NEVER FORGOTTEN OR FORSAKEN

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In Christ, Mark

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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

But Zion said, “The Lord has forsaken me, the Lord has forgotten me.”

“Can a mother forget the baby at her breast and have no compassion on the child she has borne? Though she may forget, I will not forget you! See, I have engraved you on the palms of My hands; your walls are ever before Me. Your children hasten back, and those who laid you waste depart from you.  Lift up your eyes and look around; all your children gather and come to you.”

“As surely as I live,” declares the Lord, “you will wear them all as ornaments; you will put them on, like a bride.”

Isaiah 49:14-18

This ends today’s reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

Perhaps here is no worse feeling one can have than being alone and feeling forgotten or forsaken. Many people have gone through this in their life, many are going through it as I write today, and many more will experience it as time marches forward.

For all of us, the Lord has a message today:

“I will never forget you or forsake you.”

This message is the central theme of our devotion today and is affirmed through our scriptures from Isaiah 49. Look again at these words now:

But Zion said, “The Lord has forsaken me, the Lord has forgotten me.”

“Can a mother forget the baby at her breast and have no compassion on the child she has borne? Though she may forget, I will not forget you! See, I have engraved you on the palms of My hands; your walls are ever before Me. Your children hasten back, and those who laid you waste depart from you.  Lift up your eyes and look around; all your children gather and come to you.”

“As surely as I live,” declares the Lord, “you will wear them all as ornaments; you will put them on, like a bride.”  Isaiah 49:14-18

Forsakenness here was spoken from the people of Zion, another word to represent the people of Israel. Hauled away into seventy years of captivity at the hands of the Babylonians, God’s judgment on them for their disrespect and disregard for Him while worshipping false idols and gods, the Israelites had to feel at times as if they were God’s forgotten and forsaken people. It’s never fun being in the midst of God’s consequences but He did promise them that the exile would not last forever and a day would come when they would liberated from it and set free to return to Judah and Jerusalem to rebuild their lives and their faith. And as the scriptures reveal, He showed them that He always keeps His promises for they indeed were delivered back to their homeland and allowed a fresh start.

Still, despite the promises God had made, the people felt abandoned with little faith or hope for deliverance. Perhaps we find ourselves in the same place in the midst of our circumstances.

It’s fine to confess it. We’re human and frail in our psyche sometimes, particularly when the weight of the world seems to be on our shoulders. Even Jesus felt isolated from God, His Father on the cross. We know because He uttered the following words while dying from crucifixion on Calvary’s cross:

“Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?” (which means “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”) Matthew 27:46

Bearing the crushing burden of the sins of mankind while perishing in the most excruciating way imaginable, Jesus cried out to His Father, feeling forgotten and forsaken. In the Garden of Gethsemane, He had asked God to take the cup of suffering from Him if possible but also submitted to whatever His Father’s will would be. On the cross, the will of God was fully revealed. His Son would have to die in order to save all others. There was no other way.

But was Jesus really forsaken and forgotten? No more than we are today.

For after God’s work was on the cross was complete, He raised His Son from the grave in victorious power and placed Him in authority over all creation. Jesus had suffered a great deal but in the end, the glory of the Lord was His and He discovered He was far from ignored or deserted.

Friends, like Jesus, we are never forsaken or forgotten either. We have a Heavenly Father who cherishes each of us as if we were His only child. Yes, we may go through trials and tribulations in life, times of difficulty that drag us into the mire of difficulty and despair but we have to hold onto the hope that God always remembers us, always loves us, and is always working things out for our good (Romans 8:31), even when we are in the midst of hardship. He is a God of deliverance and hope. We would be well to always remember that.

In the end translation, it’s easy to be faithful when life is easy. The real testing and refining of our faith happens when we come down off the mountain top and have to walk through life’s valleys. It’s there that we will find God helping us through just as much as when we are going through good times.

For He never forgets us or forsakes us.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

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