Scripture Focus: Judges 2.11-14
11 Then the Israelites did evil in the eyes of the Lord and served the Baals. 12 They forsook the Lord, the God of their ancestors, who had brought them out of Egypt. They followed and worshiped various gods of the peoples around them. They aroused the Lord’s anger 13 because they forsook him and served Baal and the Ashtoreths. 14 In his anger against Israel the Lord gave them into the hands of raiders who plundered them. He sold them into the hands of their enemies all around, whom they were no longer able to resist.

Student Writers Month:
This month, The Park Forum welcomes college and seminary student writers pursuing ministry careers. For more info about our yearly Student Writer program, see our website.

Reflection: Our Forgetfulness, God’s Faithfulness
By Savannah Green

Forgetfulness leads to apathy.

After Joshua’s passing, Israel began worshipping other gods. The next generation did not know God, or remember the promises he made to his people. The Israelites had forgotten their covenant with God.

Just one generation before, God’s people had been faithful and obedient to him. Yet within a short time, Israel abandoned God. 

Their forgetfulness led to apathy.

Israel became unconcerned with serving and worshipping God. Instead, they served the Baals and Ashtaroth. Even more, their sin was not hidden; it was done before God’s eyes.

This is a testament to us as well. We are often quick to forget the faithfulness of God. We forget his promises. We forget his steadfast love for us.

Our forgetfulness leads to apathy.

When we lose the habit of recalling God’s faithfulness, we become apathetic in our relationship with him. Obedience to him becomes less of a priority, and the promise of salvation moves from the forefront of our minds. False idols shift our focus and receive our worship.

Inevitably, in our humanity, we will become forgetful of God and his promises. When apathy begins to trickle into our souls, may we call to mind our dependence on God. We resist forgetfulness and apathy by remembering God’s faithfulness.

Our Forgetfulness, God’s Faithfulness

Apathy
Found in people
Found in Israel
Found in me

God brought them to the land
Promised to their fathers
“I will never break my covenant.”
Swore the Father of fathers

But God’s people did what was evil
They abandoned the Lord
And forgot the promise sworn
God’s anger kindled against Israel

How familiar this sounds
How similar it reads
To my daily wandering
From the crowned-with-thorns King

A promise of a covenant
A promise of land
Like the promise of salvation
I mindlessly neglect

May Israel’s unfaithfulness
Remind me to not forget
God’s steadfast faithfulness
Covers my debt

Israel’s apathy
Reflects my apathy
And my need
Of the true King

Divine Hours Prayer: The Morning Psalm
As a doe longs for running streams, so I yearn for you, my God.
I thirst for God, the living God; when shall I go to see the face of God?
I have no food but tears, day and night; and all day long I am taunted, “Where is your God?”
This I remember, as I pour out my heart, how I used to pass under the roof of the Most High
Used to go to the house of God, among the cries of joy and praise, the sound of the feast. 
Why be so downcast, why all these sighs? Hope in God: I will praise him still, my Savior, my God. — Psalm 42.1-6

– Divine Hours prayers from The Divine Hours: Prayers for Springtime by Phyllis Tickle

Today’s Readings
Judges 2(Listen – 3:19)
Acts 6(Listen – 2:35)

Read More about Readers’ Choice 2021|It is time to hear from you about the posts from the past eleven months (September 2020 – July 2021) that have challenged, comforted, and helped you find new meaning in the scriptures.

https://forms.gle/ozM13qvW9ouSWhJS7

Read more about Remember Jesus Christ
Remembering in Scripture is often a calling to focus on God’s commands or to recall God’s intervention in history.