Ever Been Forgotten?

Have you been forgotten? It’s the worst feeling ever! I remember being forgotten several years ago. We were traveling for an itinerant ministry and were back for the summer, parked at the ministry’s RV park. All of the teams were off the road so all of the families were living on the camp property.  Summer was a special time that we looked forward to all year. Summer provided a much needed rest but more importantly, it gave us daily time with our closest friends. We became neighbors as we all parked our RV’s side by side. We shared life and back in the day, we even shared phone lines.

Our friends were excited about a cook out they had been invited to. There was a buzz about it for days. We heard on our intercom, through the shared phone line, the dates and details of the party, but our invitation never came. I remember our friends calling their kids in from playing with our kids to get ready to go. We watched as each family loaded into their cars and one by one, drove away. I was devastated. These were our friends, colleagues and peers.  Because we rarely got to see our biological families, these people were as close to family as we had. I’m not typically a crier, but I cried that day. I felt empty, unwanted and detached from the people I thought I had the most attachment to.

Have you ever felt that way? Do you think God ever feels forgotten? We know He does. Jeremiah 18:15 For my people have forgotten Me, they burn incense to worthless gods…  I’m pretty sure God feels the same way when He is forgotten, as we do when we are forgotten. Recently, I heard a Tim Keller sermon on James 4:13-16. Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit”- yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.” As it is, you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil.

I have never really understood this passage so I was grateful for Pastor Keller’s explanation. First let's talk about what this passage does not mean. God is not saying that we cannot or should not make plans. He is not saying we shouldn’t try to make money. He is also not saying that as we talk to our friends about our plans, we should end every sentence with, “if the Lord wills.” So what is God teaching us here?

He is reminding us that we are not in control. We can’t control what happens in each day of our lives. Yesterday, I had a plan. For the most part, things went according to my plan but several things happened I had not planned on. That is the way it is for humanity. We are ultimately not in control.

But there is One who is in control–God. God holds our plans and our tomorrows in his hands. In James 4, God is inviting us to remember HIm. He is inviting us to acknowledge His goodness, His presence, His omnipotence and omniscience by welcoming Him into every moment, every decision of our lives. When I make my plans without dependence on Him, I am foolishly arrogant. Only God knows what today and tomorrow will bring. As I live life, make decisions, make plans, I must humbly submit myself to God’s decisions, life and plans. He is welcoming us to a place of humble dependency on Him. In the busyness of our days and thoughts, He is asking us to remember Him because we remember what is important to us. 

This is the greatest gift because as I remember Him, I abide in Him. Seeking Him for direction and help in all things makes me draw near to Him. As I draw near to Him, I get to know Him more and more. As I draw near to Him for the everyday things of life, I see Him. As I am seeing Him, the Holy Spirit is graciously forming me into His image. What a gift! The Lord is telling us in James 4, you do not know what your tomorrows will hold. Invite me into every aspect of your life and see Me at work as you submit your plans to Me.

I’m happy to say that an hour into our friends being at the cookout, the hostess realized the Griffith family was not there. She found out that we had not been invited and quickly had someone call and let us know we had been invited all along–we just had not received the invitation. How often does God get an invitation from me? I need Him for all things but in my humanity, I forget to invite Him in. 

Because Jesus was forgotten on the cross by Father God, I am never forgotten even when I forget Him. God is gracious even when we make our plans without Him but He is longing for the invitation. Will we welcome Him into all we are doing and thinking today? He is already there. He is waiting for us to remember.