Psalm 119:55

(This is an entry from a devotional commentary I am working on from Psalm 119 entitled ‘God and His Word’.  The introduction can be found here, successive entries have covered the 22 sections of the Psalm, and following entries verse by verse.)

 

"O LORD, I remember Your name in the night,

And keep Your law."

 

This has become increasingly true of me as sin loses its luster and I can only be at peace if I am at peace with You (Isaiah 26:3).  I am experiencing practically that only righteousness satisfies (Matthew 5:6).  Praise Your name!  I remember Your goodness, Your character, Your promises.  I see more clearly that there is no life outside of You.  ‘Remember’ is the Hebrew ‘זָכַר, zāḵar, מַזְכִּיר, mazkiyr: A verb meaning to remember, to mention, to recall, to think about, to think on, to be remembered, to recall, to acknowledge, to mention, to make known. The basic meaning indicates a process of mentioning or recalling either silently, verbally, or by means of a memorial sign or symbol. The verb often means to mention, to think about.’  We see it in context in Psalm 119:49 (‘remember the word to Your servant’) and Psalm 119:52 (‘I have remembered Your ordinances’).  Your word is my source of both hope and comfort, a sure source I do well to keep in mind.  I am reminded of Lamentations 3:21, how intentionally I need to bring to mind Your character as the source of my hope.  By Your grace may my mind instruct me in the night (Psalm 16:7-8 ff), may it be a peaceful yet powerful school for life.  Surely this is what it means to meditate and delight in Your word ‘day and night’ (Joshua 1:8, Psalm 1:2).

 

‘When others slept I woke to think of thee, thy person, thy actions, thy covenant, thy name, under which last term he comprehends the divine character as far as it is revealed…We are to hallow the name of God, and we cannot do so if it slips from our memory…by the thoughts of the night he ruled the actions of the day. As the actions of the day often create the dreams of the night, so do the thoughts of the night produce the deeds of the day…Reader, are your thoughts in the dark full of light, because full of God? Is his name the natural subject of your evening reflections? Then it will give a tone to your morning and noonday hours. Or do you give your whole mind to the fleeting cares and pleasures of this world? If so, it is little wonder that you do not live as you ought to do. No man is holy by chance. If we have no memory for the name of Jehovah we are not likely to remember his commandments: if we do not think of him secretly we shall not obey him openly.’[1]


 


[1] Spurgeon, Charles Haddon, Treasury of David, on Psalm 119:55, e-Sword edition


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