Isaiah 49.15
“Can a mother forget the baby at her breast and have no compassion on the child she has borne?”
This sounds like one of those rhetorical questions, to which the answer is surely ‘No, of course not!’ But the writer goes on:
“Though she may forget, I will not forget you.”
Sadly, women sometimes reject their babies, perhaps unable to face the struggles which motherhood brings, or perhaps just selfishly wanting to keep the freedom they had before this new responsibility arrived. Through Isaiah, God is telling his people he will not abandon them. He goes on in verse 16:
“See, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands.”
To Israel this will have recalled the breastplate which the high priest wore, with two onyx stones, on which the names of the twelve tribes were engraved ‘as a memorial before the LORD’ (Exodus 28.13). I wonder, is God saying that even he is helped by having a reminder? If so, how much more do we need reminding continually of what he has done for us!
Thank you Father for the reassurance that you will never abandon us. Help us to help each other not to forget what you have done.
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