Forgetting God is Forgetting His: Word
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Forgetting God is a theme that resonates throughout the Bible, often linked with the neglect or abandonment of His Word. The Scriptures emphasize the importance of remembering God's commandments, statutes, and teachings as a means of maintaining a faithful relationship with Him. When individuals or nations forget God, they invariably forget His Word, leading to spiritual decline and moral decay.

Biblical Warnings Against Forgetting God and His Word

The Bible frequently warns against the dangers of forgetting God and His Word. In Deuteronomy 8:11, Moses cautions the Israelites: "Be careful that you do not forget the LORD your God by failing to keep His commandments and ordinances and statutes that I am giving you this day." This verse underscores the connection between remembering God and adhering to His Word. Forgetting God is not merely an intellectual lapse but a failure to live according to His revealed will.

In Hosea 4:6, the prophet laments the consequences of forgetting God's law: "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, the neglect of God's Word leads to destruction and divine rejection, illustrating the severe repercussions of spiritual amnesia.

The Role of God's Word in Remembering Him

God's Word serves as a constant reminder of His character, promises, and expectations. Psalm 119, the longest chapter in the Bible, is a profound meditation on the beauty and necessity of God's Word. Verse 11 states, "I have hidden Your word in my heart that I might not sin against You." This verse highlights the protective and guiding role of Scripture in the believer's life, suggesting that internalizing God's Word is a safeguard against forgetting Him.

The New Testament also emphasizes the importance of remembering God's Word. In James 1:22-25, believers are exhorted to be doers of the Word, not merely hearers: "But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks at his face in a mirror, and after observing himself goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like." This passage illustrates that true remembrance of God involves active obedience to His Word.

Consequences of Forgetting God's Word

Forgetting God's Word leads to a host of negative consequences, both individually and collectively. In Judges 2:10-12, we see a generation arise that "did not know the LORD or the work that He had done for Israel." This forgetfulness results in idolatry and disobedience, demonstrating how neglecting God's Word can lead to spiritual and moral decline.

The prophets frequently called Israel back to remembrance of God's Word as a means of repentance and restoration. In Jeremiah 2:32, God laments, "Can a maiden forget her jewelry, or a bride her wedding sash? Yet My people have forgotten Me days without number." This poignant imagery underscores the unnaturalness of forgetting God and His Word, likening it to a bride forgetting her adornments.

The Call to Remember

Throughout Scripture, believers are called to remember God's Word as a means of maintaining faithfulness. In 2 Peter 1:12-15, the apostle Peter emphasizes the importance of remembrance: "Therefore I will always remind you of these things, even though you know them and are established in the truth you now have. I think it is right to refresh your memory as long as I live in the tent of my body." Peter's commitment to reminding believers of God's Word highlights the necessity of continual engagement with Scripture to prevent spiritual forgetfulness.

In conclusion, forgetting God is intrinsically linked to forgetting His Word. The Bible consistently calls believers to remember and adhere to God's commandments, recognizing that His Word is the foundation of a faithful and obedient life.
Torrey's Topical Textbook
Hebrews 12:5
And you have forgotten the exhortation which speaks to you as to children, My son, despise not you the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when you are rebuked of him:
Torrey's Topical Textbook

James 1:25
But whoever looks into the perfect law of liberty, and continues therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed.
Torrey's Topical Textbook

Library

How any one Can Forget and Remember God.
... nothing else remains, but that you take his word for it ... then, will not so have forgotten
God as to ... Him when reminded of Him; yet, by forgetting God, as though ...
/.../augustine/on the holy trinity/chapter 13 how any one can.htm

The Origin of Idolatry is Similar. The Soul, Materialised by ...
... temporal and bodily; so turning away and forgetting that she was ... to things seen the
name of God, and glorifying ... nor what appears by light, because his eyes are ...
/.../athanasius/select works and letters or athanasius/section 8 the origin of.htm

From Jezreel to Horeb
... Bewildered, he started from his slumber. ... Forgetting that three years before, God
had directed his course to a place of refuge from the hatred of Jezebel ...
/.../white/the story of prophets and kings/chapter 12 from jezreel to.htm

How a Man Shall have Him in this Work against all Thoughts, and ...
... down all manner of thought under the cloud of forgetting. ... And if he proffer thee
of his great clergy to ... feed him on such sweet meditations of God touched before ...
/.../anonymous/the cloud of unknowing/here beginneth the seventh chapter.htm

