SCRIPTURE
But Zion said, "The Lord has forsaken me, my Lord has forgotten me."
Can a mother forget her infant, be without tenderness for the child of her womb?
Even should she forget, I will never forget you.
See, upon the palms of my hands I have written your name
(Isaiah 49:14-16)."
WHERE ARE YOU WITH GOD?
As the passage from Isaiah 49: 14-16 suggests, our relationship with God and the assessment we make of it can depend so much on life?s daily circumstances. Israel had fallen on harsh times. As a kingdom they were divided into two and were being plundered and ravaged by their neighboring kingdoms to the point where they would be exiled to Babylon for seventy years. In their misery they were convinced that the Lord had forsaken them, leaving them to destruction and humiliation at the hands of their captors. In this context of overwhelming anxiety and daunting despair, God speaks to Israel through Isaiah the prophet. God chooses two images to convey divine compassion and covenantal love towards them. He first compares himself to mothers who have such an indomitable commitment to their children. Mothers being human, in rare instances, fall short of this noble and intrepid passion for the well being of their children. The Lord says that no matter what the circumstances might be, He will never forsake Israel. The second image is that of an adolescent lover who writes the name of his beloved on the palms of his hands. Is it ironic or paradoxical that God sees himself as a youthful lover and therefore with dreams and enthusiasm about the future when his beloved is in the throes of destruction and death? How then does this passage affect us and what kind of assessment do we make about our relationship with God?
FROM THE SECULAR TO THE DEVOUT:
Most of us engage in some form of prayer and relationship with God. There are some, however, who want to have nothing to do with God. This is either a stance that they have taken for personal reasons, or by default. There are others, who pray sporadically, engaging in prayer as ritual because of certain religious circumstances in their lives, or when they are in crisis. For such persons who are experiencing hardship, God seems to be sought out mostly as a problem solver or trouble-shooter. God is an important resource, to be used only in times of emergency, but otherwise shelved in the recesses of their minds and hearts. The danger of such an understanding of God is that when their petitions don?t seem to get answered, there is confusion and disillusionment. Why pray, they ask when God does not seem to be interested in them? If God really cared, God would take care of us. In this view of prayer, the seeker is at the center of his/her universe, and God is at their beck and call. Clearly, this is a topsy-turvy understanding of the Creator-creature relationship.
Others have learnt to give God a more significant place in their lives. They pray more often and include hard times as well as good times in their conversations and relationship with God. God is sought as their refuge and strength. God is praised and offered thanks when blessings and graces come their way. They recognize that God is not beholden to them. Even when their prayers have not been answered the way they wanted, God still heard them. To them God has become a meaningful presence and so they bring the daily circumstances of their lives to God. In time the significance of God's presence dominates their lives and probably becomes the most important presence in their lives. They trust this Presence and know they are in good hands, regardless of the circumstances. In gradual increments their relationship might evolve to the point where God has become the Center of their universe and they want to be at God's beck and call.
Persons who relate to God as the center of their lives are individuals who have a true appreciation of the biblical perspective on the relationship between God and humans. We are told in the Book of Genesis, ?God created man in his image, in the divine image he created him, male and female he created them? (Genesis 1: 27). The creation story highlights two important facts about our creation as humans. Our creation comes at the climax of God's immense work of love, and humans are seen as the apex of God?s wonderful creation, given the privilege and responsibility of being caretakers of God?s creatures. Of all earthly creatures, only humans have been created in God's image and likeness. No wonder the Psalmist is agog with wonder and amazement when he exclaims in Psalm 8: "You have made him little less than the angels, and crowned him with glory and honor. You have given him rule over the works of your hands, putting all things under his feet." Psalm 139 speaks with deep reverence and appreciation for the work of God's hands on our behalf: "Truly you have formed my inmost being; you knit me in my mother's womb. I give you thanks that I am fearfully, wonderfully made; wonderful are your works (verses 13-14)."
One of the mysterious facts of human life is our rejection or lukewarm acceptance of our Creator's vision and designs for us. The reality of sin and its allure away from God is ever present in our lives. And Scripture highlights this ambivalence toward God which leads us to choose ourselves over God. Psalm 1 compares and contrasts the good man with the wicked one. The good man who delights in the law of the Lord and meditates on his law day and night is like "a tree planted near running water that yields its fruit in due season, and whose leaves never fade. What he does prospers." The wicked person, on the other hand, is "like chaff which the wind drives away." The psalm also highlights a seeming fact of our human condition where evil forces appear to dominate the forces of good. "The kings of the earth rise up, and the princes conspire together against the Lord and against his anointed."
Another powerful example of this human dichotomy is illustrated in the story of Abraham?s intercession for Sodom and Gomorrah in Genesis 18:16-32. The Lord takes Abraham into his confidence and reveals to him his intention of destroying Sodom and Gomorrah. And God's reason for taking Abraham into confidence is an interesting one. 'Shall I hide from Abraham what I am about to do, now that he is to become a great and populous nation, and all the nations of the earth are to find blessing in him? Indeed, I have singled him out that he may direct his sons and his posterity to keep the way of the Lord by doing what is right and just, so that the Lord may carry into effect for Abraham the promises he made about him (Genesis 18: 17-18)." In this dialogue that takes place between God and Abraham, the latter appeals to God's justice to prevent the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah because of their sinful ways and rejection of God. At first God agrees that He cannot destroy Sodom and Gomorrah if there were fifty just men in those towns. From fifty, Abraham whittles the number down to 10 and God is still willing to spare the two towns. Finally even Abraham relents when he realizes that there are no just men who will be destroyed in the disaster.
There are countless other examples of men and women both in the Bible and in human history who have chosen to be with or against God. Cain and his brother Abel come to mind. Abel lived according to God's ways, whereas Cain was jealous of his brother and killed him because he was found pleasing in God's sight. King Solomon was upright and God-fearing in the first years of his reign. Later on he forsook his God and worshipped the false gods or Baals of his numerous wives.
TOTAL DEPENDENCE ON GOD:
The important fact of our lives is that we will only experience ourselves as God's image and likeness when we are totally dependent on God for everything. We are speaking of a lifestyle where God becomes the beginning and end of your life, where every question is asked in God's presence and every answer received from the Holy Spirit. If then you lived your life according to your true nature, you would understand that in your relationship with God, you are the satellite and God is the center of your world. You would therefore seek constantly to be at God's beck and call.