OUR DAILY BREAD : NOT FORGOTTEN

[cimi]

May 8, SUNDAY 2016


Not Forgotten

Read: Isaiah 49:13-21
Bible in a Year: 2 Kings 4–6; Luke 24:36-53
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I will not forget you! Isaiah 49:15
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At her mother’s 50th birthday celebration with hundreds of people present, firstborn daughter Kukua recounted what her mother had done for her. The times were hard, Kukua remembered, and funds were scarce in the home. But her single mother deprived herself of personal comfort, selling her precious jewelry and other possessions in order to put Kukua through high school. With tears in her eyes, Kukua said that no matter how difficult things were, her mother never abandoned her or her siblings.

God compared His love for His people with a mother’s love for her child. When the people of Israel felt abandoned by God during their exile, they complained: “The Lord has forsaken me, the Lord has forgotten me” (Isa. 49:14). But God said, “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!” (v. 15).

Thank You, Lord, that I am Yours forever.
When we are distressed or disillusioned, we may feel abandoned by society, family, and friends, but God does not abandon us. It is a great encouragement that the Lord says, "I have engraved you on the palms of my hands" (v. 16) to indicate how much He knows and protects us. Even if people forsake us, God will never forsake His own.

Thank You, Lord, that I am Yours forever. I’m thankful that I won’t have to walk through any experience alone.

**God never forgets us.
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**TODAY’S BIBLE READING __ 2 Kings 2:5__12**
1 The company of the prophets at Jericho went up to
Elisha and asked him, “Do you know that the LORD is
going to take your master from you today?”

“Yes, I know” he replied, “so be quiet.”

6 Then Elijah said to him, “Stay here, the LORD has sent me
to the Jordan.”

And he replied, “As surely as the LORD lives and as you live, I
will not leave you. “So the two of them walked on.

7 Fifty men from the company of the prophets went and
stood at a distance, facing the place where Elijah and Elisha
had stopped at the Jordan. 8 Elijah took his cloak, rolled it up
and struck the water with it. The water divided to the right and
to the left, and the two of them crossed over on dry ground.

9 When they had crossed, Elijah said to Elisha, “Tell me,
what can I do for you before I am taken from you?”

“Let me inherit a double portion of your spirit, “Elisha replied.

10 “You have asked a difficult thing,” Elijah said, “yet if you
see me when I am taken from you, it will be yours__otherwise,
it will not.”

11 As they were walking along and talking together, suddenly
a chariot of five and horses of five appeared and separated the
two of them, and Elijah went up to heaven in a whirlwind.

12 Elisha saw this and cried out, “My father! My father! the
chariots and horsemen of Israel!” And Elisha saw him no
more. Then he took hold of his garment and tore it in two.

<<<<INSIGHT>>>>>
The love of a mother for her newborn child serves as a powerful symbol of God’s love for us. Life has its inevitable painful surprises and upsets, and we can sometimes be tempted to doubt the goodness, protection, and provision of the God who has redeemed us. But as this wonderful Bible passage shows, our heavenly Father could no more
forget about us than a nursing mother can turn her back on her child. The example of faithful parental care can serve as a reminder of God’s never-ending love.
_____LAWRENCE DARMANI