Remembered with Favor

14 MARCH

Remember me, O LORD, with the favour that Thou bearest unto Thy people: O visit me with Thy salvation. Psalm 106:4

SUGGESTED FURTHER READING: Psalm 30

The prophet here declares his chief desire that God would extend to him the love that He bears toward the church. He might thus participate in all the blessings which, from the very first, God bestowed upon His chosen and which He day by day continues to bestow on them. The prophet desires this not only for himself but also, in the name of the universal church, offers up a prayer for all, that by his example he might stimulate the faithful to present similar petitions.

Remember me, says he, with the favour that Thou bearest unto Thy people; that is to say, grant to me the same unmerited kindness that Thou art pleased to confer upon Thy people, so that I may never be cut off from Thy church but will always be included among the number of Thy children. The phrase favour toward Thy people refers passively to the love that God graciously bears to His elect. The prophet uses it to indicate the marks of God's love From this gracious source flows the proof that God actually and experimentally gives grace to His people. 

The prophet considers being numbered among the people pf God as the summit of true happiness because by this means he feels that God is reconciled to him. Nothing is more desirable than this. Also, he experiences that God is bountiful. The term remember refers to the circumstance of time. As we shall see toward the end of the psalm, it was written when the people were in such a sad and calamitous state that the faithful might have entertained some secret apprehension that God had forgotten them.

John Calvin

FOR MEDITATION: Are you, by grace, one of God's chosen people? If you are numbered among the elect, you will never be forgotten but will be remembered with favor. That should comfort you in the darkest hours.

365 Days With Calvin

Selected and Edited by Joel R. Beeke