Psalm 119:55 NKJV

55 

I remember Your name in the night, O Lord,
And I keep Your law.

Nighttime Reflections on Faith

My Notes

Reading this verse reminds me that the Lord is always with us and that He knows our thoughts. Look at the gospels and see how many times Jesus knew the thoughts of the men He was with, whether it was His disciples or His persecutors. So, whether we are walking in the light or in the “Night,” the Lord is with us and knows our deepest secrets and thoughts.

So when we are alone with no man to see us or what we are doing, it’s important to come before the Lord in prayer and lay open our hearts to Him and remember that the only important praise comes from God, not man. We need to be the same whether we are out in public and realize that people are watching to see our reactions to different situations, or at home at night when no one is around.

Then we remember His name and keep His commandments; this is when our relationship with the Lord is built, when we are putting Him above our self-motivations, and we lay bare our hearts to the Lord. Whether we are on the mountain top or in a valley, we need to be real with God. Not something that we think people need to see, but to be open and honest with our creator. This is when we receive the comfort from the Lord on a daily basis, when we are open to Him; then we can walk with Him and let Him fill our hearts and souls with His love and mercy. 

Psalm 119:55 emphasizes the significance of remembering God’s name during the night, illustrating that late-night reflections can lead to a deeper understanding of God’s character and intention. Charles Spurgeon notes that the psalmist’s nighttime thoughts encourage faith, emphasizing that such memories inspire one to keep God’s law during the day. The connection between remembering God and obeying His commandments is a central theme in the commentaries below, showing that spiritual meditation influences daily conduct. The text suggests that true private devotion manifests in sincere remembrance of God, indicating the strength of one’s faith even when alone during the quiet hours of the night.

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 55, 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:

• Shabbat – the 7th day of the 7-day week (the week of days)

• Shavu’ot – the 49th day after Passover (the week of weeks)

• Tishri – the 7th month of the year (the week of months)

• Shemitah – the 7th year of rest for the land (the week of years)

• Yovel – the 49th year (the week of weeks of years)

• 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

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Commentaries:

Charles Spurgeon

“I have remembered thy name, O LORD, in the night.” When others slept, I woke to think of thee, thy person, thy actions, thy covenant, thy name, under which last term he comprehends the divine character as far as it is revealed. He was so earnest after the living God that he woke up at dead of night to think upon him. These were David’s Night Thoughts. If they were not Sunny Memories, they were memories of the Son of Righteousness. It is well when our memory furnishes us with consolation, so that we can say with the Psalmist,—Having early been taught to know thee, I had only to remember the lessons of thy grace, and my heart was comforted. This verse shows not only that the man of God had remembered, but that he still remembered the Lord his God. We are to hallow the name of God, and we cannot do so if it slips from our memory.

“And have kept thy law.” He found sanctification through meditation; by the thoughts of the night, he ruled the actions of the day. As the actions of the day often create the dreams of the night, so do the thoughts of the night produce the deeds of the day. If we do not keep the name of God in our memory, we shall not keep the law of God in our conduct. Forgetfulness of mind leads up to forgetfulness of life.

When we hear the night songs of revelers, we have in them sure evidence that they do not keep God’s law; but the quiet musings of gracious men are proof positive that the name of the Lord is dear to them. We may judge of nations by their songs, and so we may of men; and in the case of the righteous, their singing and their thinking are both indications of their love to God: whether they lift up their voices, or sit in silence, they are still the Lord’s. Blessed are the men whose “night-thoughts” are memories of the eternal light; they shall be remembered of their Lord when the night of death comes on. Reader, are your thoughts in the dark full of light, because full of God? Is his name the natural subject of your evening reflections? Then it will give a tone to your morning and noonday hours. Or do you give your whole mind to the fleeting cares and pleasures of this world? If so, it is little wonder that you do not live as you ought to do. No man is holy by chance. If we have no memory for the name of Jehovah, we are not likely to remember his commandments: if we do not think of him secretly, we shall not obey him openly.

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Enduring Word

I remember Your name in the night, O LORD: This is true both literally and figuratively. In the dark of night when fears and anxieties often rush in upon us, the psalmist finds comfort in the name of the LORD, revealed to him by God’s word. Yet this comfort is also real in the figurative night that believers may face. (Guzik)

The words following – And I keep Your law – remind us that the remembrance of God in the night made for an obedient life with God in the daytime. “The good effect of hours thus secretly passed in holy exercises, will appear openly in our lives and conversations.” (Horne)

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John Gill

I have remembered thy name, O Lord, in the night,…. In the night of distress and affliction, as Jarchi; or rather literally, in the night season, when on his bed and awake: while others were asleep, he revolved in his mind the greatness of the divine Being; the perfections of his nature; his wonderful works of creation, providence, and grace; his word and ordinances, by which he was made known unto the sons of men; and these he called to mind and meditated upon in the night watches, to encourage his faith and hope in the Lord, and draw out his love and affection to him;

and have kept thy law: though imperfectly, yet spiritually, sincerely, heartily, and from a principle of love and gratitude, and with a view to the glory of God, and without mercenary and sinister ends.

