“Of whom were you anxious and whom did you fear when you lied and did not remember me or set me on your heart? Was I silent for a long time so you do not fear me?” Thus Yahweh asks through his prophet Isaiah (57:11).
It’s a sharp insight into psychology of sin. Fear induces forgetfulness; anxiety drives out what we have once set on our heart. Fear can drive even God Himself from memory and the heart. How often do we wake up from sinning and wonder, What was I thinking? How could I have forgotten God?
God’s silence leaves an opening for other things to occupy our memories and our hearts. He doesn’t intervene to remind us of His presence and His demands, and we are tempted to think that His silence is consent. We think He is such a one as ourselves (Psalm 50:21).
Two implications: We inoculate ourselves against the forgetfulness of fear by cultivating a fear of God so strong that no other fear can pry it loose. And, we inoculate ourselves by ensuring that God does not become silence – by putting ourselves constantly in the reach of His voice.
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