Psalm 136:23 NKJV
Who remembered us in our lowly state,
For His mercy endures forever;
The God of the Deep End
MY NOTES
“Who remembered us in our lowly state, For His mercy endures forever;” > — Psalm 136:23 (NKJV)
The first half of Psalm 136 is an epic highlight reel: God creating the sun and moon, striking down Pharaoh, and parting the Red Sea. But here in verse 23, the song makes a beautiful, gut-level pivot. It moves from the “Big Wonders” to the “Small Us.”
It’s one thing to praise God for keeping the stars in place; it’s another thing entirely to praise Him because He remembered you when you were at your absolute lowest.
The “Lowly State”: What does it mean to be in a “lowly state”? The commentators describe it as a kind of spiritual bankruptcy. We weren’t just “having a bad day”; we were in a sorry estate of “mendicancy” (begging). Whether it’s the historical Israel groaning in Babylonian captivity or a modern heart drowning in despondency, sickness, or the “mire and clay” of our own mistakes—God meets us at the bottom.
We often think we are too small or too messy for God to burden His memory with us. We feel like a “dead thing out of mind.” But the text says He remembered us. In the Bible, when God “remembers,” it doesn’t mean He forgot and then had an “aha!” moment. It means He moved toward us in action.
Why Does He Do It? The Author of this mercy is God—a God who was offended by us, who doesn’t “need” us, and who gains nothing from us. We are the “ill-deserving” objects of His affection.
So why bother?
The Psalm gives the only logical answer: “For His mercy endures forever.” There is no reason for grace except grace. There is no motive for mercy except mercy. He remembered us simply because that is who He is. He saw us in the ditch, stripped of our own righteousness, and instead of walking past, He provided a Savior to pay the debt and pull us out.
Personal Mercies, Sweetest Songs: Spurgeon says that “personal mercies awake the sweetest song.” It’s great to know God parted the Red Sea 3,000 years ago, but it is life-changing to know He thinks of you right now in your current “low estate.” If He remembered you when you were at “hell’s mouth,” He certainly won’t desert you now.
Key Takeaways
- The Pivot to the Personal: God’s “great wonders” in history are the foundation for our trust in His “personal wonders” today.
- Defining “Lowly”: We are often at our lowest not just because of circumstances (poverty, sickness), but because of our “lost estate” in sin. God remembers us in both.
- The Divine Initiative: God remembers us when we are undeserving and even “ill-deserving.” He doesn’t wait for us to climb out of the pit; He reaches into it.
- Grace is Its Own Reason: You don’t have to give God a reason to love you. His mercy is the reason.
Cross References (NKJV)
Luke 1:48 > “For He has regarded the lowly state of His maidservant; For behold, henceforth all generations will call me blessed.”
Psalm 113:7–8 > “He raises the poor out of the dust, And lifts the needy out of the ash heap, That He may seat him with princes—With the princes of His people.”
Ephesians 2:4–5 > “But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved),”
Psalm 103:14 > “For He knows our frame; He remembers that we are dust.”
A Closing Prayer
Abba, I am overwhelmed by the fact that the Creator of the earth actually thinks of me. Thank You for remembering me when I was bankrupt, broken, and lost in my own sin. Forgive me for the times I’ve felt ‘forgotten’ simply because I was in a lowly season. I lean on Your enduring mercy today, knowing that if You remembered me at my worst, You will surely hold me at my best and everything in between. I thank You for this in Jesus’ name, Amen.
Some Things to Think About:
- The “Lowly” List: When was a time in your life you felt the most “lowly”? How did God show you He “remembered” you during that season?
- How does it change your self-worth to realize that God remembers you not because of what you do for Him, but simply because of His mercy?
- In what areas of your life are you currently trying to “pay your own debt” instead of letting the Savior who remembered you in your poverty handle it?
Proverb for Today
Incline your ear and hear the words of the wise, And apply your heart to my knowledge; For it is a pleasant thing if you keep them within you; Let them all be fixed upon your lips, So that your trust may be in the Lord; I have instructed you today, even you. Have I not written to you excellent things Of counsels and knowledge, That I may make you know the certainty of the words of truth, That you may answer words of truth To those who send to you? Proverbs 22:17-21 NKJV
Daily Scripture
But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord. 1 Corinthians 15:57-58 NKJV
Bill
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Summary of Commentaries:
Psalm 136:23 shifts from universal wonders to personal intervention. God “remembers” His people in their “lowly state”—whether in historical bondage, spiritual bankruptcy, or deep despondency. This active remembrance proves that His mercy is its own motive, reaching the ill-deserving when they are most helpless. By providing a Savior and constant grace, God demonstrates that His immutable love is never limited to the past, but is a present, life-saving reality for every believer.
Commentaries:
Charles Spurgeon
“Who remembered us in our low estate.” Personal mercies awake the sweetest song—”he remembered us.” Our prayer is, “Lord, remember me,” and this is our encouragement—he has remembered us. For the Lord even to think of us is a wealth of mercy. Ours was a sorry estate,—an estate of bankruptcy and mendicancy. Israel rested in its heritage, but we were still in bondage, groaning in captivity: the Lord seemed to have forgotten us, and left us in our sorrow; but it was not so for long: he turned again in his compassion, bethinking himself of his afflicted children. Our state was once so low as to be at hell’s mouth; since then it has been low in poverty, bereavement, despondency, sickness, and heart-sorrow, and we fear, also, sinfully low in faith, and love, and every other grace; and yet the Lord has not forgotten us as a dead thing out of mind; but he has tenderly remembered us still. We thought ourselves too small and too worthless for his memory to burden itself about us, yet he remembered us.