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Matthew Henry

1. The converse David had with the word of God; he kept it in mind, and upon every occasion, he called it to mind. God’s name is the discovery he has made of himself to us in and by his word. This is his memorial unto all generations, and therefore we should always keep it in memory-remember it in the night, upon a waking bed, when we are communing with our own hearts. When others were sleeping, David was remembering God’s name, and, by repeating that lesson, increasing his acquaintance with it; in the night of affliction, this he called to mind.

2. The conscience is made of conforming to it. The due remembrance of God’s name, which is prefixed to his law, will have a great influence upon our observance of the law: I remembered thy name in the night, and therefore was careful to keep thy law all day. How comfortable will it be in the reflection if our own hearts can witness for us that we have thus remembered God’s name, and kept his law!

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Adam Clarke

I have remembered thy name — Thou art Jehovah; and as our God thou hast made thyself known unto us. In the deepest night of our affliction, this has consoled me.

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The Pulpit Commentaries

I have remembered thy Name, O Lord, in the night (comp. Psalms 63:6; Psalms 149:5; and Job 35:10). And have kept thy Law. The night is the time when wicked men do their most wicked deeds (Job 24:14-16). I keep thy Law both night and day.

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Miscellaneous Comments

“I have remembered thy name, O Lord, in the night,” etc. As the second Clause of the verse depends on the first, I consider the whole verse as setting forth one and the same truth; and, therefore, the prophet means that he was induced, by the remembrance he had of God, to keep the law. Contempt of the law originates in this, that few have any regard for God; and hence, the Scripture, in condemning the impiety of men, declares that they have forgotten God (Psa 50:22; 78:11; 106:21.) The word “night” is not intended by him to mean the remembering of God merely for a short time, but a perpetual remembrance of him; he, however, refers to that season in particular, because then almost all our senses are overpowered with sleep. “When other men are sleeping, God occurs to my thoughts during my sleep.” He has another reason for alluding to the night season—that we may be apprised, that though there was none to observe him, and none to put him in remembrance of it; yea, though he was shrouded in darkness, yet he was as solicitous to cherish the remembrance of God as if he occupied the most public and conspicuous place.

—John Calvin.

“I have remembered thy name, O Lord, in the night.” This verse contains a new protestation of his honest affection toward the word of God. Wherein, first, let us mark his sincerity; he was religious not only in public, but in private; for private exercises are the surest trials of true religion. In public, oftentimes hypocrisy carries men to simulate that which they are not; it is not so in the private devotion; for then, either doth a man, if he make no conscience of God’s worship, utterly neglect it, because there is no eye of man to see him; or otherwise if he be indeed religious, even in private he presents his heart to God, seeking it to be approved by him; for his “praise is not of man, but of God.”

Again, this argues his fervency in religion: for as elsewhere he protests that he loved the word more than his appointed food; so here he protests that he gave up his night’s rest that he might meditate in the word. But now, so far is zeal decayed in professors, that they will not forego their superfluities, far less their needful refreshment, for love of the word of God.

—William Cowper.

“In the night.” First, that is, continually, because he remembered God in the day also. Secondly, sincerely, because he avoided the applause of men. Thirdly, cheerfully, because the heaviness of natural sleep could not overcome him. All these show that he was intensely given to the word; as we see men of the world will take some part of the night for their delights. And in that he did keep God’s testimonies in the night, he showeth that he was the same in secret that he was in the light; whereby he condemned all those that will cover their wickedness with the dark. Let us examine ourselves whether we have broken our sleep to call upon God, as we have to fulfill our pleasures.

—Richard Greenham.

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Cross-References

Psalm 42:8 (ASV)

⁸Yet Jehovah will command his lovingkindness in the day-time;

And in the night his song shall be with me,

Even a prayer unto the God of my life.

 

Isaiah 26:9 (ESV)

⁹  My soul yearns for you in the night;

my spirit within me earnestly seeks you.

For when your judgments are in the earth,

the inhabitants of the world learn righteousness.

 

Psalm 1:2 (ASV)

²But his delight is in the law of Jehovah;

And on his law doth he meditate day and night.

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Closing Thoughts

I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me. Galatians 2:20 NKJV

 

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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Posted on 7/10/2025 by Bill Stephens

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