Column by Sumter Pastor Joey Durham: Has the Lord really forgotten you?
Our devotion for today asks this question, "Lord, Have You Forgotten Me?" Our text is Psalm 13:1, where we read, "How long wilt thou forget me, O LORD? forever? How long wilt thou hide thy face from me?" (KJV)
Have you ever experienced circumstances in your Christian life when you felt like asking in your prayers, "Lord, have you forgotten about me?" Have you found yourself fearful at the seeming silence of God and felt a little neglected as you are going through an intense trial or a hard place in your life?
From our text verse, it seems as though the Psalmist David was in just such a place. Let's be honest about this. Sometimes these feelings result from known sin in our life that we feel is not really sin. There are just some aspects of our life that we're good with but we also know in our heart that God isn't pleased with. In Psalm 66:18, this is what God's Word has to say about that, "If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me" (KJV) To put it plainly, when this is the case, God's not going to hear our prayer no matter the severity of our circumstances. Why? Because He honors His Word, and He knows that we know better than to dishonor Him and His Word by regarding sin above our Savior.
Nevertheless, we can be sure that, even in the setting just described, our Lord has not forgotten about us. In 1 John 1:9, our Lord has provided a way for us to return from a seemingly forgotten place into a place of forgiveness and renewed fellowship with Him. "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." (KJV)
Confession of our sin implies acknowledging that the sin we were good with is indeed sin against a holy and righteous God. It also implies repentance or a turning from that sin because we know that we have grieved the heart of God and have broken the fellowship that we need with Him. As we come to God in a penitent spirit, our Lord is faithful and just to forgive us and cleanse us from that which has broken fellowship with Him.
Just as it was not God's will for David to feel this way and feel the need to ask this question in our text verse, it is not God's will for you and I to bring ourselves into this place as well because "we're good" and comfortable with allowing sin into our life. May we not live feeling "forgotten" but instead live in close fellowship with our Savior who loves us and gave Himself for us.
Joey Durham is pastor at Open Bible Baptist Church at 180 Old Manning Road in Sumter. You can contact Pastor Durham at durham.joey@yahoo.com or call the church office at (803) 481-9315.