“Can a mother forget the baby at her breast and have no compassion on the child she has borne? Though she may forget, I will not forget you! See, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands.” Isaiah 49:15-16
I grieve to think how I treated my friends when I was in the hospital. They would sit by my bedside while I lay there in stubborn silence. They would bring magazines, and I would shrug my shoulders, saying I wasn’t interested. My friends would offer to wheel me outside, but I would reply, “No, I’d rather sit here in front of the television.”
I’m sure that I provoked a lot of exasperation in some of my friends. A few stopped coming around, and who could blame them?
We sometimes feel that way about God. Deep down we know we probably provoke Him with our sloppy prayers. We feel that He must be peeved with our ho-hum approach to Bible study. We’re certain that He’s irritated with our sins and annoyed with the constant ups and downs of our spiritual walk. God, we sadly assume, must be exasperated to the point of giving up on us.
If we are truly a part of God’s family, we can be sure that He will love us through the tough times. Children can be exasperating — even children of God — but the Lord will never forget us. He will never give up on us. Nothing, neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities, nor sloppy praying, nor halfhearted Bible study will be able to separate us from God’s constant and abiding love.
In light of this, how should we then live? It should humble us to think that God will not, even cannot, walk away.
Lord, if anyone should be annoyed or provoked, it should be me with my halfhearted approach to prayer and Your Word. Forgive me when I grieve You, my Friend.
