Here again is Psalm 119 on a Wednesday, while discussion over chapter 3 of Calvin’s Little Book will be posted on Friday. I believe that I will make this scheduling switch for chapters 4-5 as well.

Grace and peace.

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Remember your word to your servant,
in which you have made me hope.

Psalm 119:49 ESV

Here in the first verse of stanza zayin, three themes stand out.

First, the psalmist again refers to himself as the LORD’s servant, which was a statement of absolute submission. He readily placed himself under God’s authority. Servitude to the Creator should not be as difficult as our sinful pride has made it, for He certainly knows what is better for us than we do. And since He is perfectly good, we ought to trust Him all the more! The joy of the New Testament writers in calling themselves servants of Christ is a testament to Jesus’ divinity.

Second, his prayer is for God to remember your word. Why is the psalmist calling upon God to remember His word? Did God forget it? By no means! In Scripture, God remembrance does not mean that He forgot; instead, it signifies His intension to act on someone’s behalf. Genesis 8:1 shows God remembering Noah in the middle of the flood and causing the waters to subside. He later promised to remember His covenant every time He saw the rainbow in the sky. God literally dragged Lot away from Sodom and Gomorrah because He remembered Abraham. God remembered the barrenness of Rachel and opened her womb. God heard the groanings of the Israelites in Egypt, remembered His covenant to their ancestors, and sent Moses to deliver them. In each case, God’s remembrance of His Word is immediately followed by His enacting of His Word, which is exactly what the psalmist is praying for.

Third, his hope is in God’s Word. The psalmist has the boldness to pray for the fulfillment of God’s Word because his full confidence was upon what the LORD has spoken. He did not hope in his own plans and designs, nor in the schemes of others. Instead, he fully trusted that his Lord’s Word would surely come pass. Is our confidence, likewise, in the Scriptures that God Himself has breathed out?