God Has Not Forgotten

​God Has Not Forgotten

Dr. Himie Pickett

You may feel that God has forgotten a promise or prophecy that He has made to you. You may feel as if you missed accurately hearing the word of the Lord that He will destroy your enemies from around you. You may feel as if those who wronged you have gotten away. My friend, God has not forgotten, and those who have wronged you will not get away with it. Let me comfort you with the word of God.

Exodus 17:8-16 Then Amalek came and fought with Israel at Rephidim. So Moses said to Joshua, “Choose for us men, and go out and fight with Amalek. Tomorrow I will stand on the top of the hill with the staff of God in my hand.” So Joshua did as Moses told him, and fought with Amalek, while Moses, Aaron, and Hur went up to the top of the hill. Whenever Moses held up his hand, Israel prevailed, and whenever he lowered his hand, Amalek prevailed. But Moses’ hands grew weary, so they took a stone and put it under him, and he sat on it, while Aaron and Hur held up his hands, one on one side, and the other on the other side. So his hands were steady until the going down of the sun. And Joshua overwhelmed Amalek and his people with the sword. Then the Lord said to Moses, “Write this as a memorial in a book and recite it in the ears of Joshua, that I will utterly blot out the memory of Amalek from under heaven.” And Moses built an altar and called the name of it, The Lord Is My Banner, saying, “A hand upon the throne of the Lord! The Lord will have war with Amalek from generation to generation.

Amalek came and for no reason provoked Israel to war. God indeed gave victory in this battle, but notice the end of the text. God said He would have war with Amelek from generation to generation. What Amalek did to Israel would be remembered by God. Notice our next text.

Deuteronomy 25:17-19 “Remember what Amalek did to you on the way as you came out of Egypt, how he attacked you on the way when you were faint and weary, and cut off your tail, those who were lagging behind you, and he did not fear God. Therefore when the Lord your God has given you rest from all your enemies around you, in the land that the Lord your God is giving you for an inheritance to possess, you shall blot out the memory of Amalek from under heaven; you shall not forget.

God once again said that Amelek would be destroyed. God was still remembering what Amelek did in trying to destroy Israel. God has not forgotten those who have tried to destroy you. Let’s look at our next text.

Exodus 15:1-3 And Samuel said to Saul, “The Lord sent me to anoint you king over his people Israel; now therefore listen to the words of the Lord. Thus says the Lord of hosts, ‘I have noted what Amalek did to Israel in opposing them on the way when they came up out of Egypt. Now go and strike Amalek and devote to destruction all that they have. Do not spare them, but kill both man and woman, child and infant, ox and sheep, camel and donkey.’

The historical setting of this text is 400 years after the Exodus text. 400 years after the battle, God is about to end the war. The Amalekites may have forgotten about what happened 400 years earlier. Israel may have forgotten about what Amalek did 400 years earlier, but God had not forgotten and His prophetic word that He was going to destroy ALL of Amalek.

Now, let’s look further. King Saul was told to kill everyone and everything. Doing so would fulfill God’s prophecy about Amalek. Look at what Saul does.

Exodus 15:8-23 And he took Agag the king of the Amalekites alive and devoted to destruction all the people with the edge of the sword. But Saul and the people spared Agag and the best of the sheep and of the oxen and of the fattened calves and the lambs, and all that was good, and would not utterly destroy them. All that was despised and worthless they devoted to destruction. The word of the Lord came to Samuel: “I regret that I have made Saul king, for he has turned back from following me and has not performed my commandments.” And Samuel was angry, and he cried to the Lord all night. And Samuel rose early to meet Saul in the morning. And it was told Samuel, “Saul came to Carmel, and behold, he set up a monument for himself and turned and passed on and went down to Gilgal.” And Samuel came to Saul, and Saul said to him, “Blessed be you to the Lord. I have performed the commandment of the Lord.” And Samuel said, “What then is this bleating of the sheep in my ears and the lowing of the oxen that I hear?” Saul said, “They have brought them from the Amalekites, for the people spared the best of the sheep and of the oxen to sacrifice to the Lord your God, and the rest we have devoted to destruction.” Then Samuel said to Saul, “Stop! I will tell you what the Lord said to me this night.” And he said to him, “Speak.” And Samuel said, “Though you are little in your own eyes, are you not the head of the tribes of Israel? The Lord anointed you king over Israel. And the Lord sent you on a mission and said, ‘Go, devote to destruction the sinners, the Amalekites, and fight against them until they are consumed.’ Why then did you not obey the voice of the Lord? Why did you pounce on the spoil and do what was evil in the sight of the Lord?” And Saul said to Samuel, “I have obeyed the voice of the Lord. I have gone on the mission on which the Lord sent me. I have brought Agag the king of Amalek, and I have devoted the Amalekites to destruction. But the people took of the spoil, sheep and oxen, the best of the things devoted to destruction, to sacrifice to the Lord your God in Gilgal.” And Samuel said, “Has the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to listen than the fat of rams. For rebellion is as the sin of divination, and presumption is as iniquity and idolatry. Because you have rejected the word of the Lord, he has also rejected you from being king.”

