God Never Forgets Us: Remembering His Blessings with Thanks

Does God Forget Us?

Christians have an expression, "I was a prodigal." Sometimes you hear them talking about their children as "prodigals." These are people who knew the blessings of God but left to go their own way. They left their faith and what they knew to be true and often went down a path of abandonment. When people forget God, does He forget them? Let's look back at the Jews who wandered in the wilderness for forty years.

Remembering God's Provision

In Deuteronomy 8, Moses reminds the people of God's blessings during their time in the desert. Moses tells them to "Remember" how God fed them with manna from Heaven that they did not know. But first God allowed them to hunger for over a month. Why? So that would be humbled. Then when the provision from Heaven came, they would recognize who their source of blessing was (Deuteronomy 8:3). They did not work to possess the manna. It simply appeared and then they gathered it and ate it. God will provide.

But then, Deuteronomy 8:11 warns, "Beware that you do not forget the LORD your God." The danger is not just when we need something, but in times when life is going well and we begin to think blessings are predictable. Moses ties remembering God’s provision to responding with thanksgiving. When we forget God, thankfulness fades, and what once was received with humility slowly becomes expected.

The same danger still shows up in our lives today. Sometimes, when we are far from God, He allows us to suffer want for a time before He blesses us. In this we learn who it is that provides for us. Moses tells his people that God wants to teach them a lesson, a truth later repeated by Jesus: "Man does not live by bread alone but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God" (Matthew 4:4). Jesus is our bread of life today. We hunger when we are far from Him.

We may not recognize exactly what we are hungering for, but we know that there must be more in this life than the sin we are living in. Much of the Christian life is recognizing what God was doing before we understood it. Long before we returned to our Father, He had never stopped caring for us. God never forgot us.

God in His mercy then offers us His Son. Take and eat, do this in remembrance of me (1 Corinthians 11:24). We remember that even as a prodigal our needs were met by the One who loves us. Did you get that great job? Were you blessed with a child? Were you healed from a disease or saved from a near fatal accident? That was God.

Most likely though you did not recognize Him. You probably thought it was you alone, or luck, that provided these blessings. Only after we turn to our Father do we fully understand these blessings for what they really were: proof of His love and care for us even in the midst of our sin.

The Blessings We Failed to See

When we repent and cry out to Jesus to save us, we begin to experience the blessings of our true Promised Land, blessings that will continue into eternity when we live with Him in Heaven. His promise is to bless us with all spiritual blessings (Ephesians 1:3).Then we can understand what even greater blessings await us. We can experience peace that passes understanding, even in the midst of trials. We can worship God from a changed heart.

Our hearts will recognize where the good things in our life come from. We will grow in the gifts of the Spirit: love, joy, faith, patience, goodness, and more. But still Moses told the people to "Remember."

Because in the midst of all these blessings we are still very human. How easy it is to forget God. How easy it is to believe that our own "power and the might of my hand have gained me this wealth (Deuteronomy 8:17). No. It is nothing we have done or ever will do that can achieve our spiritual wealth or salvation. The Jews left Egypt behind by the power of God, but still many forgot who it was that made this happen.

As prodigals who return to Jesus, we should never imagine that we found our way back on our own. God was always there. We may have gone through hard times but we were never forsaken by our Father. Even now, He wants to feed us with the manna from Heaven that is His Son. He is the bread of life who came down to man. Throughout Scripture God reminds His people that His love and remembrance of them never fail.

God Never Forgets His People

In Isaiah 49:15-16 God tells us that no more can a nursing mother forget her child than He can forget us. We are "engraved on His palms." Yet in His mercy He promises to forget our sins (Hebrews 8:12). But because He knows us and our weaknesses His word reminds us to "Remember."

We are told to remember His faithfulness to us (Psalm 77:11). We are to remember His Words and commands (Acts 20:35). And we are told to remember Christ's sacrifice for us (1 Corinthians 11:24). But we don't just stop at remembering. When we remember we are to give thanks.

Remembering with Thankfulness

The story of the healing of the ten lepers in Luke 17:11-19 exemplifies this so well. Jesus heals ten lepers but only one came back to give God praise and thank Jesus for his healing. The one who returned was an outcast, a Samaritan, who was despised by the Jews. Falling at Jesus' feet, the Samaritan is told that his faith has made him well, literally saved him. The other lepers were physically healed but only one was spiritually healed as well.

When the leper gave thanks and praise it was evidence of his faith. Are we remembering to thank God for how He has blessed us even now? Do we take His blessings for granted or do we, in some way, believe we have deserved them?

Giving Thanks in Every Circumstance

If we return to Deuteronomy 8 we read, "When you have eaten and are full, then you shall bless the Lord your God for the good land which He has given you." It is natural for us to want the blessings of God but our faith should put us at His feet in thankfulness. 1 Thessalonians 5:18 reminds us "in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you." Notice the word everything.

Paul knew that the Christian life would not be an easy one. Yes God has blessed us with His gift of grace and salvation, but living out this life would require suffering and sacrifice. Even in this, Paul says to be thankful in all circumstances. God's will is not always for us to live a comfortable life. Just as His Son did not.

A Life of Continual Remembrance and Thanksgiving

So as we go our way through our blessed life giving thanks and remembering, think on the words of this ancient hymn: "Now Thank We All Our God" by Martin Rinkart (1636). I want to leave you with the first verse of this beautiful worship song. The answer to the question we began with is clear. We may forget God, but He never forgets those who belong to Him.

Now thank we all our God

with heart and hands and voices,

who wondrous things has done,

in whom his world rejoices;

who from our mothers' arms

has blessed us on our way

with countless gifts of love,

and still is ours today.

The blessings of God did not stop with the Jews arriving at the Promised Land or even 2,000 years ago with the resurrection of Jesus. For those who belong to Him, we will continue for an eternity into our own blessed Promised Land of Heaven where we will live with Him forever.