Psalm 119 (56 of 190 notes)

49. Remember the word unto thy servant. He asks for no new promise, but to have the old Word fulfilled. He is grateful that he has received so good a Word; he embraces it with all his heart, and now intreats the Lord to deal with him according to it. He does not say, “remember my service to thee,” but “thy Word to me.” The words of masters to servants are not always such that servants wish their lords to remember them, for they usually observe the faults and failings of the work done, inasmuch as it does not tally with the word of command. But we who serve the best of masters are not anxious to have one of his words fall to the ground, since the Lord will so kindly remember his word of command as to give us grace wherewith we may obey, and he will couple with it a remembrance of his word of promise, so that our hearts will be comforted. The psalmist does not fear a failure in the Lord’s memory, but he makes use of the promise as a plea, and this is the form in which he speaks after the manner of men when they plead with one another. When the Lord remembers the sins of his servant, and brings them before his conscience, the penitent cries, Lord, remember thy word of pardon, and therefore remember my sins and iniquities no more. There is a world of meaning in that word remember, as it is addressed to God: it is used in Scripture in the tenderest sense, and suits the sorrowing and the depressed. In the present instance the prayer is as personal as the “Remember me” of the thief, for its essence lies in the words unto thy servant. It would be all in vain for us if the promise were remembered to all others if it did not come true to ourselves; but there is no fear, for the Lord has never forgotten a single promise to a single believer.

Upon which thou hast caused me to hope. God, having given grace to hope in the promise, would surely never disappoint that hope. He cannot have caused us to hope without cause. If we hope upon his Word we have a sure basis: our gracious Lord would never mock us by exciting false hope. The verse is the prayer of love fearing to be forgotten, of humility conscious of insignificance and anxious not to be overlooked, of penitence trembling lest the evil of its sin should overshadow the promise, of eager desire longing for the blessing, and of holy confidence which feels that all that is wanted is comprehended in the Word. Let but the Lord remember his promise, and the promised act is as good as done.