Psalm 119:49 NKJV
ז ZAYIN
49
Remember the word to Your servant,
Upon which You have caused me to hope.
The Significance of God’s Word
My Notes
In this verse, David comes to the Lord and asks that He remember His Word. He is asking not as a reminder but as a prayer to the Lord. He has asked before and seen the Lord answer by delivering him from different circumstances, and now it’s seeing the Grace of God in past answers to prayer that lets him have the boldness to come to the Lord and say, “Remember the word to Your servant”. Today we, through the redeeming sacrifice of Jesus, can come and say “Remember the word to Your child.” God doesn’t fail, and if He has given us a spiritual desire and we remember the Word that He has caused us to hope with, then we will see an answer to our prayer.
I appreciate the commentary from George Horne when he says “The Psalmist here instructs us to prefer our petition upon these grounds; first, that God cannot prove false to his own word: “Remember thy word;” secondly, that he will never disappoint an expectation which himself hath raised: “upon which thou hast caused me to hope.“”
Matthew Henry highlights two key points in David’s prayer: the request for God to fulfill His promises and the hope instilled by those promises. Charles Spurgeon notes that the psalmist’s plea is not for new promises but for the fulfillment of existing ones, showing confidence in God’s memory and faithfulness. The underlying message emphasizes that hope derived from God’s word should be met with God’s action, assuring believers that He will not disappoint them in their expectations based on His promises.
Note: Psalm 119 is an acrostic pattern. There are 22 letters in the Hebrew alphabet; each of the 22 sections is given a letter of the Hebrew alphabet, and each line in that section begins with that letter. Today, we’re looking at verse 49, which is in the 7th section, which is called “Zayin ז”. According to the hebrews4christians.com website, the letter Zayin ז is the 7th letter of the Aleph-Bet, having the numeric value of seven. The pictograph for Zayin ז looks like a sword. Since Zayin ז represents both the number seven and a sword, it is not surprising that it is used to divide or cut up time (z’man) into units of sevens:
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Shabbat – the 7th day of the 7-day week (the week of days)
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Shavu’ot – the 49th day after Passover (the week of weeks)
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Tishri – the 7th month of the year (the week of months)
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Shemitah – the 7th year of rest for the land (the week of years)
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Yovel – the 49th year (the week of weeks of years)
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The Millennial Kingdom – the 7th millennium of human history (week of 1,000’s)
The Rabbi’s pronounced “All sevens are blessed”, and the number seven has always been regarded in the Jewish tradition as the number of completion, wholeness, blessing, and rest.
……..Bill
Commentaries:
Matthew Henry
Two things David here pleads with God in prayer for that mercy and grace which he hoped for, according to the word, by which his requests were guided:-
1. That God had given him the promise on which he hoped: “Lord, I desire no more than that thou wouldst remember thy word unto thy servant, and do as thou hast said;” see 1 Chr. 17:23. “Thou art wise, and therefore wilt perfect what thou hast purposed, and not change thy counsel. Thou art faithful, and therefore wilt perform what thou hast promised, and not break thy word.” Those that make God’s promises their portion may with humble boldness make them their plea. “Lord, is not that the word which thou hast spoken; and wilt thou not make it good?” Gen. 32:9; Ex. 33:12.
2. That God, who had given him the promise in the word, had by his grace wrought in him a hope in that promise and enabled him to depend upon it, and had raised his expectations of great things from it. Has God kindled in us desires towards spiritual blessings more than towards any temporal good things, and will he not be so kind as to satisfy those desires? Has he filled us with hopes of those blessings, and will he not be so just as to accomplish these hopes? He that did by his Spirit work faith in us will, according to our faith, work for us, and will not disappoint us.
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Charles Spurgeon
“Remember the word unto thy servant.” He asks for no new promise, but to have the old word fulfilled. He is grateful that he has received so good a word; he embraces it with all his heart, and now entreats the Lord to deal with him according to it. He does not say, “remember my service to thee,” but “thy word to me.” The words of masters to servants are not always such that servants wish their lords to remember them; for they usually observe the faults and failings of the work done, inasmuch as it does not tally with the word of command. But we who serve the best of masters are not anxious to have one of his words fall to the ground, since the Lord will so kindly remember his word of command as to give us grace wherewith we may obey, and he will couple with it a remembrance of his word of promise, so that our hearts shall be comforted. If God’s word to us as his servants is so precious, what shall we say of his word to us as his sons?
