Sidetracked by “Forgotten God”

If you check the block on the sidebar, you see that I’m reading a book on leadership. Well, I’ve tried not to do it too often lately, but I’m suddenly in the middle of another book at the same time. I picked up Francis Chan’s “Forgotten God” and happened to crack it open while waiting for a vehicle inspection on Thursday. I haven’t been able to stay away from it.

As usual, I’ll have a book review on it when I finish reading it. But the title alone begs for comment. How guilty are we of “forgetting” God?

If you were to stop and seriously consider how often we recognize God in our lives, you might be surprised. We talk about “acts” of God, give credit to God, thank God, curse God, pray to God, and swear using God’s name. Some of us walk through our day hoping to hear from God while others spend the day ignoring Him. When it comes to the eternal being that is omnipresent, you’re going to do one or the other. While God’s involvement in our lives is widespread, from giving us life to creating the earth we walk on to daily calling us to be like Him, we can easily forget about various aspects of who He is and His works in our life.

To be fair, we are talking about the eternal, infinite God. You cannot possibly have Him figured out or know for sure His next move. There is more to who He is than we can fathom, and He is able to do more than we could ask or imagine. At the same time, though, we reduce Him to far less than we should, incorporating Him into our lives less than He wishes.

We are a thick-headed people, are we not? It takes far too long for us to grasp a truth or principle. One study shows that we forget 46% of what we learn in just one day. After two weeks we forget 79%. When was the last time you learned how God can intervene (or interfere) with your life? How long has it been since you asked Him to do that for you?

Beyond the scope of Chan’s book, we forget God all day long, each and every day. Maybe that is why Paul us:

Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.
(1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 ESV)

It’s hard to forget God when you’re always rejoicing (for every perfect God comes from our Father in Heaven), praying to Him,  or thanking Him.

Oh that we would take hold of some work that we need of Him and repeat it daily in our lives. Imagine if you did that just once a week, or even a month. It is better than forgetting Him. God wants to abide with us, for our lives to be intermingled with all that He is and offers to us. Make the effort to remember Him today.