ZAYIN. Remember the word to Your servant, upon which You have caused me to hope. This is my comfort in affliction, for Your word has given me life. The proud have me in great derision, yet I do not turn aside from Your law. I remembered Your judgments of old, O LORD, and have comforted myself. Indignation has taken hold of me because of the wicked, who forsake Your law. Your statutes have been my songs in the house of my pilgrimage. I remember Your name in the night, O LORD, and keep Your law. This has become mine, because I kept Your precepts.

Have you ever reminded God of His promises? He needs no reminder, and yet, the Psalmist in our text requests that God remember His word. A few years ago, a brother in Christ, speaking at a meeting here in Kingston, spoke of this very thing. Whether we are talking about the promise that His word would not return void, the promise that if we put Him first, He will tend to our needs, or any other promise, it is fitting that we ‘remind’ God of His wonderful word. Again, He has not forgotten, but upon hearing our mentioning of His will, perhaps the Lord will shower upon us bountifully the things wherein we have laid our hope.

Wise Solomon wrote, “He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also He has put eternity in their hearts, except that no one can find out the work that God does from beginning to end.” (Ecclesiates 3:11). We need to approach the promises of God with faith, expectation, and patience. Faith – believing that He will do what He has said He will do; expectation – always ready for the realization of His word, and patience – knowing that God works things out in His time.

Friend, God is faithful. To Abraham, God gave three great promises:

• he would become a great nation;

• his descendants would possess Canaan;

• all nations would be blessed in his seed

The first was fulfilled approximately 640 years after it was made, the second, 680 years, and the third, 2,000 years. God remembers all His promises, and keeps all.

The Psalmist knew the faithfulness of God, and on account of it received comfort. We too can experience comfort in knowing that God’s will shall be fulfilled, every word. The self-exalted of this world may scorn us, they may call into question whether God is trustworthy, perhaps even cast doubt on His existence – regardless, we can stand firm, for His word is to us a source of life. His law is a lamp to our feet, it lights the way of eternal life for those who will follow. Indeed, we serve “...the God of all comfort...” (2 Corinthians 1:3). Of God’s concern and care for us, Paul wrote, “...may our Lord Jesus Christ Himself, and our God and Father, who has loved us and given us everlasting consolation and good hope by grace, comfort your hearts and establish you in every good word and work.” (2 Thessalonians 2:16-17). Truly, we serve an amazing God!

Having expressed the blessedness he experiences waiting upon the Lord, the writer proceeds to tell of his anger against those who tread the way of wickedness. The NKJV renders the Hebrew word zal’aphah as “indignation”. The Online Bible Hebrew lexicon defines the word as “burning heat, raging heat”. The BBE renders it “...burning with wrath...” Well should it be. Too many who claim to be servants of God have become “used to” the wickedness of the world. Rather than having a willingness to “get along” with it, we must seek to expose it and oppose it. Paul commanded in the Spirit, “...Abhor what is evil...” (Romans 12:9).

When men and women choose to neglect the way of God, and walk in their own path, it ought to ignite in us a hatred – not of those who have gone astray, but of the wicked one who leads them in error (Ephesians 2:2-3; 1 John 5:19). Those who walk in the path of unrighteousness, we are to love (Matthew 5:43-44; Romans 9:1-5; 10:1-4). Indeed, the Lord loves them (2 Peter 3:9), and patiently seeks for them to return to Him. We have the blessed appointment as His people to take His word forth to the lost, that they might leave behind the way of sin and walk in righteousness.

Again, returning to his praise of God’s word, the Psalmist declares, “Your statutes have been my songs in the house of my pilgrimage.” Indeed, it was so! We have gathered in a collection 150 psalms, songs of praise to God penned during the pilgrimage of Israel’s psalmist. As they were his songs of praise to the Lord, they likewise have become our songs of praise to God in our pilgrimage. How wonderful to sing the praises of God, and to do so in the words of this wonderful servant of God. Week after week, day after day, our praise goes forth through the glorious words of the Psalms. Just off the top of my head, we often sing:

• “Unto Thee, O Lord, Do I lift up my soul...” (Psalm 25)

• “The Lord is my shepherd...” (Psalm 23)

• “The law of the Lord, is perfect, converting the soul...” (Psalm 19)

• “As the deer panteth for the water...” (Psalm 42)

• “I will song of the mercies of the Lord forever...” (Psalm 89)

• “Create in me a clean heart, O God...” (Psalm 51)

• “I am not afraid of ten thousands of people...” (Psalm 3)

• “I will call upon the Lord, He is worthy to be praised...” (Psalm 18)

• “I will enter His gates with thanksgiving in my heart...” (Psalm 100)

What a privilege is ours to worship the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, the Creator, Sustainer and Saviour of mankind. And what wonderful words the Psalmist and other Bible writers, and various hymn and song writers throughout the centuries have given us to exalt Him with!

Finally friend, what do you do with your nights? The writers declares, “I remember Your name in the night, O LORD...” What about us? What do we do in the night? Certainly, we find time for sleep, but what about before that? Do we find time to remember the name of God? Do we devote our time to Him, speaking with Him in prayer and allowing Him to speak to us through His word? Do we use our time for the Lord or for self? If we will not remember the Lord in the night, which is primarily a time of ease and freedom, how should we expect that His light will shine through us during the day, when the busyness of life is about us? Recall the common practice of Jesus, how He would depart from the people and spend the night with the Lord in prayer in the hills of Galilee? If Jesus, as close as He was needed to do so, how much more you and I?

If we will remember the Lord with our time, both night and day (Psalm 1), then surely He shall remember us. Notice, because the Psalmist remembered the Lord in the night time, he was able to say, “This hath been to me, that Thy precepts I have kept!” (YLT). Though not a literal rendering, the BBE has adequately captured the thought here, “...this has been true of me, that I have kept your orders in my heart.” If we do not have the will to give the Lord our private time, then surely our time among the people will neither belong to him. But if we have devoted the evening hours to God, then our heart will be in much greater condition to keep the will of God among the nations, though they be harsh and unbelieving.

Click here for this week's Answering The Atheist
Does God want children to die? Matthew 18:14 states that it is not God’s will that children should die, but numerous passages either have God killing children or commanding that they be killed (Genesis 7:21-22; 19:24; 22:2; Exodus 12:30; 21:15; Leviticus 20:9; Deuteronomy 20:16; 21:18-21; Joshua 10:40; 1 Samuel 15:2-3; 2 Samuel 12:15, 18; 2 Kings 2:23-24; Psalm 135:8; 136:10; 137:9; Jeremiah 13:13-14; 19:9; Ezekiel 5:10; Hosea 9:16; 13:16; Zechariah 13:3. Is there a contradiction?