The Psalmist does not fear a failure in the Lord’s memory, but he makes use of the promise as a plea, and this is the form in which he speaks, after the manner of men when they plead with one another. When the Lord remembers the sins of his servant, and brings them before his conscience, the penitent cries, ‘Lord, remember thy word of pardon, and therefore remember my sins and iniquities no more.’ There is a world of meaning in that word “remember,” as it is addressed to God; it is used in Scripture in the most tender sense, and suits the sorrowing and the depressed. The Psalmist cried, “Lord, remember David, and all his afflictions.” Job also prayed that the Lord would appoint him a set time and remember him. In the present instance, the prayer is as personal as the “Remember me“ of the thief, for its essence lies in the words—“unto thy servant.” It would be all in vain for us if the promise were remembered to all others if it did not come true to ourselves; but there is no fear, for the Lord has never forgotten a single promise to a single believer.
“Upon which thou hast caused me to hope.” The argument is that God, having given grace to hope in the promise, would surely never disappoint that hope. He cannot have caused us to hope without cause. If we hope upon his word, we have a sure basis: our gracious Lord would never mock us by exciting false hopes. Hope deferred maketh the heart sick, hence the petition for immediate remembrance of the cheering word. Moreover, it is the hope of a servant, and it is not possible that a great and good master would disappoint his dependent; if such a master’s word were not kept it could only be through an oversight, hence the anxious cry, “Remember Our great Master will not forget his own servants, nor disappoint the expectation which he himself has raised: because we are the Lord’s, and endeavor to remember his word by obeying it, we may be sure that he think upon his own servants, and remember his own promise by making good.”
This verse is the prayer of love fearing to be forgotten, of humility conscious of insignificance and anxious not to be overlooked, of trembling lest the evil of its sin should overshadow the promise, of a desire longing for the blessing, and of holy confidence which feels that what is wanted is comprehended in the word. Let but the Lord remember his promise, and the promised act is as good as done.
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Enduring Word
Remember the word to Your servant: The psalmist understood that God could never forget His word. Speaking in the manner of men, this was a plea for God to fulfill the promises stated in His word. God wants His people to plead His stated promises back to Him in prayer. (Guzik)
i. “When we hear any promise in the word of God, let us turn it into a prayer. God’s promises are his bonds. Sue him on his bond. He loves that we should wrestle with him by his promises.” (Sibbes, cited in Spurgeon)
ii. Spurgeon said that he often carried with him a small book of God’s promises (Clarke’s Precious Promises), and he turned to specific promises to help him at needful times. “But God – let us speak with reverence – when he gives a promise, binds himself with cords of his own making. He binds himself down to such and such a course when he says that such and such a thing shall be. Hence, when you grasp the promise, you get a hold on God.” (Spurgeon)
Upon which You have caused me to hope: Again, the psalmist understood that his trust and hope in God’s word should not be credited to his own spiritual greatness or genius. It came because God worked in him to hope in His word. (Guzik)
i. This also demonstrates that the word of God is worthy of such hope. “It is an irrevocable word. Man has to eat his words, sometimes, and unsay his say. He would perform his engagement, but he cannot. It is not that he is unfaithful, but that he is unable. Now this is never so with God. His word never returns to him void. Go, find ye the snowflakes winging their way like white doves back to heaven! Go, find the drops of rain rising upward like diamonds flung up from the hand of a mighty man to find a lodging-place in the cloud from which they fell! Until the snow and the rain return to heaven, and mock the ground which they promised to bless, the word of God shall never return to him void.” (Spurgeon)
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Albert Barnes
Remember the word unto thy servant – This commences a new division of the psalm, in which each verse begins with the Hebrew letter Zayin (ז z) – answering to our “z.” There is nothing special in this portion of the psalm, as indicated by the letter. The language here is a prayer that God would not forget what he had promised; that all that he had said might be fulfilled; that the expectations and hopes which he had raised in the mind might be realised. It is language which may be used with reverence, and without any implication that God would forget, as a child might with propriety and love ask a parent to remember a promise which he had made.
Upon which thou hast caused me to hope – That is, all the hope which I have has been excited by thy word; thy promises. I have no other source of hope; I cherish no other hope. I pray now, since that hope has been thus excited in me, that I may realize all I have been led to desire and to expect. The word of God is the only foundation of hope for people, and when our hopes are fairly built on that, we have a right to appeal to God that he will make it good.
