Don't Forget to Remember

I was enjoying a cup of tea with a girlfriend this week, when we started to reminisce about our childhoods.  Tales of harrowing adventures were shared, secrets discovered and we laughed ourselves silly for a good long while.  She asked about the church I attended and we shared Sunday school stories.  The afternoon left me thinking about my childhood church for days. 

I was blessed to attend a delightful small church three minutes’ walk from my parent’s front door.  I remember walking to the church with my sisters, munching a piece of cold toast, listening to the church bell ring.  Sometimes my mother went on ahead, sometimes she came a few moments after, but she was always there, with any number of my four sisters and one brother in tow. 

Despite its small size, there were always a handful of earnest saints who taught Sunday school.  To this day, I remember their names and devotion.  Though I didn’t prefer to be away from my mother for an entire hour, there were seasons where I would attend classes.  In the cold church hall, with the wooden floors, I would sit in freezing metal chairs and learn the bible stories and colour pictures.  It was a place of familiarity and safety despite its chilly temperature.

I remember one day, discussing the story of Noah.  Being 8 years old, I was a Sunday school veteran.  I felt I knew the story by heart and was barely listening when I heard my teacher read the story from Genesis.  Suddenly, something she said caught my attention. 

“Excuse me, Mrs. Bailey?  Could you please read that part again?  I don’t think I heard it.”

“Perhaps Karen, you could put down the Popsicle sticks, and it might help.  Yes, I will read it again.   

 “But God remembered Noah and all the beasts and all the livestock that were with him in the ark Gen8:1.”

Mrs. Bailey went on to recount the way in which the waters receded, but at that point, I had stopped listening.  I was worried.  Somewhere in my little mind, I had just heard that God had misplaced Noah.   More than misplaced him, he had clear forgotten where he put the man!  God, who made the heavens and the earth, had misplaced a man in a boat and a whole swack of hungry animals.  It was disturbing. What if God had forgotten to remember Noah?  What if they continued on the rough seas, without any hope of deliverance?  Clearly, God bailed himself out and found Noah and his family but it left me anxious.  

I don’t know why I didn't talk to someone about my concerns.  Instead, I held on to them for many years.  Wishing I could go back in time won’t help, so I thought I might ask a question Friend.  Are you harboring an adult version of my childhood fear?

When tough times roll in, we increase our prayer time, asking God for help to get through the day.  As illness turns to disease, we pray more earnestly calling out to the Lord for mercy.  In certain cases, days turn to months, months to years and yet, deliverance does not come.  This is where fear can be found.  There are times when our prayers are earnest, our hearts sincere and yet we experience no consolation.  Have you ever felt like God has forgotten you?  That somehow, you were misplaced, put somewhere where your prayers cannot ascend.  Do you wish God would remember your situation?

I don’t need to tell you that God doesn't misplace anyone.  He doesn't forget anyone either.

"Can a woman forget her nursing child and have no compassion on the son of her womb? Even these may forget, but I will not forget you. "Behold, I have inscribed you on the palms of My hands; Your walls are continually before Me. Isaiah 49:15-16

When the bible speaks of God remembering his servants, it is connected to an action that he is going to perform.  It is a way of saying that God is going to undertake on his servants behalf.  Take the example of Rachel who longed and prayed for a child. 

Then God remembered Rachel, and God gave heed to her and opened her womb.  Gen 30:22

Never think for an instant that you are forgotten child of God.  If you are heartsick and wondering if God remembers your name, take the opportunity to remember who He is.  Remind the Lord that you need him, that you are depending on His mercy and grace to see you through.  Pull out some of the marvelous scriptures and pray them through.

"While I was fainting away, I remembered the LORD, and my prayer came to You, Into Your holy temple. Jonah 2:7

"Remember the former things long past, For I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is no one like Me, Isaiah 46:9

Waiting is difficult and suffering is hard.  However God does not view time the same way we do.  However, he is able to redeem all things and delights in providing a shelter for His children.  You are not forgotten dear heart.  He will remember, He will act, He will be faithful.

I am praying for you this week,

xoxKaren. 

Image from their website: St Peter's Church
http://www.stpeterscomox.ca/links.html