Those who forget God

As I walked to the restroom this morning I found myself plagued with thoughts about a dear friend of mine of the past.  I recalled how God moved powerfully to bring her and her husband back together when there 10-year-old son began to pray.

This little boy had cried out to God and He had answered his prayer powerfully within a week’s time.  His parents had been separated for 3 years and both had succumbed to extramarital affairs.

In the weeks following, God healed their relationship in a mighty way and healed his Dad of skin cancer as well as provided for a variety of their immediate needs.

The mother and children had started to come to church prior to God moving.  The mother had been hopeless that she would ever reconcile with her husband but during that time her son was radically saved.

He began to witness to the kids in his elementary school and would write the name of Jesus on his arms.  He was well received by some but many of the kids made fun of him.  However, he was not dissuaded from sharing the gospel.

In the months that followed it seemed as if the family was being integrated into the church but as time passed their presence was lacking in our gatherings. 

Over time, they completely stopped coming and the father fell back into alcoholism, the mother became very ill and the boy became more and more influenced by the world.

I was distraught this morning as I thought of this family that had forgotten God.  I felt like it was consuming my thoughts and as I prayed and asked the Lord if I should even write something this morning, I was reminded of a post that I started entitled “ Those who forget God”. 

Job 8 talks about those who forget God;

While yet in flower and not cut down,

They wither before any other plant.

Such are the paths of all who forget God;

The hope of the godless shall perish.

His confidence is severed,

And his trust is a spider’s web.

He leans against his house, but it does not stand;

He lays hold of it, but it does not endure.

Look at how forgetting God manifests:

It looks and smells good like a flower but they cannot stand before other plants.

They have hope but it is not eternal

They do not have confidence in the Lord but in other things that cannot withstand the wind and rain.

They lean on their own house in order to stand but the house doesn’t stand.  They cling to their home or families but those are things that do not last.

Job 8 goes on to describe more:

He is a lush plant before the sun,

and his shoots spread over his garden.

His roots entwine the stone heap;

he looks upon a house of stones.

So this person can look as if they are growing and thriving but his roots are entwined in a stone heap.

Recall the parable of the sower in Matthew 13, Jesus gives us insight to the seed that fell on stony ground;

As for what was sown on rocky ground, this is the one who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy, yet he has no root in himself, but endures for a while, and when tribulation or persecution arises on account of the word, immediately he falls away.

We must be mindful that we too are at risk of forgetting God.  We are prone to not read the Word of God on a continual basis or pray.  We are distracted, at times, by our homes and families and activities. 

I have not spoken to my friends in a long time.  I know that there son seems to be a very successful skater and artist however, my heart is grieved because I see the result of lives that have forgotten God.

I pray that we all take head lest we fall.  That we would take seriously the call to follow hard after Jesus.  That we would be good soil that receives the word and understands it and does what it says so that we would bear a bountiful supply of fruit through our lives and at the same time, our lives would be the preparation that our children and families need to witness in order that they would follow after the Lord with their whole hearts, seeking to know Him and His word and allowing it to take root in their lives and not be choked out by the cares and distractions of this world.

Lord, give us the grace to receive your word with joy!