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John Gill
Remember the word unto thy servant,…. The word of promise made unto him, concerning establishing his house and kingdom for ever; which he desires God would show himself mindful of in fulfilling it, and renew and confirm his faith in it, and give him some fresh assurance of the performance of it, 2 Samuel 7:16. Not that God ever forgets his promise, or is unmindful of his word; but so it seems when he delays the accomplishment of it; and when unbelief prevails and doubts arise, and faith is not in lively exercise; and he has not so clear a view of the promise, and comfortable assurance of its being performed;
upon which thou hast caused me to hope; which, when first made, he received in faith, and hoped and waited for the accomplishment of. A word of promise is a good ground of hope, let it be on what account it will; whether it relates to interest in God, as a covenant God and Father; or to pardon of sin; or to salvation by Christ; or to fresh supplies of grace and strength from him; or to eternal life through him: and the hope which is exercised on the promise is not of a man’s self; it is the gift of God, a good hope through grace; which the Lord, by his Spirit and power, produces, and causes to abound in, or to exercise in a comfortable manner.
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Miscellaneous Comments
“Remember the word unto thy servant,” etc. God promises salvation before he giveth it, to excite our desire of it, to exercise our faith, to prove our sincerity, to perfect our patience. For these purposes, he seemeth sometimes to have forgotten his word, and to have deserted those whom he had engaged to succor and relieve; in which case he would have us, as it were, to remind him of his promise, and solicit his performance of it. The Psalmist here instructs us to prefer our petition upon these grounds; first, that God cannot prove false to his own word: “Remember thy word;” secondly, that he will never disappoint an expectation which himself hath raised: “upon which thou hast caused me to hope.”—George Horne.
“Thy servant.” Be sure of your qualification; for David pleadeth here, partly as a servant of God, and partly as a believer. First, “Remember the word unto thy servant;” and then, “upon which thou hast caused me to hope.” There is a double qualification: with respect to the precept of subjection and the promise of dependence. The precept is before the promise. They have the right to the promises, and may justly lay hold upon them, who are God’s servants; they who apply themselves to obey his precepts, these only can rightly apply his promises to themselves. None can lay claim to rewarding grace but those who are partakers of sanctifying grace. Make it clear that you are God’s servants, and then these promises, which are generally offered, are your own, no less than if your name were inserted in the promise and written in the Bible.—Thomas Manton.
“Thou hast caused me to hope.” Let us remember, first, that the promises made to us are of God’s free mercy; that the grace to believe, which is the condition of the promise, is also of himself; for “faith is the gift of God;” thirdly, that the arguments by which he confirms our faith in the certainty of our salvation are drawn from himself, not from us.
—William Cowper.
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Cross-References
Psalm 105:42 (KJV)
42 For he remembered his holy promise,
And Abraham his servant.
Isaiah 62:6 (KJV)
6 I have set watchmen upon thy walls, O Jerusalem,
Which shall never hold their peace day nor night:
Ye that make mention of the Lord,
Keep not silence,
Romans 15:13 (KJV)
13 Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that ye may abound in hope, through the power of the Holy Ghost.
1 Peter 1:13 (KJV)
13 Wherefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and hope to the end for the grace that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ;
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Closing Thoughts
The Pursuit of Wisdom Brings Security
Proverbs 2: 1-5
1
My son, if you will receive my words
And treasure my commandments within you,
Listen to the Word
2
Make your ear attentive to wisdom,
Incline your heart to understanding;
Pray
3
For if you cry for discernment,
Lift your voice for understanding;
Seek
4
If you seek her as silver
And search for her as for hidden treasures;
Find
5
Then you will discern the fear of the Lord
And discover the knowledge of God.
ז ZAYIN – The power of God’s word to comfort and strengthen. (Completion, Wholeness, Blessing, and Rest.)
49
Remember the word to Your servant,
Upon which You have caused me to hope.
50
This is my comfort in my affliction,
For Your word has given me life.
51
The proud have me in great derision,
Yet I do not turn aside from Your law.
52
I remembered Your judgments of old, O Lord,
And have comforted myself.
53
Indignation has taken hold of me
Because of the wicked, who forsake Your law.
54
Your statutes have been my songs
In the house of my pilgrimage.
55
I remember Your name in the night, O Lord,
And I keep Your law.
56
This has become mine,
Because I kept Your precepts.
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