Remember the Word unto Thy servant, upon which Thou hast caused me to hope.
Pleading prayer
I admire in this psalm very greatly the singular amalgam that we have of testimony, of prayer, and of praise. In one verse the psalmist bears witness, in a second verse he praises, in a third verse he prays. It is an incense made up of many spices, but they are wonderfully compounded and worked together, so as to form one perfect sweetness. My text is a prayer, but there is testimony in it, and there is a measure of praise in it too.
I. The prayer. “Remember the Word unto Thy servant.”
1. “Remember.” That prayer is spoken after the manner of men, for God cannot forget.
2. It is language which has some trace of unbelief in it.
3. The intention of him who prayed this prayer was to ask God to remember His Word by fulfilling it. “Lord, let me not only be in Thy thoughts, but let me be in Thy acts! Thou hast promised to supply my needs; remember me by supplying my needs. Thou hast promised to forgive my sin; remember me by giving me a sense of pardon. Thou hast premised to help Thy servant, and give me strength according to my day; remember the word by fulfilling Thy Word, and granting strength to me according as I have need of it.”
4. Sometimes this word “remember” is very fitly used, because it seems to the mind that God is likely to remember something else which would be to our loss. Suppose you and I have been walking contrary to God--then the Lord may remember our sin, and He may begin to deal with us in a way of chastisement, and lay us very low. Then is the time to come in with this prayer: “Remember the Word unto Thy servant.”
II. The pleas which, the psalmist uses.
1. The first is, “Remember the Word.” It is a blessed plea--the Word; for by the Word upon which God has caused His servant to hope is meant God’s Word. He never makes His people to hope in anybody else’s word. Let us consider the power, the dignity, the glory of that Word. This is the greatest of all grounds of assurance.
2. The second plea lies in the words, “Thy servant.” “Remember the Worn unto Thy servant.” A man is bound to keep his word to anybody and everybody, but sometimes there may be special persons with whom a failure would be peculiarly dishonourable. Among the rest, a man must be true to his servant.
3. “Upon which Thou hast caused me to hope.” Lord, I have been hoping on Thy Word, and I have acted upon that hope: I believe the Word to be true, and I have pledged the truth of it. That is good pleading. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
A genuine hope
Hope is an instinct of the soul. As an instinct it implies--
1. An instinctive faith in the existence of a future good;
2. An instinctive faith in the possibility of obtaining it. Hope is either the greatest blessing or curse to a man: a blessing when it is realized, curse when it is disappointed. Notice--
I. The ground of a good hope. “The Word”--
1. Not human calculations;
2. Not personal merits;
3. “The Word “. firmer than the everlasting heavens.
II. The author of a good hope. “Thou hast caused.” God--
1. Inspires it;
2. Directs it;
3. Settles it. (Homilist.)