” God made a promise to Abraham. Since he had no one greater on whom to base his oath, he based it on himself. He said “I will certainly bless you and give you many descendants” . So Abraham received what God promised because he waited patiently for it.”(Heb. 6:13-15 God’s Word Translation).
God, our heavenly father, is a promise keeper. He is also an oath taker. God swore by himself because there was no one greater than him for him to swear by. The Bible goes further to say “when people take oaths, they base their oath on someone greater than themselves. Their oath guarantees what they say and ends all arguments. God wouldn’t change this plan. He wanted to make this perfectly clear to those who would receive this promise, so he took an oath. God did it so that we would be encouraged. God can not lie when he takes an oath or makes a promise. Those of us who have taken refuge in him hold unto the confidence we have been given”. (Heb.13:16-18 God’s Word Translation).
Growing up as a young girl, I thought it was impossible and unimaginable for a mother to forget her suckling child. As if it was callous for God to allude to such a scenario in the Holy Scriptures. How can it be possible for a mother to forget her suckling child?
There was a civil war in one of the West African countries, and a young mother in her late thirties had just delivered a baby girl, barely two weeks old. As they were all going about their household chores, with many members of the family who had come to the village to seek refuge from the war-torn urban area, there was a sudden explosion which rocked the whole area! Panic, pandemonium and the innate desire for self-preservation made everyone of this large family , made up of mainly women and children, abandon even the food they were eating to scamper for safety and run for dear life!
Having gone far into the bush, the young mother remembered her suckling child! She wailed and said she was going back for her baby. She was discouraged. But her mind made up, she vowed to die with her baby if need be. She went back to the abandoned village for her baby.
This story brings out the allusion of Isa 49:15, where the Lord asks this important question : “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! See, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands; your walls are ever before me (Isa.49:15-16 NIV). Circumstances and situations may even make a loving mother forget her suckling child. Some mothers, like the prostitute who slept on her baby in the days of King Solomon the wise king of Israel, may be callous enough to snuff the very life out of their babies because of their lack of affection.(1 Kings 3:16 -27 LB). But our God and father says “Never! Can a mother forget her nursing child? Can she feel no love for the child she has borne? But even if that were possible, I would not forget you! See, I have written your name on the palms of my hands.(Isa.49 :15 -16a, New Living Translation)
Maybe the troubles of your life have given you some occasion to question God’s care and concern for you. You may be thinking in your heart like Zion in distress, “the Lord has forsaken me, and looks after me no more”. You may even be discouraged about the deplorable state of things around you such that it may seem God has forsaken and forgotten you or that God has forgotten the sorrows and sufferings of his people, even the persecutions that are rife in our days. The Lord, our God and father, says: “Never! Can a mother forget her nursing child? Can she feel no love for the child she has borne? But even if that were possible, I would not forget you! See, I have written your name on the palms of my hands.”
I want you to be rest assured that the love which God has for you and for all his people is stronger than that which is produced by the most tender ties in nature i.e the love of a mother and her child. A mother can even forget her infant child given any problematic situation, but God says he has tattooed us, graven our names, and all our concerns and cares in the palm of his hands. We can be rest assured that even if our mothers forget, God can not and will never forget us.
Some of us have received promises, and we stay put without realizing what God has spoken to us for decades. I charge you to go boldly to the throne of grace and activate that promise. God can not lie unless you did not hear him well. If you did, He will do what He has promised because He can not lie.
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