Has God forgotten me? Has God forgotten us? Has God forgotten his church? Who hasn’t asked these questions in recent months? God’s judgments have been raining down upon us – physical, financial, and social judgments. But there have also been spiritual judgments. Churches have been closed for months, public worship has become private worship, and the sacraments have not been administered. Funerals and weddings have become small private gatherings of a handful of people.
Has God forgotten me? Has God forgotten us? Has God forgotten his church? We feel abandoned. We feel vulnerable. We feel doomed
Noah must have felt like this when being swept along on the waves of judgment for forty days. Does God remember me? Has God forgotten us? That’s why the words in Genesis 8:1 are so precious. “And God remembered Noah.”
It’s not that God forgot Noah at any point. It’s not that God just remembered Noah at that point, as in “Oh, I just remembered.” So what does God’s remembering mean?
GOD LOVES THINKING ABOUT HIS PEOPLE
- God chose to think about Noah: He deliberately decided to think about Noah and his situation. Our remembering can be accidental. Something just springs to mind. That’s not God’s remembering. No, God, chose to give Noah extra special consideration and attention.
- God enjoyed thinking about Noah: God chose to think about Noah because he enjoyed thinking about Noah. Just as we can sometimes decide to recall a loved one and spend some time thinking about them with pleasure, so God did with Noah.
Our remembering can be accidental, but God’s remembering is intentional.
But Noah might have said, “I need more than thoughts. I need action.”
GOD LOVES PROTECTING HIS PEOPLE
God’s remembering is always connected to action. He doesn’t remember just for mental pleasure.
- God thought about Noah’s safety: The context makes clear that God’s remembering was especially focused on thinking about Noah’s safety.
- God ensured Noah’s safety: God didn’t just think about the danger Noah was in and his need for safety. He also acted to guarantee it by sending a wind to blow away the waters of judgment and navigating the boat to rest on Mount Ararat (Gen. 8:2-5).
Remember God’s remembering and you will never feel forgotten
Do you see how powerful an act God’s remembering is?
LIVING THE BIBLE
Has God forgotten you? No. Has God forgotten his church? No. God loves thinking about his people and God loves protecting his people. Put your name in place of Noah’s name: “But God remembered [David].”
So let’s ask and trust God to remember us in the midst of his judgments. That’s what the thief on the cross did in the midst of an even greater divine judgment than the flood. “Lord,” he pled, “Remember me when you come into your kingdom” (Luke 23:42). And what was Jesus’s reply, “This day, you shall be with me in paradise” (43). Now that’s a remembering we will never forget.
This episode of Living the Bible lines up with Expedition 3: Day 5 in Exploring the Bible Together: A 52 Week Family Worship Plan and Exploring the Bible: A Bible Reading Plan for Kids. You can catch up with previous episodes of the Living the Bible podcast here or subscribe on iTunes, Spotify, and Google Podcast.
