[Faith-talk] Daily Thought for Monday, November 4, 2013

[Paul]

Good morning, afternoon or evening wherever you are in this world and what time of day or even day of the week it is in your locality.  I hope that everything's going well in your corner, by God's matchless grace and His providential care.

The topic of forgetting God is the theme of the article for today.  It seems that many people, including sadly not a few Christians, appear to forget God and only remember Him when a crisis situation comes up.  After this has passed, they promptly go back to living their secular lives.  Anyway Pastor Robert Rathbun, the present editor of the Gospel Messenger magazine, addresses this issue in his article entitled "Forgetting God," rendered as follows:

Deuteronomy 6:10-15 reads:  "And it shall be, when the Lord Thy God shall have brought thee into the land which He sware unto thy fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac and to Jacob, to give thee great and goodly things, which thou filledest not, and wells digged, which thou diggedest not, vineyards and olive trees, which thou plantedst not; when thou shalt have eaten and be full; Then beware lest thou forget the Lord, which brought thee forth out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage.  Thou shalt fear the Lord thy God, and serve Him, and shalt swear by His name.  Ye shall not go after other gods, of the gods of the people which are round about you; (For the Lord thy God is a jealous God among you) lest the anger of the Lord thy God be kindled against thee, and destroy thee from off the face of the earth."  Forgetting God? Who in the world would forget God? God is the Creator.  He has created all things--the sun and the moon; the oceans and the dry land; trees and vegetation; color and song; rain and the rainbow; food and clothing; animals and fish; wind and clouds; gravity and energy; beauty and variety; work and rest; men and angels--and so much more.  How could we ever forget God!

Well, perhaps in time of tragedy or catastrophe we might forget God.  Perhaps after a destructive hurricane, flood or earthquake, men might forget God.  Folks in Louisiana, the northeast United States, or in Pakistan and India, folks who have experienced these hardships, perhaps they would forget God.  But quite to the contrary, it seems that these trials only make men more dependent on God, and prayers are more earnest.  While a small minority may blame God for the calamity, most folks look to God for help in their time of need.  No, catastrophes tend to draw men closer to God, not drive them away from God.

Would the family who has just lost a loved one forget God? Occasionally, you will hear of a person who turns his/her back on God because He took a loved one, but this is pretty rare.  Most people who lose a loved one by death seem to draw closer to God, perhaps feeling that, in so doing, they are somehow drawing nearer to their departed loved one.

But who, then, would forget God? The poor? Not really.  The poor have so little, and so they look to God for their day-to-day sustenance.  Some look to God as their only hope; some, as their best hope; and some look to God as their final hope.  Whatever the case may be, the poor tend to look to God daily.

Well, then, who would forget God? Certainly not the wealthy, for they have been greatly blessed of the Lord.  And yet, it is this very group that is in danger of forgetting God.  Surprised? Yet, this is what our text warns Israel of.  God declared that He would give Israel cities, houses full of good things, wells, vineyards and olive trees for which they would not have to work.  After God being so good to them, it was then that they would have to be careful not to forget God.  When our stomachs are full and we have plenty, we begin to get the crazy idea that we do not need God, that we have everything we need right here, and God becomes unnecessary.  Rather than our hearts being full of gratitude and thanksgiving, we find ourselves satisfied with the material blessings that God has granted us, and we forget the Giver.  What a stupid thing for us to do.  God warned Israel not to forget God and go after the gods of the people round about them.  For Israel, this meant idolatry; for us it means materialism.  The United States and Canada have been bountifully blessed of God.  These material blessings have caused us to love the gift and forget the Giver.  Sadly, far too many Christians have become like the people round about them and have become very materialistic.  This is our idolatry.

We might do well to reassess our goals as a nation and as individuals.  We work hard to get money with which to buy things.  These things that we purchase help turn our hearts away from God.  Perhaps the gathering of material goods unto ourselves is not the best or wisest use of our money.  Perhaps it would be better used in helping the downtrodden.  Perhaps also the great wealth of North American nations should be used in the same manner.  Think of it.  Our nation and ourselves as individuals reaching out a helping hand to others instead of hoarding for ourselves.  What a novel and wonderful idea.  If we were to do this, we would not have the great surplus that causes us to forget God.  Now I grant you that there are rough edges to this idea, which would have to be honed to make it work without encouraging slothfulness on the part of the recipients, but is not such an idea worth the effort? When we have attempted such programs, it has always been with a view toward helping the poor, but what I am suggesting would also be of great benefit to the giver, as well, for it would help keep him from forgetting God.

Yes, when your stomach is full and you have plenty, "then beware lest thou forget the Lord."

Wow, but what an article! Now let's go to where the rubber meets the road, so to speak.

Is it absolutely vital to your earthly survival to download that book you want so much from the BARD website? And, if you have Windows XP, even though Microsoft will not support this platform after April 2014, could you survive if you don't have Windows 7 or higher? And how about that brand-new computer with all bells and whistles? Do you absolutely need it? I'm not here to answer those questions, but am just putting these feelers out for your contemplative thinking.  For me personally the answer is an unqualified no to all these questions.  But what I say might be far different from what you would say.

And now until tomorrow when, Lord willing another Daily Thought message will be presented, may the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the One to whom we should be looking, keep us safe, individually and collectively, in these last days in which we live.  Your Christian friend and brother, Paul