We have all been overlooked, ignored and forgotten at one time or another. The glaring sign of being forgotten is that we are alone, abandoned and not noticed; it creates anger and disbelief. We try and contact the forgetful ones to let them know they forgot us. If the forgetful ones are genuinely sorry, we happily forgive them. However, if they behave like it wasn’t a problem, then we have justifiable anger, and we never trust them again. We might even leave them behind and move on to other friends and family members.
God made us in His image, so He feels this same emotion when we forget about Him. When God finds Himself miles away from our thoughts, He pretty much reacts the same way we would: hurt and angry. He’ll contact us to remind us about our appointment (Matthew 21:33-45). If it was an accident, He forgives us gladly, but if we leave Him behind on purpose, because something more interesting came along, God will be angry. He will, in turn, leave us behind and eventually avenge Himself on us.
Why would God’s people forget Him? Men forget God because of a lack of interest in keeping God’s law, because of the deceitfulness of luxury and wealth or because of problems and tragedies. We forget that we didn’t create ourselves and that we have no control over this life or nature. We forget God because of our own self-seeking lusts.
We cannot honestly expect to spend eternity with God in Heaven if we allow things to distract us from His friendship in this life, and if we never apologize and make up for it. We, ourselves, wouldn’t want such a rude person living with us in our own home!
There are many sad stories of forgetfulness in the Bible, like the prodigal son where the father was daily, hungrily gazing at the horizon, praying for and hoping for his son to return to him (Luke 15:20-24). Through Moses, God constantly repeated, “Be careful not to forget your God!” We can let Moses teach us what God thinks and wants from His people (Galatians 3:24-25). He wants to be remembered, thought about, talked to and loved—just like we do.
