Is 49:8-15 / Jn 5:17-30
In the days of King David and his son King Solomon, the Israelites were supremely confident that they were indeed God's chosen people. Anyone who doubted it need only look at the splendid temple that Solomon built and the elaborate ceremonies and sacrifices that went on there from dawn to dusk, year after year. And then after Solomon's death came the division of the kingdom, north and south, and later the destruction of both kingdoms, with their populations carried off as captives in strange lands.
How far they had fallen, and how thoroughly alone they felt as they wept at night so far away from home. And worst of all, they knew that their sins had put them there. They deserved their misery, and it seemed as if it would never end. "The Lord has forsaken me; my Lord has forgotten me," was their lament. But it wasn't true.
The Lord spoke to them, "Could a mother forget her infant, be without tenderness for the child of her womb? Even should she forget, I will never forget you." And indeed, the Lord brought them home to their own land, and helped them rebuild their lives.
Sometimes we feel alone and forgotten, and sometimes we deserve it. Whatever the case, the Lord never forgets us and never withdraws from us. Turn your eyes inward to where He lives and where He never leaves. And you will see: You are not alone.
