9 May 2010
I. Introduction
-- turn in Bibles to Isaiah 49:14-16
14. But Zion said, "The LORD has forsaken me, the Lord has forgotten me."
15. "Can a mother forget the baby at her breast and have no compassion on the child she has borne? Though she may forget, I will not forget you!
16. See, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands; your walls are ever before me.
-- have you ever been lost in a crowd? -- have you ever felt forgotten and abandoned? -- like no one knew who you were? -- like no one knew you existed? -- like no one really cared about you?
-- I think we've all felt like that before -- I know I have -- I can still remember what it felt like the first time I moved away from home and started college
-- I had grown up in a very small town and I think a lot of you can relate to that -- when you grow up in a small town, you have a sense of belonging -- you grow up knowing just about everybody there -- you know their names -- you know where they live -- you know their families -- and they know the same thing about you
-- I think that's one of the reasons why small towns have less trouble and crime than other places -- because you know you can't get away with anything -- everybody knows who you are
-- I remember one night when I was a teenager, a whole bunch of us got the idea to roll another kid's house -- if you don't know what I'm talking about, we went out and bought a whole bunch of toilet paper and we were going to cover the whole yard in streams of toilet paper
-- we parked our cars on the street and we snuck in under the cover of darkness and we started throwing the toilet paper into the trees -- and within moments, lights came on and the front door opened, and this kid's parents came running out into the yard, yelling at us -- we all took off running and jumped into our trucks and headed for home, planning on pretending like nothing had ever happened
-- well, when we got home, all of us found our parents waiting for us -- the kid's parents recognized who we were, called our parents, and the next day we were out there cleaning up his yard
-- kind of like that song from the old TV show "Cheers" -- small towns are places where everyone knows your name -- but, that's a good thing, because there's a sense of belonging -- a sense that you have a place in the universe -- a sense that you are known and remembered
-- we have the same thing in our families -- I know, growing up, one of my fondest memories is that of family -- our family -- even our extended family -- was very close-knit -- we were always there for each other -- it didn't matter where we were -- it didn't matter what was going on -- our family was always there -- for birthdays -- for anniversaries -- for times of trouble -- you could always count on your family remembering you and being there for you
-- I guess that's why things were so hard on me when I left Adel and moved down to Gainesville to go to the University of Florida -- I moved from a place where everyone knew me -- from a place where I was surrounded by family and friends -- to a big city where no one knew my name -- where no one cared about me -- where no one remembered the important events in my life
-- to this day, I still remember what it felt like the first time I had a birthday away from home -- birthdays were always big days in our household -- they were big events -- but, when I woke up that morning in Gainesville, no one cared -- I went to school -- I went to work -- no one seemed to notice
-- I felt more alone and more insignificant at that moment than at any time before -- I went home to my empty trailer that I lived in there near the campus -- and enjoyed a birthday dinner by myself -- about 8:00 that night, the phone rang -- and it was Mama -- just calling to say "Happy Birthday" -- just calling to say that she remembered
-- it's important to be remembered -- it's important to know that someone cares -- and it's not a good feeling when you think you've been forgotten -- when you think you've been abandoned -- when you think you're all alone in the universe
-- that is exactly how the nation of Israel was feeling in this passage here in the Book of Isaiah -- that may be how some of you are feeling this morning
-- look back at verse 14 with me if you would
14. But Zion said, "The LORD has forsaken me, the Lord has forgotten me."
-- the nation of Israel was God's chosen people -- but throughout their history, they continually strayed away from God -- turning away from His love and from His commands -- until they found themselves suffering the consequences of their sins
-- at the time that Isaiah wrote this, many of Israelites were exiled from Jerusalem and from the Promised Land and served as slaves to their captors -- they found themselves in the middle of trials and troubles and suffering in Babylon and Assyria
-- they looked back at the promises that God had made to Abraham and Isaac and Jacob -- they looked back to the promises that God had given them to always be with them -- the promise that He would be their God and they would be His people -- that they would live in the Promised Land -- the land of milk and honey and enjoy the blessings of His providence
-- but, what they were experiencing now was certainly not what they expected -- what they were experiencing now in the midst of their exile and captivity was not what God had promised
-- and, so, in the midst of their suffering -- in the midst of their pain -- they cried out to God, "Why is this happening to us? -- Have you forgotten us? -- Have you forgotten your promises to us?"
-- look at the Lord's response here in verses 15-16
15. "Can a mother forget the baby at her breast and have no compassion on the child she has borne? Though she may forget, I will not forget you!
16. See, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands; your walls are ever before me.
-- today is the second Sunday in May -- Mother's Day -- the day we set aside one time a year to remember our mothers and to thank them for taking care of us
-- when we think about our mothers, we are reminded of their love and compassion -- we are reminded of their faithfulness -- we are reminded of the fact that even if the whole world has forgotten us -- that even if the no one else in the world knows our names -- our mothers still do and still care and still remember
-- so God answers the cries of the Israelites here by reminding them of the faithfulness of their mothers -- "Can a mother forget her baby and have no compassion on the child that she has borne?"
