Never Forgotten

 

Sing for joy, O heavens, and exult, O earth; break forth, O mountains, into singing! For the Lord has comforted his people and will have compassion on his afflicted. But Zion said, “The Lord has forsaken me; my Lord has forgotten me.” “Can a woman forget her nursing child, that she should have no compassion on the son of her womb? Even these may forget, yet I will not forget you. Behold, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands; your walls are continually before me.” (Isaiah 49:13-16 ESV).

 

Great Britain felt immense pride when Major Tim Peake blasted into space in 2015, with many calling him Britain’s first astronaut. However, history has forgotten that it was Helen Sharman who became the nation’s first astronaut years earlier. Before training for her adventure, Helen Sharman worked as a research chemist for a confectionery company. It was only when she heard a radio advertisement that said “Astronauts wanted. No experience necessary” that her life took a sudden turn. Helen responded to the ad for a place on a Soviet rocket. Out of 13,000 applicants, Helen Sharman passed detailed psychological and medical assessments, as well as vigorous training, and was chosen as Great Britain’s first astronaut. In 1991, she became first woman to visit the Mir space station. She spent eight days in space. Yet she is today more forgotten than remembered.

 

One of our deepest fears is that we will be forgotten after we die. The psalmist declares, “The life of mortals is like grass, they flourish like a flower of the field; the wind blows over it and it is gone, and its place remembers it no more.” (Psalm 103:15-16). Some people speak of a sense of “cosmic loneliness” in the universe: that a person’s longing for meaning is lost in the cold vastness of space. But that would only be the case if there were no God. The Bible promises that our lives are not meaningless, that we are dear in God’s sight, that the grave is not the end.

 

What’s more, Jesus said, “I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me” (John 10:14). If the Savior knows our name, we are certainly loved; life is not meaningless. God said through the prophet Isaiah, “I will not forget you! See, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands.” Here, surely, is a prophecy of the nail prints on Jesus’ palms. That truth gives me a sense of hope and encouragement in all things. I hope it does the same for you today! Death is only the beginning of forever!