Wide Awake

Lord, I remember Your name in the night, and keep Your Law.  Psalm 119:55 NASB

In the night – Does this verse seem a little too pedestrian?  Too trivial?  Why should we care at all about what we remember in the night?  What does it matter when we’re on our way to sleep?

Ah, but then there’s this: a man’s character is best displayed when the lights are off.

That’s right.  “In the night,” when no one is looking, when the public arena is dark, that’s when real character is on trial.  It might seem inconsequential to remark about remembering God’s name at night, but if you don’t, perhaps you’re more likely to transgress.

Notice what the poet considers the result of remembering God’s name at night.  šāmar—keeping, observing, guarding the Torah.  But notice also that he doesn’t write, “I remember Your instructions” or “I remember Your teaching” or “I remember blessings.”  He writes, “I remember Your name.”  What do you suppose he means?  That he remembers the word ʾĕlōhîm?  That’s not a name.  It’s a title.  “God” is not God’s name.  God’s name is YHVH.  That’s what he remembers.  And why does this matter?  For most of us, “God” is what we think of, because we live in a world that long ago gave up God’s name for His title, and subsequently taught that since there is only one true God, this title was sufficient for all occasions.  Of course, that ignores the fact that even the monotheistic religions use different name-titles.  Allah, the Father-Son-Spirit conglomerate, G_d, HaShem, etc.  None of these are in the poet’s vocabulary.  His God is not the figurehead God of religious practice.  His God is the personal, unique, God with a personal, unique name.  That’s what he remembers.

And when he remembers this personal, unique God, what does he remember?  A list of attributes from the via negativa?  A creed espousing the Godhead?  A theological declaration about the ground of all Being?  I doubt it.  When you remember a person, do you recall her work status, his driver’s license, voter ID, residence address?  I would think not.  You probably remember those shared moments of real connection.  You remember the good times, and maybe the bad too.  You remember the feelings that go with the person.  As Tournier would say, our histories are the story of our emotions.  That’s what we remember.  And if I remember God’s name, I remember His emotional history with me and with His people.  That’s why I guard His Torah.  That’s why I keep His “Law.”  Not because the Law is a collection of rules, but because it is a connection of relations.

Oh, and by the way, when I remember in the night, I’m at the beginning of my day, not the end.  “And there was evening and morning, day one.”  I remember at the start of the day so that I can obey during the daylight.  Sleep tight.[1]

Topical Index: in the night, name, remember, šāmar, observe, guard, Psalm 119:55

[1] It’s interesting that Ibn Ezer adds “in the morning” to this verse, making it deliberately temporal.