Read: Psalm 136:1–3 & 23–26
Remembered by God
Psalm 136:23 – “It is he who remembered us in our low estate, for his steadfast love endures forever.”
Sometimes we feel forgotten by God. When things are going against us, in the crises of life, we might ask: Where is God? Has he forgotten me?
But God never forgets his people. When faced with difficult circumstances—our “low estate”—it is comforting for us to recall what Psalm 136 says: “It is he who remembered us in our low estate” (v. 23).
That was the experience of Israel in the Old Testament. When Israel was enslaved in Egypt, the Lord “remembered” his people in their hardship (Ex. 2:24; 6:5). This “remembering” means that God looked with favour on his people and rescued them by way of the exodus from Egypt.
God remembered his people because “his steadfast love endures forever” (v. 23). God is the covenant-keeping God, who does not abandon the work of his hands. As such, God shows his loving-kindness and mercy toward his people.
What is our deepest crisis? It is the reality of sin, of which the slavery in Egypt was symbolic. God rescued Israel from the slavery of Egypt, meaning that God was on his way to rescuing all of his people from the slavery of sin!
And so God sent his Son as our Saviour from sin and all the resulting misery. When Mary the mother of our Lord received word from the angel that she would give birth to the Christ-child, she said, “For 
he has looked on the humble estate of his servant” (Luke 1:48). This not only referred to Mary’s personal situation, but also to the humiliating situation of God’s people in those days while under Roman occupation and with Herod on the throne. God had his eye on Mary and on all of his people! Mary went on to say, “He has helped his servant Israel, in remembrance of his mercy” (Luke 1:54). Indeed, God’s answer to the plight of his people is ultimately to be found in Jesus Christ the Saviour of the world!
What about the difficulties we face from day to day? The Lord will either deliver us from our difficult circumstances or he will give us the strength to face them as he leads us on the road to the heavenly Canaan. On that journey, each child of God may know that God has his eye on him or her. God does not forget us.
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