REMEMBERING AND FORGETTING

(Psalm 25:6-7)

Mike Johnson

Psalm 25:6-7 says, “Remember, O Lord, Your tender mercies and Your lovingkindnesses, for they are from of old.  Do not remember the sins of my youth, nor my transgressions; according to Your mercy remember me, for Your goodness’ sake, O Lord.”  In these verses, David is asking God to remember and to forget.  David wants God to remember His tender mercies and His loving-kindness, which he describes as being “from of old.”  Although David wanted God to remember His tender mercies and His loving-kindness, he did not want God to remember the transgressions of his youth, perhaps referencing his sins with Bathsheba.  Whatever it was, he was going back to sins he had committed many years before when he was young.  He is asking for mercy and is acknowledging God’s goodness.  David is asking God to forget the sins of his youth in the sense of not holding them against him.

As noted, verses 6-7 speak of God remembering or not remembering.  This concept is found various other times in the Scriptures (Gen. 8:1, Ex. 2:24).  Someone might say, “Does God forget and remember like humans?  I thought He was supposed to be God.”  Typically, when we speak of remembering, we mean calling something forgotten to our minds, but this is not the meaning concerning God.  In the Bible, referring to God as forgetting and remembering is anthropomorphism.  This figure of speech ascribes certain traits of finite humanity to the infinite God.  It involves “the attribution of human characteristics to God, specifically the conceptualization of God as having aspects of the human form…” (Eerdmans Dictionary of the Bible).  For example, other passages in the Bible ascribe God with feet (Ex. 24:10), hands (Jn. 10:29), an arm (Jn. 12:38), a face (Mt. 18:10), and a heart (Hos. 11:8).  This figure of speech helps us to understand God’s work from a human perspective.  God does not forget as man does.  With reference to God, remembering is usually followed by some course of action or work on behalf of His people.  It emphasizes God’s faithfulness and His everlasting care.  When God “remembers” sin, He punishes it (Ps. 25:7), and when He “remembers” His people, He blesses them (Neh. 13:14-29).  Proof then follows, showing He never forgets, and He works in perpetuity.

The Bible teaches that God is infinite and all-knowing (Is.  40:13-14; Ps. 147:5; I Jn. 3:20).  Further, He is perfect and is not subject to man’s shortcomings (Deut. 32:4; Ps. 92:15; Mt. 5:48).  God is different from man (Job 9:32) — God is a Spirit (Jn. 4:24).  It may seem like God has forgotten us, but He has not (Is.  49:14-15).

God “forgets” our sins when we comply with His conditions for forgiveness.  After receiving forgiveness, however, it is sometimes difficult for us to totally erase sin from our memories (Ps. 51:3, Gal. 1:13).  Recalling deeds of the past and their consequences can encourage us to avoid making the same mistakes.  However, we must not remember our sins in the sense of letting them hinder our future service to God.  We need to make sure we do not negatively dwell on that which God has forgiven.