Genesis 8:1a: “Then God remembered Noah.”
If you are honest with yourself, there are things you’ve done or not done in your life that you would just as soon forget. More importantly, you hope God has forgotten those things. The good news for those who have confessed their sins before God and confessed Jesus as their Lord and Savior, Hebrews 8:12 promises that He will remember their sins no more. What a relief and reason to praise the Lord!
The better news is that while God, in His mercy and grace, chooses to not remember your sins, He does not forget you. Today’s verse speaks to when Noah, his family, and the animals on the ark have been afloat on the flood for as long as 150 days. The flood was a judgment from God on the sin that had flooded the earth. Do you feel like that sometimes? Do you feel like you have been cast out to sea with no idea where you are or where you are going? Do you feel alone? Today’s verse should be comforting because while God indeed forgets the confessed sin, He does not forget the confessed sinner.
If you’re in a trial or tough time in your life, there is an understandable and powerful temptation to come to believe that God has indeed forgotten about you. You’re in some kind of physical, emotional, mental, or spiritual pain, yet the God who saves and has the power to heal has not helped you. You cry out, “Where are You, God?!” You are not alone in such a cry, for God’s only Son cried out something similar when He was hanging on the cross, “My God, why have You forsaken me?”
The truth is God did not forsake His Son. You may think that God did forsake Jesus and allowed Him to be tortured and murdered. But this is only part of the story. Three days after His death, Jesus was resurrected and lives to this very day. Your current suffering is only part of your story. Jesus’ story introduces the truth that there is likely great purpose that comes from suffering. Furthermore, His story introduces the promise that death is not the end of one’s story. God the Father did not forget His Son, and He does not forget those who believe in His Son.
If you choose to remember what happened at the cross, you can take a hold of Jesus’ nail-pierced hand and trust God will not forget you. Jesus promised in John 10:28 that those who reach out for His hand, no one will snatch them from Him. In the midst of your trials, stay as focused as you can on the truth that God remembers you. Several times in Scripture, there are statements of God remembering those who love Him. He may be allowing your suffering to teach you a deeper truth about Him, but He will deliver you. He has forgiven and forgotten your sins, but He has not forgotten you.