Psalm 25:6c-7 – Lots of Remembering

Here is my literal translation of these verses:

“On you I wait/hope all the day.

  Remember Your mercies YHVH and Your loving-kindnesses because they [are] from [the] ages.

  Remember not the sins of my youth and my rebellions.

  According to Your loving-kindness may You remember me, in accordance with Your goodness, YHVH.”

As you might note from my “bolding,” the word “remember” occurs three times in these few lines. Repetition is always cause for pause in Hebrew.

Remembering is an interesting thing. The first thing that probably catches all of our eyes is the “Remember not the sins of my youth and my rebellions.” It sort of jumps off the page. I think I’m probably typical if I relate that my “remembering” haunts me. It seems like my memory incessantly conjures up all of my sins and stupidity and bludgeons me mercilessly. It seems seriously to be almost non-stop. I wish I could “remember not the sins of my youth!” But then I guess what hurts is the fear that the rest of the world doesn’t “forget.” I certainly need for those around me to not “remember the sins of my youth.” I cannot be loved unless people choose to not remember my sins. I am keenly aware that my sins hang like a wall of ice ready to cut off every relationship I might have hoped for. They are there. And I certainly don’t forget them. But relationships depend on forgetting.

But then this same boding stands between me and God. I desperately need His help. I desperately need His love and grace. I desperately need Him to answer my croaking prayers. But there are my sins. I’m such an idiot. How He can stand me is itself a grand enigma. But I still need Him. Then I face those times where it seems He isn’t answering my prayers. What is the first thing that comes to mind? My sins. I am confident that the penalty of my sins was paid by Jesus. I know it is true that because of Him there is no way that God could love me more and nothing that could possibly make Him love me less. Yet still, this is a relationship. And my sins do frustrate the intentions of His grace.

What to do? Take it to Him. It’s okay. Tell Him. Lord, I need You to not remember my sins. I can’t forget them. I fear people around me hold them against me. But You. You are the God of my deliverance. I can’t save myself and I can’t even deliver myself. Here am I. I can’t change my past. I can’t promise anything for the future. I just desperately need Your help. Albert Barnes asked, “Who is there that cannot with deep feeling join in this prayer?”

Then it is interesting to go back to the passage and note again that the word “remember” occurs three times. The “sin” thing is only one of the three(!). In the first it is God’s hesed, His loving-kindness that is called to memory. And then David notes that it is “from the ages.” Here is something significant about God. He doesn’t just choose to be loving. He is loving. And He always has been. And He always will be. As we bounce up and down and thrash from side to side, blundering along in our foolishness, He is utterly unaffected and unchanged. He just goes on being our loving God. His love may move Him to draw out His rod and give us a good spanking. Or it may move Him to step into something and rescue us. But regardless of what kind of response we may perceive, He goes on unchanged. He is a Rock of love. His love is “from the ages” or “from eternity.”

The third remember is “Remember me.” Remember Your loving-kindness. Please don’t remember my sins. “May You remember me.” Ah, and so it gets personal again. It’s me and You.

That’s where it should be. All this “remembering” wears me out. I’d rather just sit in His lap, bury my head in His big chest, and enjoy the love and warmth and the security of Him.