Forgetting God

Scripture warns people how easy it is to forget God in the varying circumstances of life and to fail to give him his due place, and points out the consequences of so doing.

Warnings not to forget God

Forgetting God's past acts

Deuteronomy 4:9 See also Deuteronomy 9:7–8; Isaiah 51:12–13

Only be on your guard and diligently watch yourselves, so that you do not forget the things your eyes have seen, and so that they do not slip from your heart as long as you live. Teach them to your children and grandchildren.

Forgetting God's covenant

Deuteronomy 4:23 See also 2 Kings 17:38

Be careful that you do not forget the covenant of the LORD your God that He made with you; do not make an idol for yourselves in the form of anything He has forbidden you.

Forgetting God's ways

Isaiah 55:6–8 See also Deuteronomy 18:9–13; 1 Kings 2:1–4

Seek the LORD while He may be found; call on Him while He is near. Let the wicked man forsake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts; let him return to the LORD, that He may have compassion, and to our God, for He will freely pardon. “For My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways My ways,” declares the LORD.

Reasons why people forget God

Easy circumstances

Deuteronomy 6:10–12 See also Deuteronomy 8:10–14

And when the LORD your God brings you into the land He swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, that He would give you— a land with great and splendid cities that you did not build, with houses full of every good thing with which you did not fill them, with wells that you did not dig, and with vineyards and olive groves that you did not plant— and when you eat and are satisfied, be careful not to forget the LORD who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.

Idolatry

Judges 8:33–34 See also Exodus 32:1–8; Deuteronomy 12:29–31; 1 Kings 11:4–6

And as soon as Gideon was dead, the Israelites turned and prostituted themselves with the Baals, and they set up Baal-berith as their god. The Israelites failed to remember the LORD their God who had delivered them from the hands of all their enemies on every side.

Pride and stubbornness

Nehemiah 9:16 See also Deuteronomy 9:12–13; 2 Kings 17:14–17; Jeremiah 7:22–26

But they and our fathers became arrogant and stiff-necked and did not obey Your commandments.

Consequences of people forgetting God

Spiritual adultery

Hosea 1:2 See also Jeremiah 3:6–10; Hosea 4:10–13, Hosea 5:4

When the LORD first spoke through Hosea, He told him, “Go, take a prostitute as your wife and have children of adultery, because this land is flagrantly prostituting itself by departing from the LORD.”

Social decay

Hosea 4:1–3

Hear the word of the LORD, O children of Israel, for the LORD has a case against the people of the land: “There is no truth, no loving devotion, and no knowledge of God in the land! Cursing and lying, murder and stealing, and adultery are rampant; one act of bloodshed follows another. Therefore the land mourns, and all who dwell in it will waste away with the beasts of the field and the birds of the air; even the fish of the sea disappear.

The destruction of the nation

Deuteronomy 8:19–20 See also Deuteronomy 6:14–15

If you ever forget the LORD your God and go after other gods to worship and bow down to them, I testify against you today that you will surely perish. Like the nations that the LORD has destroyed before you, so you will perish if you do not obey the LORD your God.

The death of the sinner

Psalm 9:17 See also Job 8:11–13; Psalm 50:22; Isaiah 65:11–12

The wicked will return to Sheol— all the nations who forget God.

Examples of people forgetting God

Judges 8:33–34; 2 Kings 17:7–20; Psalm 78:40–43, Psalm 106:19–22; Isaiah 1:2–3; Jeremiah 3:19–21

Exhortations and resolve not to forget God

Psalm 103:2, Psalm 119:61, Psalm 119:109

God's provision to help people not to forget him

His word

Psalm 78:5–7 See also Deuteronomy 31:24–27; Jeremiah 20:9

For He established a testimony in Jacob and appointed a law in Israel, which He commanded our fathers to teach to their children, that the coming generation would know them— even children yet to be born— to arise and tell their own children that they should put their confidence in God, not forgetting His works, but keeping His commandments.

Covenantal meals and festivals

Deuteronomy 16:1–3, Deuteronomy 16:9–12; 1 Corinthians 11:23–26

External signs

Genesis 9:12–17, Genesis 17:9–13; Numbers 15:37–39; Deuteronomy 11:18–20

God's challenge to those who forget him

Hosea 4:1 See also Isaiah 57:11; Jeremiah 2:31–32; Hosea 2:2–13

Hear the word of the LORD, O children of Israel, for the LORD has a case against the people of the land: “There is no truth, no loving devotion, and no knowledge of God in the land!

God's call to those who forget him

Jeremiah 3:19–22 See also Revelation 2:4–5, Revelation 3:20

Then I said, ‘How I long to make you My sons and give you a desirable land, the most beautiful inheritance of all the nations!’ I thought you would call Me ‘Father’ and never turn away from following Me. But as a woman may betray her husband, so you have betrayed Me, O house of Israel,” declares the LORD. A voice is heard on the barren heights, the children of Israel weeping and begging for mercy, because they have perverted their ways and forgotten the LORD their God. “Return, O faithless children, and I will heal your faithlessness.” “Here we are. We come to You, for You are the LORD our God.

God's grace even when his people do forget him

Isaiah 49:15–16 See also Deuteronomy 4:25–31; Nehemiah 9:29–31

“Can a woman forget her nursing child, or lack compassion for the son of her womb? Even if she could forget, I will not forget you! Behold, I have inscribed you on the palms of My hands; your walls are ever before Me.