are his song. They are his delight and he holds them in his heart. They go with him wherever he travels and nobody can take them away from him. When David himself was banished from his country, he took God's laws with him, because they were inscribed inside his mind and his heart. Continuing in the same vein, those who actively obey God, putting into practise His commands, remember God perpetually! God works when His people listen to Him and acknowledge Him for who He is! The Psalmist sets himself up against those who mock him, and because they mock him are therefore despising God!
The Psalmist, David, invites all others to stand up to those who slander God. Whether that despising slander is actively and passive! The Psalmist seeks a life of total obedience to God alone - both in the day and in the night! He immerses himself in God's word all day! Now remember, for the Psalmist the only part of the bible he would have had would be the first 5 books and possibly the book of Job! So he only has those stories of how God has encountered and interacted with people to reflect on and remember.
How are you doing when people mock and scorn you for our beliefs? How do you react when you see God being mocked, scorned and insulted? Are you living only for what you deem to be Godly experiences or are you living only for God? Where the Psalmist probably only had 6 books talking about God encountering people, we have 66 books! Not only that, we also have 2000 years of church history to see how God has used His people for His glory! That's the value of church history! Seeing how God has used people such as Martin Luther, Athanasius, John Chrysostom, Augustine, John Calvin etc. Nothing you are enduring or undergoing is new. Somebody at sometime will have undergone a very similar experience, particularly in the Bible.
Read and learn! Read and remember, so that God will be actively obeyed in your life. Remember God and His word, so you can speak out against injustices in this world as you see them being reported in the media. Are you getting to know your God personally as you read what it says? Do you pray with your Bible open? The role of memory is important to the Christian, even if you, like me, have memory problems! Be ready for the Holy Spirit to bring back to your memory the verses you read, when you need to remember the most - either when counselling other people or as help for yourself! The Psalmist remembered God's Word and saw its importance in the role of memorising Scripture. We would do well, to do likewise!
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