John Calvin Commentary Psalms 25:6

"Remember, O Jehovah, thy tender mercies and thy lovingkindness; For they have been ever of old." — Psalms 25:6 (ASV)

Remember, O Jehovah; From this it appears, in the first place, that David was grievously afflicted and tried, so much so that he had lost all sense of God’s mercy, for he calls upon God to remember God’s favor for him, as if God had altogether forgotten it.

This, therefore, is the complaint of a man suffering extreme anguish and overwhelmed with grief. We may learn from this, that although God, for a time, may withdraw from us every token of his goodness, and, apparently regardless of the miseries which afflict us, should, as if we were strangers to him and not his own people, forsake us, we must fight courageously until, set free from this temptation, we cordially present the prayer which is here recorded, beseeching God that, returning to his former manner of dealing, he would again begin to manifest his goodness towards us and to deal with us in a more gracious manner.

This form of prayer cannot be used with propriety unless God is hiding his face from us and seems to take no interest at all in us. Moreover, David, by having recourse to the mercy or compassion and goodness of God, testifies that he trusts not to his own merit as any ground of hope.

He who derives everything from the fountain of divine mercy alone finds nothing in himself entitled to recompense in the sight of God. But as the intermission which David had experienced was an obstacle that prevented his free access to God, he rises above it by the very best remedy: the consideration that although God, who from his very nature is merciful, may withdraw himself and cease for a time to manifest his power, yet he cannot deny himself. That is to say, he cannot divest himself of the feeling of mercy which is natural to him and which can no more cease than his eternal existence.

But we must firmly maintain this doctrine: that God has been merciful even from the beginning, so that if at any time he seem to act with severity towards us and to reject our prayers, we must not imagine that he acts contrary to his real character or that he has changed his purpose.

Hence we learn for what end the Scriptures everywhere inform us, that in all ages God has regarded his servants with a benignant eye and exercised his mercy towards them. This, at least, we ought to regard as a fixed and settled point: that although the goodness of God may sometimes be hidden and, as it were, buried out of sight, it can never be extinguished.