“Stan,” I asked on morning, “do you ever get the sense that God has forgotten about you?”
“You mean like if I ask God, ‘What have you done for me lately?’”
“Yeah,” I said, “kind of like that.”
“Only when I focus on me, rather than on God,” Stan replied.
‘What’s that mean?” I asked.
“If I focus only on what I want, without truly focusing on all God does and has already done for me, there is an easy tendency for the ‘poor me’ attitude to rise to the top and for me to think that God has forgotten about me.”
“But,” he continued, “it’s really more that I have forgotten about God than it is that He has forgotten about me.”
“Is there a way to keep that from happening?” I asked.
“For me there is,” Stan replied. “It revolves around counting my blessings and then recounting them.”
“Counting them twice?” I said. “Why?”
“Not ‘recounting’ them in the sense of numbering them,” he replied, “but in the sense of remembering them. If I focus on all the ways I have been blessed, as well as focusing on all of the ways I am continually blessed, there’s no way I’m going to fall into the trap of thinking I’m being left out of the blessings God pours out on His people.”
“Such as what?” I asked.
“Salvation and redemption is a good starting point,” Stan replied. “Just stop and think what it means to have the assurance of spending eternity in God’s presence. If He did nothing else, that alone is worthy of my eternal thankfulness. But He does a whole lot more each day if I will only pursue what He has for me.”
“You mean like the eternal life of knowing God the Father and Jesus the Son?” I asked.
“Exactly,” Stan responded. “How great is that? To be able to have an ever-deepening personal relationship with God the Father and Jesus the Son in and through the indwelling Holy Spirit. Fabulous! If I will only take my eyes off of myself and what I want apart from God, if I will only focus on the blessing of knowing God, how could I possibly think that He has forgotten about me?”
“So,” I said, “count your blessings and continue to remember them.”
“You got it, my friend,” Stan replied. Count and recount!”
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Bible verses to consider:
Now behold, today I am going the way of all the earth, and you know in all your hearts and in all your souls that not one word of all the good words which the Lord your God spoke concerning you has failed; all have been fulfilled for you, not one of them has failed. Joshua 23:14.
So these stones shall become a memorial to the sons of Israel forever. Joshua 4:7.
Prayer: Thank you, Father, for the blessings you have poured out on and for me. Thank you, too, for the blessings you continue to pour out each day. I confess that too often I fail to count and recount those blessings and, when my self-focus rises above my focus on you, I tend to think you have forgotten about me. Please, Father, forgive that foolishness. And please help me in following every step of your lead to focus on what you have done in allowing me to accept by faith your free and gracious provision of life eternally with you when it’s time, as well as the provision of knowing you in an ever-deepening personal relationship before then. Thank you I can and do bring these prayers before you in the name of Jesus. Amen.
Think on this: Have you accepted the blessing of life eternally with God when your time here is completed? If no, why? Do you not know it is His free and gracious gift that only needs to be accepted by faith? If you do have the assurance of salvation, how are you doing with counting and recounting the blessings of God? Do you sometimes think God has forgotten about you? If so, what is that all about? If you sense that you may not be taking into account all that God has done — and continues to do — for you and that change may be appropriate, how is that going to happen? Is that what you want? Why or why not?
Waiting for the Train 