“For his mercy endureth for ever.” Yes, this is one of the best proofs of the immutability of his mercy, for if he could have changed towards any, it would certainly have been towards us who have brought ourselves low, kept ourselves low, and prepared ourselves to sink yet lower. It is memorable mercy to remember us in our low estate: in our highest joys we will exalt Jehovah’s name, since of this we are sure,—he will not now desert us.
For his mercy full and free
Lasteth to eternity.
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Enduring Word
Who remembered us in our lowly state: The song makes a sharp yet skillful transition from God’s great wonders of the past to His faithful help in the present. It is good for us to look to the past for evidence that His mercy endures forever, but even better for us to see the evidence in our own day. (Guzik)
i. “After all, ‘his steadfast love endures for ever’, and the refrain is designed to show the relevance of every act of God to every singer of the psalm.” (Kidner)
ii. Rescued us from our enemies: “Sin is our enemy, and we are redeemed from it by the atoning blood; Satan is our enemy and we are redeemed from him by the Redeemer’s power; the world is our enemy, and we are redeemed from it by the Holy Spirit.” (Spurgeon)
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John Gill
Who remembered us in our low estate,…. The Israelites; either in Egypt, as Jarchi, when in bondage and distress there, and sent them a deliverer; or in the times of the Judges, whom God raised up one after another, to save his people out of the hands of their enemies, by whom they were oppressed; or in the Babylonian captivity, as Aben Ezra and Kimchi: though the latter thinks their present captivity is rather intended; but as yet they are not remembered in a gracious way and manner. This may be applied to the people of God in a spiritual sense; who, before conversion, are in a low estate through sin, which has brought them into deep poverty, into debt they are not able to discharge, but are liable to a prison; it has stripped them of their original righteousness, instead of which at best they are clothed with filthy rags; it has left them, starving and famishing, to feed on ashes, sensual lusts and pleasures; it has brought them to a dunghill, from whence they are taken as beggars; yea, to a ditch, a pit wherein is in no water; even an horrible pit, the mire and clay of corrupt nature. Man, that was lord of all, is by sin reduced to the utmost slavery to it, and to Satan; and is in the greatest distress and misery; filled with diseases, loathsome and incurable by him; quite lost and undone, helpless, and hopeless, and under the sentence of condemnation and death: but the Lord has remembered his chosen people, and provided a Savior for them; who has paid all their debts; brought in an everlasting righteousness to clothe them; given his flesh for the life of them; healed all their diseases; delivered them from thraldom and bondage; saved them from condemnation and death, and raised them to sit in heavenly places with him: and not only so, but he sends down his Spirit to convince and convert them, renew and sanctify them; to bring them from death to life; out of darkness into marvelous light; from bondage to liberty; from fellowship with wicked men, into communion with Christ and his people; and to make them meet for heaven and happiness. These are sometimes in a low estate after conversion; when corruptions prevail, and the temptations of Satan are strong; when grace is weak; or God hides his face; or they are grown carnal and secure, lukewarm and indifferent to spiritual things; yet the Lord remembers them again, his lovingkindness, his covenant and promises; and with everlasting kindness has mercy on them, heals their backsliding, and loves them freely Hosea 14:4. The Targum is, “he hath remembered his covenant with us;” so Kimchi;
for his mercy [endureth] for ever; which appears in the mission of his Son to save; in giving his Spirit to regenerate and quicken when dead in sin, and to revive and restore when backslidden.
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Matthew Henry
In the many redemptions wrought for the Jewish church out of the hands of their oppressors (when, in the years of their servitude, their estate was very low, God remembered them, and raised them up saviors, the judges, and David, at length, by whom God gave them rest from all their enemies), but especially in the great redemption of the universal church, of which these were types, we have a great deal of reason to say, “He remembered us, the children of men, in our low estate, in our lost estate, for his mercy endureth for ever; he sent his Son to redeem us from sin, and death, and hell, and all our spiritual enemies, for his mercy endureth for ever; he was sent to redeem us, and not the angels that sinned, for his mercy endureth for ever.”
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Miscellaneous Comments
I might draw considerations [for thanksgiving] from the Author of the mercy, God; a God that was offended by us, a God that needed us not, and a God that gains nothing by us; and yet this God remembered us in our low estate; that should engage us. I might also draw obligations from the objects, and that is us that were not only an undeserving but an ill-deserving, and are not a suitable returning people. I might draw arguments from the mercy, itself,—that God remembered us…and I might draw arguments from the season, “in our low estate,” and from the excellency of the duty of thanksgiving; ’tis a comely thing; it makes us like the angels, whose whole employment and liturgy is to give and live praise to God. And from this also I might enlarge the discoveries of the obligation, that “his mercy endureth for ever.”
“For his mercy endureth for ever.” There is no reason to be given for grace but grace; there is no reason to be given for mercy but mercy: who remembered us: “for his mercy endureth for ever.”
—Ralph Venning (1620-1673), in “Mercies Memorial.”
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