Post 14 in Lifting up the Soul
Remember your mercy, O Lord, and your steadfast love,
for they have been from of old.
Remember not the sins of my youth or my transgressions;
according to your steadfast love remember me,
Psalm 25:6-7ASV
David uses the word “remember” three times in verses 6-7. It prompts the question, “Does David believe God will forget him?” A better way to express what David is saying might be, “Be mindful of me,” and there is context to this. David was asking God to put him in the forefront of His mind because he was in the middle of a crisis. David faced many crises that caused him to need God’s deliverance. When David faced Goliath, he was wearing no armor. Saul had offered him armor that was too big for him, and David decided he could serve God better without it. He challenged Goliath in that sobering moment when God alone was his protection. Not even the armored men of Israel felt brave enough to do what he did. God remembered him repeatedly as David went through manhunts, battles, and rebellions. David walked with that knowledge as a man rescued so many times one might think he’d begun to expect it. David never quit asking God to remember him. The close calls of David’s life developed in him a dependence on God that kept him coming back to lift up his soul for aid.
God keeps us in the forefront of his mind. In Psalm 17, the psalmist requests, “Keep me as the apple of the eye; Hide me under the shadow of thy wings.” The word for “apple” depicts a small ball, like the little balls of apples that fall from the trees. But the ball in this word is black and in the center of the eye. Just as one quickly protects the pupil of the eye by blinking when something comes at one’s face, the psalmist expresses the instinctive nature of God’s protection for us. He is asking God to be quick to protect him at the very moment when he needs Him. When we ask God to remember us, we are expressing how much we are longing for His help and rescue. But we can’t express that great need unless we know what it feels like to need Him that much. God knows how to grow this need in us, and this helps us develop the gratitude and desire for having Him closer, always closer, to us.
A poignant example of the scope of God’s remembrance is found in Luke 23 while Jesus was dying in agony on the cross. One criminal beside Him mocked him; the other criminal rebuked the mocking criminal and requested, “Jesus, remember me when thou comest in thy kingdom.” He wasn’t asking Jesus because he thought Jesus was going to forget him. He was asking the Son of God to cast His holy, innocent thoughts on this wicked and base man with his ugly past and rescue him. Jesus responded, “Verily I say unto thee, To-day shalt thou be with me in Paradise” (vss. 39-43). The Son of God was hanging in torment because of the evilness of mankind. He was being drained dry of life physically, and still, He brought this dying thief into the joys of God and gave him life. That is a steadfast, unshakeable love that never quits protecting and guarding.
Sometimes we feel like the hardship has gone on for so long that God has forgotten; He’s no longer attuned to the pain and affliction we are dealing with. This is never true. His goodness overflows, and His love is steadfast and unshakeable. It’s the same love it was yesterday. And His rescue is coming. We can trust in His deliverance. In fact, we can live as though that rescue has already happened. David didn’t stop asking God to remember him; he didn’t give up on God’s goodness. He knew the eternal rescue was already his. In the middle of the worldly crisis, he rested in knowing God was not going to let anything happen to him that would keep him from lifting up his soul to his Creator.
Rescued sister, God does not forget you. He guards you like the pupil of His eye. He brings you to the point of great need so you will call out to Him and lift up your soul. You might forget Him. You may take for granted the One who sustains you with every breath, the One who has rescued you so many times in the past. He not only remembers you, He stays close to you. Your life path has earthly crises that you are meant to walk while growing in confidence, knowing that He will always rescue you. He wants you to find strength in His strength. Lean into His protection, knowing you are already rescued.
Here are some reminders that God doesn’t forget:
And the bow shall be in the cloud; and I will look upon it, that I may remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is upon the earth. Genesis 9:16
Can a woman forget her sucking child, that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb? yea, these may forget, yet will not I forget thee. Isaiah 49:15
But forget not this one thing, beloved, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. 9 The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some count slackness; but is longsuffering to you-ward, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. 2 Peter 3:8-9
This is the fourteenth post in the Lifting Up the Soul study from Psalm 25. Subscribe to WomEnCourage to be notified as this study continues.