As believers, we can all testify about the wonder of the Lord, especially the pleasure of the intimacy we experience in personal encounters with him. However, if we forget Him, there is a great risk that we will fall back into sin and lose those encounters.
Whether in dreams, visions, a ministration in church or during some personal time with the Lord, many can tell of such encounters that changed their lives and walk with God forever. David in the Bible declared in Psalms 103:1-2:
Bless the Lord oh my Soul and all that is within me bless his Holy Name. Bless the Lord oh my Soul and forget not all his benefits.
What happens if we forget God?
What happens when we allow our knowledge of God’s Word and nature to slip? Or what happens when we allow the cares of this world or the simple distractions of over-activity to cloud our minds and blind our hearts from those intimate times of fellowship we always cherished and eagerly looked forward to in our walk with the Lord?
Paul knew of this danger and spoke to the Hebrews about it in ever so keen words:
Therefore we ought to give the more earnest heed to the things which we have heard, lest at any time we should let them slip – Hebrews 2:1
There is the danger that we may let slip the treasures we have gleaned from the Word of God and hidden in our hearts if we are careless. Nevertheless, the question still remains, “What do we do IF we forget?” or perhaps if you are currently in that state of “forgetfulness”, what do you do. Perhaps you have forgotten the silent whisper of his sweet voice or his leading and directing you on what steps to take. Or maybe you have forgotten why our worship of the Lord is extremely important or why we must continually dwell in the Word of God and in communion with our fellow believers…
If we do forget, there are dangerous risks; we risk missing out on the things God would have us do and say, or places he would have us go or things he would have us speak to his people. If we forget, we risk losing out on the presence of the Lord and the joys of daily and continuous intimacy with him. We risk forgetting the might and willingness of our Lord to fight on our behalf or the fact that he healed us many many years ago and we do not need to live in sickness, pain or financial lack. Worst of all, we risk returning to our vomit like the proverbial dog or pig who returns to ingest its own vomit after spewing it up.
We risk falling back into sin and into those things from which the Lord delivered us if we forget Him and stop spending time with Him in prayer and in His Word.
We must return to the Lord
In the same passage of Hebrews chapter 2, Paul however admonishes that if we do forget, we should remember that we can place our trust in the Lord. We must not trust in our own strength to hold unto him but rather trust in the fact that he will hold unto us and preserve us (vs. 13).
Paul admonishes us to remember that the Lord died so that he might save us completely and “destroy him that had the power of death, that is the devil” so that we can live our lives without fear (vs. 14-15).
Paul also admonishes that we remember that because we have a Savior who went through the same challenges we face in our daily lives, he is able to understand what we face when we are tempted and thus be merciful and give us all we need to be fully delivered from those temptations (vs. 18).
The great apostle Paul finally admonishes that despite our shortcomings and failures, we should come boldly before his heavenly throne to obtain mercy and find grace in our time of need (Hebrews 4:16).
I therefore encourage you to come before the Lord right now, despite the depths you may seem to have fallen to. Ask for his mercy, forgiveness and the cleansing only his blood can bring. When you do, He will give you grace to stand in that hour of temptation, knowing and trusting Him to make a way of escape for you from those temptations.
Let us pray:
Dear Father, we acknowledge our inabilities before you today. We know that we are unable to walk with you except you engrace us to do so. We ask for your mercy wherever we have failed you. Cleanse us with your Blood from all our hidden and secret sins. We ask boldly because you said we should do so.
Lord, we also ask for your grace; ability so we can live for you, walk with you and have a tangible relationship with you. We trust that you will not fail us or leave us naked of your grace because you went through the same temptations we are going through and overcame.
We thank you for your mercy, the cleansing of your blood and for bringing us back into fellowship with you. Blessed be your most Holy name Lord.
In Jesus name, Amen.
David Adeniji is the Founder and President of The Behold File, a teaching ministry founded in 2003. The Behold File provides a platform through which the Holy Spirit opens the eyes of men to see Jesus so they can be changed to be like him.