-- the overwhelming answer is, "No" -- a mother cannot forget
-- I know the younger generations may not know this song, but most of us here remember that great hit that Tony Orlando and Dawn had -- "Tie a Yellow Ribbon Round the Ole' Oak Tree" -- remember that song? -- do you remember the story of that song?
-- it was supposedly based on a true story -- a young teenager had run away from home -- they had gotten mad at their parents and had left and had not spoken with them or communicated with them in years -- but, finally, after getting sick of the way they were living -- after getting fed up with the drugs and the alcohol and life on the street -- they wanted to come home -- they wanted to come back to the place where people knew who they were -- where people cared about them -- but they didn't know if that place still existed or not
-- and so they sent a letter to their parents and told them that they would be passing by on a bus on this certain day -- and that if the parents remembered them and wanted them to come home, they were to tie a yellow ribbon around the old oak tree that was in the front yard
-- and, as the story goes, when the bus came into town that day, the teenager looked out the bus window and saw that, not only was there a yellow ribbon on the old oak tree, but that there was a yellow ribbon around every tree in their yard
-- such is the love of a mother for their child -- such is a love that never forgets
-- but, God says here, even if a mother could forget their child -- I could never forget you
-- even though your family and friends may forget you and let you down and not take care of you -- I will never forget you -- I will never leave you or forsake you
-- God says, "you are so important to Me, that I have engraved you on the palms of My hand" -- I don't know if you did this when you were a kid or not, but when I was a kid and had to remember something, I would tie a string around my finger -- and then, later in the day, when I looked down and saw that string tied around my finger, it reminded me of what it was I had to do
-- God is telling the Israelites -- and us -- that we are so important to Him that He is not going to just tie a string around His finger to remind Him to love us -- He is not going to use a string that will rot away -- He's going to do something permanent -- He's going to engrave our name on the palm of His hand -- it is a permanent reminder to Him that He has promised to take care of us and to love us and to never, ever forget us
-- I think that's something that we really need to understand and accept in our hearts -- in our modern age, it's easy to get lost in the crowd -- with I-Phones and I-pods and all of the other gadgets, it's just too easy to wrap yourself in anonymity and to just find yourself alone -- it's just too easy to think that no one knows you or remembers you
-- but God's promise for us here is that even if all the world forgets us -- even if our family and friends forget us -- even if our very own mothers forget us -- He will not -- He will always remember us and think about us and love us
-- as I was studying this passage in preparation for today's message, I was really struck by verse 1 in this chapter -- verse 1 says, "Before I was born the LORD called me; from my birth he has made mention of my name"
-- do you know what I thought of as I read that? -- I thought of a father who has just had a baby and who is so proud of it that he's showing off his baby's picture and talking about his baby to everyone he meets -- even perfect strangers
-- a girl in our office just had a baby -- and, so it's been just like that around our office for weeks -- every day, I'm getting pictures of baby Madeline in my e-mail inbox -- or I'm getting messages from her mother telling me what Madeline did that day -- and I'm not the only one -- she's sending these messages out to everyone -- she is making mention of her baby's name to everyone she comes into contact with, even strangers at the grocery store
-- I heard someone once say that if God had a wallet, your picture would be in it -- this passage tells us that, not only would your picture be in it, but God would be pulling it out and showing it to others and telling them about you
-- the world may forget us -- our own mothers may forget us -- but God never forgets -- His love for us is so deep and so real that we occupy every moment of His existence -- even before we were born, He knew us and He longed for us and He waited for us -- and now, as we have moved on into this life, He is interested in everything that we are doing and He is always there for us
-- He will never forget us -- He will never leave us -- He will never forsake us -- He will always be there with us -- we are in the palm of His hand, and nothing can ever separate us from the love of God that He has for us in Christ Jesus
-- I want to share with you the chorus of a song by the group, "Third Day" -- it's a chorus that I think really sums up the love of God for us and why He never forgets -- why He remembers and loves us always
“…And I know that you don't understand the fullness of my love
How I died upon the cross for your sins
And I know that you don't realize how much that I give you
And I promise I would do it all again
Just to be with you I've done everything
There's no price I did not pay
Just to be with you I gave everything
Yes I gave my life away
I gave my life away
Just to be with you” (Third Day)
-- Jesus engraved our name on the palms of His hand with the nails on the cross of Calvary -- and no matter where you are this morning -- no matter how loved or unloved you feel -- no matter how accepted or lost you may feel -- He wants you to know that He has not forgotten you -- that He loves you with a love that cannot end -- and that He will always be there for you
-- let us pray
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