The Lord Has Not, Cannot, and Does Not Want to Forget You
The Lord has not forgotten you:
If you have been a Christian for more than a year I would be bold enough to say that you have questioned the Lord’s concern over your life. This may be experienced during suffering, death of loved ones, your wondering if God has a mate for you, a career shift or hunt, and seemingly unfruitful seasons of ministry. The Lord has not forgotten you.
The Lord cannot forget you:
The only thing that God forgets is our sin. (Psalms 103:12) And even then He is not somehow causing our sins against Him to somehow slip his omniscient mind. When God remembers our sin no more, He is not counting it against us anymore. He can do this because He counted our sins against Jesus and He will eternally remember what Jesus did for us.
God cannot forget us because He knows all. God can not unremember you. (Isaiah 40:28 see below, 1 John 3:20)
God cannot forget us because He has promised to never leave us or forsake us. (Deuteronomy 31:8, Matthew 28:20)
God cannot forget us because we are sealed with God the Holy Spirit. (Ephesians 1:13,14)
God cannot forget us because Jesus has purchased us. We belong to God. (1 Corinthians 6:19,20)
The Lord does not want to forget you:
The Lord does not want to forget us because He loves us. (John 3:16) It would be easier for someone to forget to breathe or have the heart pump blood through their veins than for God to not want to love His people. You say that the circulatory system is involuntary and a bad comparison? Well, although the Lord has freely chosen to love us(Ephesians 1:11), in doing so, He is sovereignly and happily bound to do so from within Himself (Numbers 23:19).
The Lord does not want to forget us because in doing so He would be counting the work of Christ and the Holy Spirit as trivial. God the Father loves the Son and Spirit.
The Lord does not want to forget us because we are His children. Even in our proneness to wander and leave the God we love, He manifests His grace and mercy in our lives. (John 1:12)
The Lord does not want to forget us because He does not want to forget our neighbors. In other words, God reaches our neighbors and the nations through His people. He has purchased people from every tongue, tribe and nation. (Revelation 5:9) He does not want to forget about them....He cannot, He will not.
Not only does the Lord not forget us, He is patient with our questions and doubts as He mightily and graciously restores us.
Listen to our merciful God:
Why do you say, O Jacob,
and speak, O Israel,
“My way is hidden from the LORD,
and my right is disregarded by my God”?
Have you not known? Have you not heard?
The LORD is the everlasting God,
the Creator of the ends of the earth.
He does not faint or grow weary;
his understanding is unsearchable.
He gives power to the faint,
and to him who has no might he increases strength.
Even youths shall faint and be weary,
and young men shall fall exhausted;
but they who wait for the LORD shall renew their strength;
they shall mount up with wings like eagles;
they shall run and not be weary;
they shall walk and not faint.
(Isaiah 40:27-31 ESV)
Nothing But Everything
Thoughts from Habakkuk 3:17-19
31 passages series
Though our world around us falls apart, the God of our salvation is within us, holding us together and fanning the flame of joy.
But there is even more mercy. During these times He gives us strength to rise up and walk on the heights where fear normally seizes and self-pity viciously overwhelms us. Therefore, when times are hard and suffering is upon us, may we look to God, for in Him we will find joy and strong footing for amazing faithful ministry. In these times of ordained “losses and crosses” God is glorified in us as we are satisfied and rejoice in Him.
God satisfying hearts rarely ends with us but overflows for the good of others. In our times of being wrecked, we have incredible opportunity for joy, worship, and unbelievable loving our neighbor opportunities. The normal eyes see destruction and imminent death; the new eyes given by Christ see the Father and unparalleled joy, strength, hope, vision and love.
Though the fig tree should not blossom,
nor fruit be on the vines,
the produce of the olive fail
and the fields yield no food,
the flock be cut off from the fold
and there be no herd in the stalls,
yet I will rejoice in the LORD;
I will take joy in the God of my salvation.
GOD, the Lord, is my strength;
he makes my feet like the deer's;
he makes me tread on my high places.
To the choirmaster: with stringed instruments.
(Habakkuk 3:17-19 ESV)
A poem on your birthday Nate!
Today's your birthday son
you're at the age of one
Your short life has been threaded with transitions,
And ours with a joyous addition.
The One who knitted you in the womb of your biological mother
Purposed your life to be held by another.
And so in his providential plan you are a Lewis.
We are a family who needs Jesus and His life to run through us.
Your smiles and laughter fill my heart with delight,
I love listening to you chatter with your animals at rest time and night.
Your hand seems to be made for your sisters hair,
She's being such a trooper and shows so much care.
We are so grateful the Lord chose us to be your family Nate Lewis,
We see everyday how his love flows to us!
Happy Birthday,
Dad
September 7 (the night before your birthday)
To My Son
Little Nate,
You are about 10 hours away from me but not even a second from my mind.
You've been entrusted for a short time with caregivers, in which I praise God, but you are soon to meet your forever family.
Your mom has recently readied your room, but has been preparing her heart for you for years.
Your sister Sophie Mei, we pretty much just call her Sophie, Soph, sweet face, sweet head and other names...is getting ready for you.
Sophie has taken to one of her baby dolls for the first time and shows great care for her. I know she is getting ready for you.
Be patient with her little man, she will be full of love but will be learning how to have a brother loved by mom and dad too.
I praise God for your birthday September 8, 2011 and I praise God's ordained date for putting you in our arms 2012.
I thank Providence for how He works all things out. My Father in Heaven is calling me to be your father on Earth...and he has planned this before you and I were even born!
I thank Jesus for reminding me time and time again how he has brought me into the family of God and called me a son of the most high.
You nor I can carry the name or honor of being the Most High, we were not made to bear the weight of this. This is why, son, we are to worship Jesus.
Nate, you need me, you need your mom, you need Sophie, and we will need you as you grow. But these needs are not our ultimate needs, our biggest needs.
You need a Savior, which I am not.
You need a perfect Father, which I am not.
You need a redeemer, someone I cannot be.
You need a love that never shifts, a hope that never fades, a faith that can move mountains. This will not be found in me. However the One who is to be your love, hope and faith is in me.
So I will point you, Nathanael, to Jesus.
This is where I will rest as your dad. In the arms of my Savior who knows I am not enough for you, but has seen fit to allow me to be a light into your life. To love you.
You are going to love your grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins & friends. Sophie will teach you who's who and how to best get what you want.
There is more to say, but I will keep it for your little ears buddy!