Remember, LORD, your great mercy and love, for they are from of old.
Do not remember the sins of my youth and my rebellious ways; according to your love remember me, for you, LORD, are good. (Psalm 25:6,7)
David wrote this Psalm during the time when Saul was persecuting him. He had been anointed king a while before that time, and then he had to flee because his life was in danger. Saul wanted to kill him. He probably didn’t understand why this was happening to him.
So he cries out to the Lord for help. But before asking for anything else, he asks God to remember His great mercy and love. He needed them! Then David asks Him not to remember the sins of his youth and his rebellious ways. And finally, he asks God to remember him according to His love.
He knew that, if it was only up to justice, maybe he wouldn’t deserve to be rescued from that situation. If God measured his righteousness according to His memory, he would be in trouble.
So he asked God to pass the events of his life through a filter of love, so only the good things would be remembered. That way, he could plea to God for help.
Many years later, Jesus came to the world and offered Himself as a sacrifice for our sins. His sacrifice was so powerful, that because of it God promised to forget all our sins. What David asked for in that difficult time, we get it now because of Jesus’ sacrifice, without even asking:
The Holy Spirit also testifies to us about this. First he says:
“This is the covenant I will make with them after that time, says the Lord.
I will put my laws in their hearts, and I will write them on their minds.”Then he adds:
“Their sins and lawless acts I will remember no more.”
And where these have been forgiven, sacrifice for sin is no longer necessary. (Hebrews 10:15-18)
God, the One who knows everything, the One with a perfect memory, chooses to forget our sins and lawless acts as soon as we accept Jesus Christ as our Savior. He looks at us through the filter of love, as David had asked. He looks at us and He sees… Jesus.
If you’re struggling with something now, if you think that God has forgotten you or that you don’t deserve His attention, remember His mercy and love, and the way He provided for a perfect forgiveness to all of us.
Remember that you are His beloved child, and it only depends on you to get close to Him again.
Remember that He chose to forget, and He paid the price to do it.
For love.
This post is part of the “One Word at a Time Blog Carnival” hosted by Peter Pollock. Check out his blog for links to other posts that were written based on the word “memory”.
David acted like an attorney and reminded God of all His promises and reminded Him as to why God should deliver him from his enemies. It may be a good thing for us to remember before we jump in and ask for help but first to remind God of his faithfullness and continued goodness to us.
Yes, you’re right. And as we pray and remind God of His promises, mercy and love, I believe we feel more confident on them as well.
Thanks for your comment, Hazel!
I’m glad He remembers more accurately than I do, and He will restore our hearts and souls by HIS SPIRIT. Good thinking, as usual.
Thank you, Joanne, I appreciate it!