God Remembers

Isaiah 49:8-16a “God Remembers”

"Can a mother forget the baby at her breast and have no compassion on the child of her womb? Though she may forget, I will not forget you! Behold, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands..."

In his letter to the Ephesians (1:15-16) the Apostle Paul writes: “I have heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love toward all the saints, and for this reason I do not cease to give thanks for you as I remember you in my prayers”

One of the ways we remember someone is to pray for them. Do you do this?

This is Memorial Day weekend in America. It is a time of remembrance.

The word “remember” that Paul uses is rich in meaning. To “re-member” means to put something back together. It is the opposite of “dis-member.” When we remember our loved ones it somehow happens in a mysterious way that they are still with us. As Paul remembers his friends in prayer, no doubt their faces appear before his closed eyes and their voices sound in the corridor of his memory.

In Holy Communion we hear the words of Christ, “Do this in remembrance of me.” This means that at the table of Communion the living Christ is with us, and so are all true believers from past, present, and future. As we break the consecrated bread together all the saints are alive in our midst, even as Jesus Christ is alive. This is what we in the Church refer to as the “Communion of the Saints.”

Henri Nouwen wrote, “Through memory, love transcends the limits of time and offers hope at any moment of our lives…One of the mysteries of life is that memory can often bring us closer to each other than can physical presence.”

Frederick Buechner says, “When you remember me, it means that you have carried something of who I am with you, that I have left some mark of who I am on who you are. It means that you can summon me back to your mind, even though countless years and miles may stand between us. It means that if we meet again, you will know me. It means that even after I die, you can still see my face and hear my words and speak to me in your heart.”

To remember does not mean to live in the past. On the contrary, it means to bring your thoughts of your loved one into the present, out of the past, across the distance, into this place with you here and now.

The Hebrew word for remember is zachar, from which we derive the name Zachary. It is a strong verb and includes action, not just something that occurs in the mind. In the Hebrew language you could never say for example that you remembered to take out the garbage and then didn’t do it. Remember means to bring thought and action together.

Our reading today refers to a time when the whole nation of Israel felt they had been forgotten by God. Have you ever felt that God has forgotten you?

Many centuries before, God had called out a new nation to be His own people. Israel was to be a community of faith, dedicated to God, bearing witness in the world to God’s love and mercy and justice. They were to be a special people, consecrated and holy, on mission in the world to call people to faith in God. They were to purify themselves and abstain from the seductive idolatries of the surrounding culture. They were to put God first in everything in their life together; they were to take care of the poor, welcome the stranger, and bring God’s light to the nations. They were to love God with all their heart, soul, mind and strength and to love their neighbor as themselves.

But the temptations and seductions of the pagan secular culture proved to be their downfall. Instead of becoming a special people of God they wanted to be like the other nations. Instead of worshiping God and God alone they wanted to worship God alongside the various idols of the pagan culture. Instead of being obedient they wanted to be independent. In spite of all the warnings from the prophets they went their own way instead of God’s way.

The result was, as you know, their land was overrun by their enemies, their temple was destroyed, and they were taken captive into a foreign land where they languished for some seventy years thinking God had forgotten them.

Have you ever felt forgotten by God? Sometimes it is not that God has forgotten us but we ourselves have forgotten God. In any case we feel alone. Someone in Israel must have cried out, when will God remember us? Saying this meant not that they wanted God to remember simply in God’s mind, but that God would remember and act.

The prophet Isaiah is honored to bring a word from the Lord to a rebellious and chastened nation: Thus says the Lord, “In the time of my favor I have answered you, in a day of salvation I have helped you (perfect tense, as though it had already happened); I have kept you and given you as a covenant for the people, to restore the land and to reapportion the desolate heritages.”

Like a shepherd God will lead them: “They will feed beside the roads and find pasture on every barren hill. They will neither hunger nor thirst, nor will the desert sun beat upon them. He who has compassion on them will guide them and lead them beside springs of water.”

It is a word of grace. It is a word of restoration. It is a word of salvation. It is a word of hope for every person who, for whatever reason, feels themselves to be forgotten and forsaken of God.

“Shout for joy, O heavens; rejoice, O earth; burst into song, O mountains!
For the Lord comforts his people and will have compassion on his afflicted ones.” God calls, through the prophet, for the whole of creation to join in exultant praise for the God who hears, the God who remembers, the God who saves. Nature itself rejoices in God’s work of redemption.

But in verse 14 Israel replies, “But the Lord has forsaken me, my Lord has forgotten me.”

These must be among the most poignant words in all of scripture. Even when they hear the good news they can hardly accept it because they feel so deeply and completely forsaken and forgotten by God. They are in such a sad and dark place that they are not able to hear the words of comfort and salvation. When you think of it these must be some of the saddest words ever uttered.
“The Lord has forsaken me. My Lord has forgotten me.”

But God’s reply is this: “Can a mother forget the baby at her breast and have no compassion on the child of her womb? Even these may forget, but I will not forget you!”

This is Hebrew idiom at its best. It is hard to imagine that a human mother would forget her own child. But even if she does, says the Lord, I will never forsake or forget you. For you are my child even more so and always.

Then God says, “I have engraved you on the palms of my hands.” I think of this as “God’s tattoo.” I know we all have at some time taken a ballpoint pen and written something on the palm of our hands that we wanted to remember: a phone number, your PIN for your debit card, the answers to a test. God has written your name on the palm of his hand and will never, ever forget you.

Have you ever forgotten something you were meaning to remember? Some important date perhaps, a deadline for a paper, locked your keys in the car, forgotten a promise you made to take the kids somewhere, or a birthday or anniversary? I once was filling out some papers and needed Linda’s birthday, so I called her and said is your birthday day August 1st or the 5th? She said it is the 2nd. I said, yes that’s what I thought. Heh heh…

What an odd lot we human beings are, and what limited memories we have! The promise of God is the bond is so strong that your very name is tattooed on God’s hand, permanently and forever. Until the day you die and God calls you home your heavenly Father will not forget you. Let’s just make sure that we ourselves do not forget God.

Whenever you find yourself in that place where you feel forsaken and that God has forgotten you, remember God’s tattoo and be glad.