Forgetting God is a recurring theme in the Bible, often associated with dire consequences for individuals and nations. The Scriptures consistently warn against the dangers of neglecting the Lord and His commandments, emphasizing the importance of remembrance and obedience to maintain a covenant relationship with Him.

Old Testament Warnings

The Old Testament is replete with admonitions against forgetting God. In Deuteronomy, Moses warns the Israelites of the perils of prosperity leading to forgetfulness: "Be careful that you do not forget the LORD your God by failing to keep His commandments and ordinances and statutes which I am giving you this day" (Deuteronomy 8:11). The Israelites are reminded that their success in the Promised Land is contingent upon their remembrance and worship of God.

The book of Judges illustrates the cyclical pattern of Israel's forgetfulness and the resulting oppression. Judges 3:7 states, "And the Israelites did evil in the sight of the LORD; they forgot the LORD their God and served the Baals and the Asherahs" . This forgetfulness leads to divine retribution, as God allows their enemies to subdue them until they cry out for deliverance.

The prophets also echo this theme. Hosea 4:6 declares, "My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge. Because you have rejected knowledge, I also will reject you as My priests. Since you have forgotten the law of your God, I will also forget your children" . Here, forgetting God is equated with a rejection of His law, resulting in severe consequences.

New Testament Insights

The New Testament continues to emphasize the importance of remembering God and His works. In 2 Peter 1:9, the apostle Peter warns believers about the dangers of spiritual amnesia: "But whoever lacks these qualities is nearsighted and blind, having forgotten his purification from his past sins" . Forgetting God's grace and salvation can lead to a stagnant and unfruitful Christian life.

Jesus Himself warns against the forgetfulness of God's commandments in His teachings. In the parable of the sower, He describes those who hear the word but are choked by life's worries and riches, leading them to forgetfulness and unfruitfulness (Luke 8:14).

Consequences of Forgetting God

The Bible makes it clear that forgetting God leads to spiritual decline and judgment. In Jeremiah 18:15, God laments, "Yet My people have forgotten Me; they burn incense to worthless idols that made them stumble in their ways, in the ancient paths, and to walk on byways, not on the highway" . This forgetfulness results in idolatry and a departure from God's righteous path.

In the book of Revelation, the church in Ephesus is admonished for forgetting their first love: "But I have this against you: You have abandoned your first love" (Revelation 2:4). This forgetfulness threatens their standing before God, urging them to repent and return to their initial devotion.

Call to Remembrance

Throughout Scripture, the antidote to forgetting God is active remembrance. The Israelites are instructed to remember God's deeds and commandments through festivals, sacrifices, and the recitation of His laws. In the New Testament, believers are called to remember Christ's sacrifice through the Lord's Supper, as Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 11:24-25, "Do this in remembrance of Me" .

The Bible underscores the importance of continually recalling God's faithfulness, His commandments, and His salvation to avoid the spiritual peril of forgetting Him.Job 8:13
So are the paths of all that forget God; and the hypocrite's hope shall perish:
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Psalm 9:17
The wicked shall be turned into hell, and all the nations that forget God.
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Psalm 50:22
Now consider this, you that forget God, lest I tear you in pieces, and there be none to deliver.
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Isaiah 17:10
Because you have forgotten the God of your salvation, and have not been mindful of the rock of your strength, therefore shall you plant pleasant plants, and shall set it with strange slips:
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Jeremiah 2:32
Can a maid forget her ornaments, or a bride her attire? yet my people have forgotten me days without number.
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Hosea 8:14
For Israel has forgotten his Maker, and builds temples; and Judah has multiplied fenced cities: but I will send a fire on his cities, and it shall devour the palaces thereof.
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Liberty of Conscience Threatened
... Chapter 35 Liberty of Conscience Threatened. ... What they desire is a method of
forgetting God which shall pass as a method of remembering Him. ...
/.../white/the great controversy/chapter 35 liberty of conscience.htm

The Wilderness.
... to ask how they should live in this desert place, forgetting that the ... the precious
tables, the token of the mutual engagement, and God threatened to sweep them ...
//christianbookshelf.org/yonge/the chosen people/lesson iv the wilderness.htm

Manich??an Blasphemies Concerning the Nature of God.
... But God wished to extinguish it, as Manich??us most ... For forgetting that he had shortly
before said: "But ... feared ruin and desolation that threatened his worlds! ...
/.../chapter 42 name blasphemies concerning.htm

A Libation to Jehovah
... the past, the grim present, the perils that threatened his life ... what had been won
by such self-forgetting devotion ... God only had the right to receive what men had ...
/.../maclaren/expositions of holy scripture f/a libation to jehovah.htm

The Great Commandment
... you make Him not your Father by forgetting Him. ... taught in their youth such notions
concerning God, find it ... Who can be frightened or threatened into loving any ...
/.../the water of life and other sermons/sermon xiv the great commandment.htm

A Treatise of the Fear of God;
... A TREATISE OF THE FEAR OF GOD; SHOWING ... Geo. Offor. A TREATISE ON THE FEAR OF GOD.
"BLESSED IS EVERY ONE THAT FEARETH THE LORD.""Psalm 128:1. ...
/.../bunyan/the works of john bunyan volumes 1-3/a treatise of the fear.htm

The First Stages. Ch. 9:51 to 13:21
... Such encouragement was needed; the bitter hatred of his enemies now threatened the
life ... so that it is the sheerest folly to seek for gold while forgetting God. ...
/.../erdman/the gospel of luke an exposition/a the first stages ch.htm

Sanctified for Service.
... did they not prove that his work was threatened with failure ... destroy the temple of
God, him shall God destroy ... we are apt to forget this; and, forgetting it, some ...
/.../christianbookshelf.org/percival/sermons at rugby/xix sanctified for service.htm

The Canons of the Holy and Altogether August Apostles.
... was reviled he reviled not again, when he suffered he threatened not ... not by way of
religious restraint, but as abhorring them, forgetting that God made all ...
/.../schaff/the seven ecumenical councils/the canons of the holy 4.htm

Ahaz
... into habits of formalism and of forgetting to show ... thus saith the Lord God, It shall
not stand ... Assyria, and that treacherous nation soon threatened to overflow ...
/.../white/the story of prophets and kings/chapter 27 ahaz.htm

Is forgetting the past biblical? Does the Bible instruct us to forget the past? | GotQuestions.org

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Forgetting: Dictionary and Thesaurus | Clyx.com

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