Today in Psalm 119:49-56 we read, “Remember your Word to your servant, for you have given me hope” (verse 49). Because our God is the God of all hope (cf., Isaiah 40:31; Romans 15:13), and He is faithful; He remembers His Word to us. In fact, this Psalm addresses the function of memory three times (cf., verses 49; 52; and 55). We should know that, apart from God, we would have no capacity to “remember” anything; we remember only because God remembers. Here, we also see that God’s promises provide us with “comfort in our suffering” and “preservation for our lives” (verse 50). Truly, without the Lord’s promises and presence, we have absolutelyno hope of comfort, preservation, or memory. The Psalmist writes, “Indignation grips me because of the wicked, who have forsaken your law” (verse 53). If we are concerned at all about the horrors of world events today – and the nonsense of our world’s leaders – we ought to be amazed at the truth and accuracy of the Scriptures to describe historically and realistically the heart of man. Man maintains his disdain for God and His Word, and in spite of all man’s so-called intelligence and greatness, his perpetual ignorance and rejection of God and His Word continues to land us all in great jeopardy. Remove God from the equation, and we are left hopelessly lost in a dark universe – in a black hole from which there is no escape. The Psalmist realizes this unchanging truth and writes, “In the night I remember your name, O LORD – this has been my practice – I obey your precepts” (verse 55-56). This should be our regular practice, too. We need to remember our Creator.
In Jeremiah 35-37, we see how God blessed the obedience and faithfulness of the Recabites, an Israelite clan, who – during the reign of King Jehu – was committed to maintaining the religious purity of Jewish life and law. They were opposed to Baal worship; they vowed always to live as shepherds in tents; and they held to the Nazarite vow never to drink alcoholic beverages (cf., Jeremiah 35:6-11). As an object lesson to the people of Judah (verse 12), The LORD told Jeremiah to invite them into one of the side rooms of the temple and to serve them wine. However, the Recabites remembered their promise and remained faithful to it. They refrained from drinking. Their faithfulness was a rebuke to the unfaithfulness of the people of Judah who were continually wicked and disobedient to God. We see also that the LORD remembered and blessed them (verses 17-19). In chapter 36, we see King Jehoiakim’s satanic contempt for God’s Word – which he cut up and burned (verse 23). In chapter 37, Zedekiah was made king, and Jeremiah was accused of being a deserter; then he was arrested, beaten, and imprisoned (verse 15). We note how quickly local conditions deteriorated and became horrific – “all the bread in the city was gone” (verse 21).
We come today to 1 Timothy 2. Verses 1-3 tell us to pray “for everyone, for kings, and for those in authority” so that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in godliness and holiness. This is good and pleases God.” I wonder how many of us actually do that? To encourage you so to pray, we here at the-blessed-hope.com provide you with a daily prayer guide to pray for all men, women, and children everywhere. Living a peaceful and quiet life is both a goal and a result of praying this way, but when I think of how excruciatingly difficult life can be for so many people in our world today – especially in comparison to life in our culture which God has blessed so lavishly – I feel that my prayers are often small and selfish. Yet, God calls us to pray “for everyone.” If you don’t yet do this, I encourage you to use our prayer guide and remember to pray “for everyone.” I know that if you trust Him in this, God will remember to bless you just as He promised.
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