Psalm 25:6-7 - 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, for the sake of Your goodness, O LORD!
When we worry about forgetting something, we make notes to remind us of a meeting, a friend's birthday, or other special events. Memories are of greater importance as we age. Some forgetfulness may be expected, but severe memory loss is frightening. Our ability to remember things is of great concern to us, but the psalmist is not worried about human memory or even his own memory. He is concerned with God's ability to remember—and to forget.
How can God forget anything? He is a God who knows all things. Yet the psalmist pleads with God to remember and to "remember not." The psalmist's prayer, and ours, is that God would remember His mercy and steadfast love. These attributes are His "from of old." We want God to remember His love; we pray that God would not remember our youthful sins and our daily transgressions. If only God would remember us, not in His just wrath against sin, but according to His steadfast love!
God knows us very well, but He remembers us in love. "He does not deal with us according to our sins, nor repay us according to our iniquities ... For He knows our frame; He remembers that we are dust" (Psalm 103:10a, 14b). In love and mercy, God promised to establish a new covenant with His people, a covenant in which He promised, "I will remember their sins no more" (Jeremiah 31:34b). When the time was right, God acted in love and mercy, sending His Son into the world to be our Savior. The covenant was fulfilled and the steadfast love and mercy of God were revealed at Jesus' cross and empty tomb. For the sake of Jesus, God refuses to remember our sins. He has "cast all our sins into the depth of the sea" (Micah 7:19b), removing those sins far from His sight—sins He will never again bring to mind.
Now, forgiven in Christ, it is our turn to remember. We remember all that God has done for us. In worship, in personal devotions, and in studying God's Word, we review again and again the mighty acts of God that brought about our salvation. We treasure His promises and steadfast love. In the Lord's Supper, as we receive the precious gift of Jesus' body and blood, given and shed for the forgiveness of our sins, we remember and proclaim the Lord's death until He comes again.
There may come a day when we cannot remember some things. We may not be able to bring to mind all that God has done for us. But in answer to our prayers, God will not remember our sins. He will recall His mercy and steadfast love from of old. He will remember us. "I will not forget you. Behold, I have engraved you on the palms of My hands" (Isaiah 49:15b-16a). Lifted up in the nail-scarred hands of our Savior, we are held in the memory of God.
THE PRAYER: Lord Jesus, in Your steadfast love and mercy, remember me. Amen.
This Daily Devotion was written by Dr. Carol Geisler.
Reflection Questions:
1. Do you have people in your life who know you "warts and all" and still love you anyway?
2. Why would God choose to not remember the sins of our youth—or even those of twenty minutes ago, for that matter?
3. How do you try to model a God-like type of forgiveness in your interactions with others?
Today's Bible Readings: Ezekiel 18-19 2 Timothy 3
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