A religious once told me, “We only forget things that don’t matter much to us.” Her words come back to me readily as a point of examine of conscience when I forget something that I shouldn’t have. It begs the question, ‘do I really care about that (him, her, them)?’
This means of examine came to me today as I read the first reading from the Office of Readings, Isaiah 49:14-50:1. The reading begins:
Zion said, “The Lord has forsaken me; my lord has forgotten me.”
Can a mother forget her infant, be without tenderness for the child of her womb? Even should she forget, I will never forget you.”
—
In this passage, Zion wages a complaint, that during their Babylonian exile, God has forgotten His covenant to them, leaving them in desolation as slaves in a foreign land.
God responds to the complaint with words full of consolation for us too; a reminder that we really do matter to God. We are important to Him, so much so, that he tells us through the prophet Isaiah, “I will never forget you.”
I’ve been asking people to join me in praying in these days as Christmas approaches, for those who are alone, and/or those suffering from depression. My prayer for them is that these words of Isaiah may speak to them and comfort them in their affliction. That, like Zion, pouring out her grief, those who find themselves suffering can take these words of God to heart.
“I will never forget you.”
A related verse for those moments in our lives when it seems to Lord is long delayed in His coming:
“Wait for the Lord, take courage; be stouthearted, wait for the Lord!” – Psalm 27:14
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