I am like a broken vessel.
Psalm 31:12 (NKJV)
Thought for Today: Jeff awoke in a North Vietnamese prison camp. Last he knew, he had been fighting with the 1st Calvary Division at Quang Tri. It was 1968 and the North Vietnamese Tet Offensive was in full swing. He had no idea how he had gotten to the prison camp. He looked down at his legs and saw the blood-soaked bandages covering the wounds inflicted by a morter shell. What would follow were five long years of forced labor, beatings and sometimes solitary confinement. Even more painful than the physical trauma, Jeff had no idea if his government or his family even knew that he was still alive. He also did not know how his wife and children were, since there was no communication with family allowed from the prison camp. He indeed felt forgotten.
Have you ever felt forgotten, out of the mind of someone else or a group of people? While the reality of death is that the memory of us will fade in others, there are other things in life that can cause us to feel forgotten. Perhaps you have divorced and feel forgotten by your ex-spouse and your adult children. Maybe a relationship has ended or is strained. Distance and circumstances can also cause us to feel out of the minds of others. Have you ever felt forgotten by God?
Jeff's wife Anne wrote letters to him every day while he was missing in action. She prayed continually for his safe return. In 1973 he was freed as part of Operation Homecoming. After a brief hospitalization, he was able to return home. His wife and children waited for him when he landed at the airfield. As they embraced Anne told him that she had never forgotten him and would never have even if he never came home.
Dear reader, do you think that your perceived distance from the Lord has caused Him to forget you? He who knows every hair on your head, every thought that you have will never forget. If you feel broken today, thinking that you are too far from the Lord ever to be back in His arms, think again. His arm is not too short to save, and His mercy is unending. Confess your brokenness, your pain, your sin, your guilt; whatever it is that is keeping you from Him. If you are angry with Him, tell Him so for He has broad shoulders. But mostly, just open the lines of communication so that He can have fellowship with you, the one He so loves and for whom he gave His all.
Heavenly Father, in our humanness we so often put up barriers to You. Help us to see that Your love knows no barriers nor knows no bounds. Teach us to love You and to accept Your love and Your free gift of grace. In Jesus' precious name we pray. Amen.
