MY LORD HAS FORGOTTEN ME

A Sermon by Bill McDonald from Isaiah 49:8-18a

May 25, 2008

Isaiah 49

⁸ Thus says the LORD:

In a time of favor I have answered you,

on a day of salvation I have helped you;

I have kept you and given you

as a covenant to the people,

to establish the land,

to apportion the desolate heritages;

⁹ saying to the prisoners, “Come out,”

to those who are in darkness, “Show yourselves.”

They shall feed along the ways,

on all the bare heights shall be their pasture;

¹⁰ they shall not hunger or thirst,

neither scorching wind nor sun shall strike them down,

for he who has pity on them will lead them,

and by springs of water will guide them.

¹¹ And I will turn all my mountains into a road,

and my highways shall be raised up.

¹² Lo, these shall come from far away,

and lo, these from the north and from the west,

and these from the land of Syene.

¹³ Sing for joy, O heavens, and exult, O earth;

break forth, O mountains, into singing!

For the LORD has comforted his people,

and will have compassion on his suffering ones.

¹⁴ But Zion said, “The LORD has forsaken me,

my Lord has forgotten me.”

¹⁵ Can a woman forget her nursing child,

or show no compassion for the child of her womb?

Even these may forget,

yet I will not forget you.

¹⁶ See, I have inscribed you on the palms of my hands;

your walls are continually before me.

¹⁷ Your builders outdo your destroyers,

and those who laid you waste go away from you.

¹⁸ Lift up your eyes all around and see.

Okay, it’s confession-from-the-pulpit time again. In the fall of 1980 a friend dropped by the parsonage with his truck so that we could rake the leaves from the many trees in the backyard. I was watching our three kids that day while Julie was out running errands. It was a warm day so I opened the windows and the back door in order to hear baby Rainey if she woke up from her nap. Casey about 9 and Justin about 6 helped me and our friend rake leaves and pile them in the pickup. After the truck was full and ready to go to the city dump, Casey and Justin hopped up into the bed on top of the leaves for the ride. I know, I know, but those were different times. It gets worse. My friend got behind the wheel…and I jumped into the passenger seat. My friend just sat there looking at me. “What?” I asked, “let’s go.” And he replied, “Aren’t you forgetting something? Don’t you have a baby in the house?” Omigod! I almost rode off and left a 10 month old alone in the house! So Isaiah should have had the Lord saying, “Even if a nutcase of a father forgets you, I will not forget you.” God will not forget us.

Abandonment fears are major difficulties for children and they can linger on into adulthood. A minister I know left three young people at Kings Island outside of Cincinnati because they were late when it was time to board the church van for home. By the time parents could drive the two hours from Midway to Kings Island, the three were sitting alone in the vast, darkened, empty parking lot. If a minister could willingly forget us, what’s the chance that God could forget or to choose to forget? Isaiah relays God’s words that the chance is zero. God will never forsake us.

We are hard to convince. Isaiah spends the whole first part of this chapter assuring Israel (and we Christians see ourselves as the new Israel, so this message is for us) that God has called us from birth to be channels of God’s works in this world. God has filled us chock full of talents and power, “a light to the nations.” Everyone, even kings and princes, will see God through our actions and lives. Not only does God remember who we are, God is including us, counting on us. We will say to the prisoners, “Come out!” Those in darkness we will invite out into the light. And we will feed the people even on “the bare heights,” even when things around us look desolate and hopeless, we will have the refreshment that people need because God is with us. “I will turn all my mountains into a road, and my highways shall be raised up. Sing for joy, O heavens, and exult, O earth; break forth mountains into singing! For the Lord has comforted his people, and will have compassion on his suffering ones.” God is going to be right beside us whether we are the comforters or the ones needing comfort. Wow! What a God!

“But Zion said, ‘The Lord has forsaken me, my Lord has forgotten me.’” Most people, even ministers, occasionally fall into valleys of despair and loneliness. You are all full of reassurance for others, but when it is your time to suffer or to worry, the air around you is a cavern of silence and you wonder where God is. Fearing abandonment, we pull farther into ourselves and begin to question our faith. Why doesn’t God solve this situation for me? Am I facing this alone? If God is ever-present, can God not see what my loved one is going through? Doesn’t God care at least as much as I do about them? If God wants me to speak compassion to the world, why are the voices of hatred and division so much louder than mine? Am I marching out in front all alone? My Lord must have forgotten me.

But you know what the problem is, don’t you? It’s fear. And fear closes our eyes. Do you remember the first time you ever rode a roller coaster? You climb aboard the clanking cars and slowly pull out from the platform. The car jerks its way up the first tall drop. At first you want to look around at the view, see how far you can see, perhaps marvel a little at the planks and beams and rails. But then the coaster tops the hill and you see the sheer drop before you. What do you do then? Usually, several things—some of which we can’t mention in church. You grip the safety bar until your knuckles are white and your fingerprints are left in the metal. You let out a piercing scream that you didn’t know you had in you. And you close your eyes. Fear makes us close our eyes. My high school had a back entrance to its parking lot that was so narrow that two cars could barely squeeze by at the same time. When I first learned to drive, if another car was headed out as I was headed in, I would carefully watch the curb and the oncoming car until the last second…and then I would close my eyes as we passed each other. I don’t recommend this driving technique. Fear makes us close our eyes. Fear for ourselves, fear that we will be impotent in facing down the tyrants of the world, fear that all our good deeds will come to naught, fear that we will fail…or fall…or die. Fear makes us close our eyes and ask, “Where is God? I can’t see God. Has my Lord forgotten me?”

The solution to our fears of course is to open up our eyes. “Can a woman forget her nursing child and show no compassion for the child of her womb? Even these may forget, yet I will not forget you. See, I have you inscribed on the palms of my hands.” Open your eyes and look at God’s hands. One scholar suggests that the word “inscribed” may actually mean “tattooed.” God has tattoos! For those of you who had “Rosie” tattooed on your arm during your military service only to have Rosie break up with you when you came home, you know what a risk it is to tattoo a name on yourself. But God takes that risk with us. Even if we try to break up with God, God still has our names tattooed on the holy hands. God’s love for us is permanent, eternal. And the proof of that is all around. If we can shake loose of fear for a moment, we will see that God constantly watches our “walls,” our lives. The good things in our lives, “the builders,” outdo the destroyers. And the enemies who assail us eventually fade away before God’s power.

God speaks to us, “Lift up your eyes all around and see.” The Beatles sang this hope to us on their White Album in a song called Dear Prudence.

“Dear Prudence open up your eyes
Dear Prudence see the sunny skies
The wind is low the birds will sing
That you are part of everything
Dear Prudence won't you open up your eyes?

Look around round round
Look around round round
Look around round round”

Look around you. No matter what you face in the coming days or the coming years, God holds your life, wears your tattoo. God is right there with you always. Open up your eyes and see. Remember, God will never forget.