They say two things happen to you as you get older.
One is that you start forgetting things.
I can’t seem to remember the other thing.
I don’t know if it is age or busyness or both, but I’m starting to forget things. I sometimes walk into my office and then forget what I was going to get. My wife sends me to the store and I inevitably forget something. I forget names. I forget appointments. I would forget my head if it wasn’t attached to my body.
To help me remember, I’ve started to write things down. The problem is I often forget where I put the piece of paper or calendar on which I wrote down what I needed to remember. For a while I tried writing reminders on my hand. That way, every time I looked down at my hand I would remember. The problem is that my hands would get sweaty and the ink would rub off. Besides, people look at you funny when you have a bunch of writing on your hand.
There was a time when God’s people of the Old Testament felt like God had forgotten about them. They felt like he didn’t care about them anymore.
Have you ever felt like that? Your life is falling apart. You lose your job. Your husband dies. Your doctor tells you it’s cancer. Where is God? Doesn’t he care? Has he forgotten about me?
Listen to how God answered his people of the Old Testament: “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.” (Isaiah 49:15,16).
God can’t and won’t ever forget about you. You are tattooed on his hands. You are important to him. He knows you perfectly. He thinks about you constantly. You are and will always be his dear child.
Sometimes it feels like God has forgotten about us because at times he allows pain and problems in our lives. Sometimes it feels like God has forgotten about us because we pray to him and nothing seems to happen.
God promises us in his Word, however, that he does hear our prayers. He promises to answer them for our good. But he does so in his own time and in his own way. Just because God doesn’t do what you want doesn’t mean he’s forgotten about you. It may not be the right time. He may have different plans for you.
That doesn’t mean he doesn’t care. He cared for you so much it hurt. He cared for you so much he suffered your pain and punishment on the cross. That’s right. When he died on the cross God remembered you before you were even born. He did it all for you.
As I get older, I am probably going to get more and more forgetful. There may come a point in my life that I don’t remember anybody’s name, including my own. Thankfully I can know that no matter what happens, my God will never forget about me.