The Voice of the Lord God
... How then did man, who now is continually forgetting God, contrive to ... and upholdeth
all things by the word of his power: even Jesus Christ, God blessed for ...
/.../kingsley/the gospel of the pentateuch/sermon iii the voice of.htm

The Appointment.
... It reckons God's power is as big as it is. ... And each time afterwards when He told
them of His death the words ... Aye, there's the bother, this thing of forgetting. ...
//christianbookshelf.org/gordon/quiet talks on johns gospel/the appointment.htm

A Good Declaring of Certain Doubts that May Fall in this Word ...
... certain doubts that may fall in this word treated by ... upon him to press betwixt him
and his God; although they ... cover him with a thick cloud of forgetting, be he ...
/.../anonymous/the cloud of unknowing/here beginneth the eighth chapter.htm

The Secret Walk with God (I. ).
... and out of the treasures of His Word, for your ... filled with the Spirit of God, filled
with ... While never really forgetting his ordained character, let him, for ...
/.../moule/to my younger brethren/chapter i the secret walk.htm

Written from Rome
... Paul wrote; "but this one thing I do, forgetting those things ... the prize of the high
calling of God in Christ ... From the time that he gave his allegiance to Christ ...
/.../white/the acts of the apostles/lesson 45 written from rome.htm

Twenty Second Sunday after Trinity Paul's Thanks and Prayers for ...
... wind of your ingratitude; by shamefully forgetting the ineffable ... us and reconciled
us to God"failing to ... who, in submission and gratitude to his God, and in ...
/.../luther/epistle sermons vol iii/twenty second sunday after trinity.htm

Resources
What are the seven things God hates? | GotQuestions.org

Should a Christian use a dating service to find a spouse? | GotQuestions.org

Can/should a Christian who is a virgin marry someone who is not a virgin? | GotQuestions.org

Forgetting: Dictionary and Thesaurus | Clyx.com

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Subtopics

Forgetting

Forgetting God is Forgetting his Covenant

Forgetting God is Forgetting His: Benefits

Forgetting God is Forgetting His: Covenant

Forgetting God is Forgetting His: Law

Forgetting God is Forgetting His: Past Deliverance

Forgetting God is Forgetting His: Power to Deliver

Forgetting God is Forgetting His: Word

Forgetting God is Forgetting His: Works

Forgetting God: A Characteristic of the Wicked

Forgetting God: Backsliders are Guilty of

Forgetting God: Backsliders Guilty of

Forgetting God: Benefits

Forgetting God: Cautions Against

Forgetting God: Encouraged by False Teachers

Forgetting God: Exhortation to Those Guilty of

Forgetting God: Law

Forgetting God: Past Deliverances

Forgetting God: Power to Deliver

Forgetting God: Prosperity Leads To

Forgetting God: Prosperity often Leads To

Forgetting God: Punishment of

Forgetting God: Resolve Against

Forgetting God: The People of God

Forgetting God: Threatened

Forgetting God: Trials should not Lead To

Forgetting God: Word

Forgetting God: Works

Forgetting the Past

Related Terms

Forgetful (4 Occurrences)

Forget (77 Occurrences)

Forgetteth (10 Occurrences)

Lies (208 Occurrences)

Imagine (24 Occurrences)

Forsaking (29 Occurrences)

Reckon (34 Occurrences)

Reviving (4 Occurrences)

Revive (31 Occurrences)

Reaching (22 Occurrences)

Mixture (16 Occurrences)

Physician (6 Occurrences)

Ba'als (19 Occurrences)

Ashe'roth (1 Occurrence)

Apprehended (5 Occurrences)

Hagar (15 Occurrences)

Stretching (84 Occurrences)

Straining (4 Occurrences)

Greatness (63 Occurrences)

Filling (29 Occurrences)

Count (85 Occurrences)

Possession (251 Occurrences)

Ahead (98 Occurrences)

Past (200 Occurrences)

Behind (188 Occurrences)

Consider (178 Occurrences)

Philippi (8 Occurrences)

Forgive (81 Occurrences)

Serving (85 Occurrences)

Front (327 Occurrences)

Array (63 Occurrences)

Regard (230 Occurrences)

Setting (82 Occurrences)

Forward (252 Occurrences)

Great (10383 Occurrences)

Hold (500 Occurrences)

Temple (614 Occurrences)

Forgetting God is Forgetting His: Power to Deliver
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