Never Forsaken - Never Forgotten

“And they that know thy name will put their trust in thee: for thou, LORD, hast not forsaken them that seek thee…For the needy shall not alway be forgotten: the expectation of the poor shall not perish for ever.” (Ps 9:10, 18 AV)

 

At first glance, it may appear there is a contradiction between these two verses.  In verse 10, the psalmist states God has not forsaken those who believe in Him.  Yet, in verse 18, the implication is the needy may be forgotten, but not always.  Their expectation of God’s help would not perish with them.  They have reason to believe God would eventually see to their needs.  In the first verse, it appears God will never forsake nor forget the needy.  Yet the second verse implies he may temporarily do so.  So which is it?  Finding the balance between two seemingly contradictory verses is the nugget of application God often shares.  Trying to understand how the LORD can say on one hand He will never forsake, yet, on the other hand, it may appear that He temporarily does, is the wonder of this dilemma.  Knowing how both can be true is the answer to our situation.  The second verse is the reality of how we feel wherein the first verse is the reality of God’s presence.  The first verse is the comfort we need while feeling as we do in the second verse.  God may delay intervening in our situation, but He will never forsake.

As modern Americans, we are used to immediate satisfaction.  Waiting is not in our DNA.  When we want something, we expect it to be available.  It must be there!  Heaven forbid we should wait for a meal.  If we order it on one line, we expect it to be there the moment we enter the second line.  If it takes longer than we think it should, we are agitated.  If we stand in line for more than a minute or two, we think the waitstaff has forgotten all about our meal.  We think the kitchen has closed down and we will never get what we paid for.  For the last two thanksgiving day meals, my wife and I have started a new tradition.  We have no family or close relatives with which to share the day.  All our church folk have their own families.  We are all alone.  So, rather than feel sorry for ourselves, we decided to go to a very exclusive restaurant in the middle of nowhere to enjoy a thanksgiving day buffet.  This restaurant, at one time, was an exclusive hunting club.  Really up-scale, yet rustic in its ambiance.  We made reservations for 12:30 expecting the earlier time would work better.  However, when we arrived, we learned that reservations were running about twenty minutes behind.  We got there early so we could register early thinking doing so would make our reservation time punctual.  Not so.  We sat in the cold and wind-blown lobby for half an hour.  All the while, large parties were ushered in.  I was beginning to get a bit nervous.  There had to be three hundred to four hundred guests in this lodge and here we were, a small party of two.  As twelve-fifty rolled around, I was just about to get up and check on our twelve-thirty reservation when our pager went off.  They had not forsaken us even though we felt it was a bit of a possibility.

We can get to feeling this way.  When answers to prayer seem to take forever we think that perhaps the LORD has forsaken us.  We can feel as though our situation is not important enough for the LORD to consider, and believe in our heart that God has forsaken the needy.  But David knows better.  And so should we.  Just because God may delay in His gracious intervention does not mean He has forsaken us.  Just because it seems as though we might be pushed to the back of the line does not mean God loves us any less or that we are any less important.  Unlike the waitstaff, God can take care of us all.  All at the same time.  So there is no back of the line.  David spent several years running from Saul.  But God was with him each step of the way.  It may have felt as though God forsook him.  But He never did.  He was there through each moment of that flight and when the time was right, put David on the throne.  God has not left You.  He has not moved your need to the low-priority list.  He does not think your need is any less severe than someone else’s need.  He is not limited to how many balls He can keep in the air at any one time.  He is always there.  Your needs are always before His face.  He will answer in His perfect timing.  He will not forget you!