Is it not striking how often we ask God in prayer to remember? Like the tolling of a great bell it rings through the ancient Anaphorae: "remember, O Lord..." And there is no bounding in of this asking for remembrance: it embraces those now walking upon the earth and those whose bodies have turned to dust, those near at hand and those far away, those of high estate and the lowly; those who are suffering and in need, those who are prosperous and abounding. We ask Him to remember all of them, all of us.
For what would happen if God should forget us? Would not that be a terror indeed? So through the prophet Isaiah (chapter 49) He hastens to assure us:
13 Sing for joy, O heavens, and exult, O earth;
break forth, O mountains, into singing!
For the Lord has comforted his people
and will have compassion on his afflicted.
14 But Zion said, “The Lord has forsaken me;
my Lord has forgotten me.”
15 “Can a woman forget her nursing child,
that she should have no compassion on the son of her womb?
Even these may forget,
yet I will not forget you.
16 Behold, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands;
your walls are continually before me.
"I have engraved you on the palms of my hands." No, He will not forget. See the nail scars that doubly made us His own. He will remember, and so He will have mercy. Long after our bodies have turned to the dust, He will remember. He will raise us from the dead. Long after every human being who ever knew anything about us whatsoever is dead, He will remember. He will hold our souls in His keeping and He will fulfill at last all His promises on the Day of His Appearing. "I remembered!" is what that Day is all about. "I told you I would never forget you." It is the comfort of that promise that we then make this our constant prayer: "Remember us, Lord, in Your Kingdom and teach us to pray..."
2 comments:
Is it even possible for the Almighty to forget? Only if, in His love for us, He makes Himself forget, “For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.” Jer. 31:34.
Peace and Joy,
George A. Marquart
Nice comment, George.
One other thing from the Hebrew use of the verb "remember" (zkr, if I _remember_ correctly).
It rarely has to do with psychology when applied to God -- as if God had "forgotten" and now "remembers." When it does, it's purely analogical to our own state.
instead, it has to do with the beginning of a visitation. e.g. God remembers Noah in the ark. Does anyone seriously think during the flood God was too busy to remember the ark?
Oh, and in the beginning of Exodus he remembers the people of Israel before He sends Moses as their savior.
So when He "remembers" sins no more, we should have the image of not visiting us for those sins.
Also, I believe that the cupbearer "remembering" Joseph after forgetting for 2 years was not so much psychological as actual in the sense that the cupbearer could have visited and saved Joseph from prison, but did not (until the third year).
Anyhow, when we pray for God's remembrance, we aren't praying for a psychological event in the mind of God, but rather for Him to begin His work of redemption in our lives in whatever particular circumstance we find ourselves.
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