Isaiah 16-18; Ephesians 1
Memory verse: “Because thou has forgotten the God of thy salvation, and hast not been mindful of the rockof thy strength, therefore shalt thouplant pleasantplants, and set it with strange slips” Isaiah 17:10 ( KJV)
Each time I read about the stories concerning the children of Israel and their forgetfulness towards God I begin to wonder the causes of forgetting God. Imagine people who watched God do wonders right in front of them in Egypt and shortly after resorted to worshipping idols. God is merciful but also a God of judgement. No wonder God was sometimes hard on them.
Forgetting God was not limited to the children of Israel but still goes on after them till today. Because of the busyness of the world today many no longer remember God. Even when we go to church on Sundays or week days to worship we nearly always do it absent mindedly. This has made us far from the presence of God thereby causing many to fall into so many afflictions. You see, the devil uses these tactics of busyness to take our minds off God and then afflicts us with so many evils.
David put it this way, “Before I was afflicted I went astray” Psalm 119:67a (KJV). God sometimes allows us to experience hardships and troubles in our forgetfulness of Him in order to draw us close to His word and Himself. David continued in Psalm 119:67b, “but now I have kept thy word.” Staying away from God in forgetfulness is inviting trouble into our lives because He is our strength and our shield. He is our protector and provider. He is everything we have want in life and will ever need in this life. That is what life should be all about.
But you mustn’t always get afflicted before remembering God. David said in Psalm 119:71 (KJV), “It is good that I was afflicted; that I might learn thy statutes.” If you look at the reasons why we forget God it is nearly always either because of our job, family or pleasure. Forgetting God by putting our job or family or sports first is idolatry. God hates idolatry! No wonder He came down hard on Israel several times.
God has not changed. He is still the same yesterday, today and for ever. If He didn’t take it kindly to being ignored then He is still not taking it today. That’s why we are told to seek God first and His Kingdom.
Prayer: Father, I ask for Your help in these fast and busy days to always put You in remembrance before any other thing in whatever I do.
Bro. Worthmore Aghanenu