“Child abandonment is the practice of relinquishing interests and claims over one’s offspring in an illegal way, with the intent of never resuming or reasserting guardianship. The phrase is typically used to describe the physical abandonment of a child, but it can also include severe cases of neglect and emotional abandonment, such as when parents fail to provide financial and emotional support for children over an extended period of time.” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Child_abandonment#History
Some of you may well have just read this statement above and felt shocked and asked “How could anyone do this?” Or maybe you read this and felt the pain again of having experienced some form of parental abandonment? I guess there are many reasons that this happens and who are we to judge, but it certainly is a terrible tragedy all the same.
Before we again consider Psalm 106, let me share with you some beautiful verses of Scripture from Isaiah that give another perspective:
Shout for joy, you heavens;
rejoice, you earth;
burst into song, you mountains!
For the Lord comforts his people
and will have compassion on his afflicted ones.
14 But Zion said, “The Lord has forsaken me,
the Lord has forgotten me.”
15 “Can a mother forget the baby at her breast
and have no compassion on the child she has borne?
Though she may forget,
I will not forget you!
16 See, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands;
your walls are ever before me. (Isaiah 49:13-16)
David in Psalm 27:10 agrees:
Though my father and mother forsake me,
the Lord will receive me.
Wonderful promises from your Heavenly Father.
And so, to Psalm 106 where the psalmist summarized Israel’s history in verse 43 as follows:
43 Many times he delivered them,
but they were bent on rebellion
Let us consider then this incredible patience and long-suffering of God despite the sin of Israel, described as a “long catalogue of failures”, which we looked at on my last Post. Note also the people God used to be their advocates at crucial times.
6 We have sinned… 8 Yet he saved them for his name’s sake…
10 He saved them from the hand of the foe;
from the hand of the enemy he redeemed them.
21 They forgot the God who saved them,
who had done great things in Egypt…
23 So he said he would destroy them—
had not Moses, his chosen one,
stood in the breach before him
to keep his wrath from destroying them.
28 They yoked themselves to the Baal of Peor
and ate sacrifices offered to lifeless gods;
29 they aroused the Lord’s anger by their wicked deeds,
and a plague broke out among them.
30 But Phinehas stood up and intervened,
and the plague was checked.
43 Many times he delivered them… 44 Yet he took note of their distress
when he heard their cry;
45 for their sake he remembered his covenant
and out of his great love he relented.
46 He caused all who held them captive
to show them mercy.
Maybe there have been times in our lives we have been guilty of saying one thing and doing another. Maybe there have been times we have experienced disappointment as one we trusted did the same to us.
But God’s words to His people– I will not forget you! – matched his actions, as described in this psalm. We can trust Him.
And the greatest proof of this is displayed in what billions of people around the world will celebrate in a few weeks’ time – the Easter story.
“God’s greatest act of deliverance of his sinful people takes place on the cross of Christ. Jesus’ death and resurrection saves us from our enemies, sin and death, and should lead us to join the psalmist in unending worship.” (# 30)
Blessed be God, Israel’s God!
Bless now, bless always!
Oh! Let everyone say Amen!
Hallelujah! (106:48 The Message)
Tehilim (Psalms) - "songs of praise". 