Saul kept alive the king and the best of the livestock. This angered God, and God rejected Saul from being king. Saul tried to defend himself, but God said “Obedience is better than sacrifice.”

My friend, God has not forgotten His promises and prophecies to you. God remembers those who tried to hurt and stop you. God is about to perform His word, and anyone who stands in His way will be rejected.

Inspirational Moment

Inspirational Moment

The Bible says in Romans 8:28 – And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose. ESV

But you may reply…Really? How does rejection, depression, sickness, impecuniosness  (poverty), homelessness, etc., be good. Well, the Bible does not say that the aforementioned are good, but it says, ALL THINGS WORK TOGETHER for our good.

The operative words are: All things work together. The vicissitudes (challenges) of life are used by Holy Spirit to work in us patience.

James 1:2 – My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations; 3 Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience. 4 But let patience have herperfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing.

The word patience in the Greek is hupomonē, and it means: Steadfastness, constancy, endurance. If God did not allow us to go through things, we would never grow in patience. And if we never had an opportunity to grow in patience, we would never see the deliverance and feel the love of God.

We have been called to the highest purpose of all and that is to praise the Lord. The vicissitudes of life will come…but praise your way through them. As one songwriter says, “Trouble don’t last always.”

The Bible says that these vicissitudes are temporal: 2nd Corinthians 4:17 – For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory;

You may be facing afflictions, but you are to let patience work in you. Your afflictions are only temporal, but through them you will see the deliverance and LOVE of God as never before, and in the end, the eternal Glory of God will exceed the temporary vicissitudes of life.

Dr. Himie Pickett
The Bishops College

Jesus The Bread of Life

The more I study the miracles of the Old Testament, the more I see that they were prototypes of Jesus in the New Testament. One such miracle was the provision of bread (manna) for the children of Israel in the wilderness.

The manna came each morning, Exodus 16:12…At twilight you shall eat meat, and in the morning you shall be filled with bread. Then you shall know that I am the Lord your God.’ ”

Every morning God showered bread from heaven, and  for us, His mercies are showered upon us every morning (Lamentations 3:23).

Jesus takes the miracle of bread in Exodus a step further by saying that He Himself, is bread from Heaven.

John 6:47 Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me hath everlasting life. 48 I am that bread of life. 49 Your fathers did eat manna in the wilderness, and are dead.:50 This is the bread which cometh down from heaven, that a man may eat thereof, and not die. 51 I am the living bread which came down from heaven: if any man eat of this bread, he shall live for ever: and the bread that I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.

Jesus equates Himself with the manna from heaven. Therefore, let us let us see the uniqueness of manna and how we are to react to it.

1. Manna was a manifestation of the Glory of the Lord – Exodus 16:7. The Glory of the Lord rest upon the Lord Jesus. Luke 4:18

2. They were to eat as much manna as they could eat. Jesus is an all you can eat buffet. Exodus 16:16. Concerning Jesus, we are to taste and see that the Lord is good. Psalms 34:8

3. They mishandled the manna and worms entered the manna. We are not to mishandle Jesus. John 6:71-72 (Judas hanged himself)

4. When the sun grew hot it melted. Jesus went to hell for us. He ultimately took the keys to hell.
Acts 2:31

5. There was no manna on the Sabbath. They were supposed to gather twice as much on the sixth day. Jesus is the Lord of the Sabbath. Hebrews chapters 3 & 4.

6. They ate the manna until they entered the promise land. We feast on Jesus in this life. When we leave this life, we will forever be with Jesus in our promised land. Revelation chapters 21 & 22.

7. As generous as the Lord was to Israel with the manna, Israel wanted the meat of Egypt:

Numbers 11:4 – 4 And the mixt multitude thatwas among them fell a lusting: and the children of Israel also wept again, and said, Who shall give us flesh to eat? 5 We remember the fish, which we did eat in Egypt freely; the cucumbers, and the melons, and the leeks, and the onions, and the garlick: 6 But now our soul is dried away: there is nothing at all, beside this manna, before our eyes.

Friend, don’t murmur against the blessings of God, and despise the continual mercies of Jesus. That entire generation died and did not make it into the promised land.

See how this is personified in Jesus:

Hebrews 6:2:4 – For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost, 5 And have tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the world to come,
6 If they shall fall away, to renew them again unto repentance; seeing theycrucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, and put him to an open shame.

Conclusion, let’s partake of the Jesus who is the Bread from heaven with joy.

Dr. Himie Pickett
The Bishops College
thebishopscollege.com