How to Know For Sure You’re Not Forgotten

“Don’t forget me!” a wobbly voice chimed as I distributed rainbow popsicles to a sun-streaked swarm of little campers.

I lifted my head from the cooler where I stood and assured the worried one there were enough popsicles for all.

“Don’t forget me!” the same voice pleaded as I handed out life jackets for our canoe trip down the river. I squeezed the anxious one’s hand and confirmed there was a seat in my boat for her.

“Don’t forget me!” that familiar voice warbled as I moved from bunk to bunk passing out bedtime hugs and whispering prayers in the moon-lit darkness.

“Why does she always say that?” a sleepy voice asked from the bottom bunk.

The question caught me off guard, and I didn’t have capacity to engage in a lengthy mid-night discussion. So, I kneeled beside the bunk and simply murmured, “Nobody wants to be forgotten.”

I didn’t think about the truth tucked into my brief response until we were having a playful discussion around the breakfast table the next day.

“If you could have one super power, what would it be?” the camp counselor beside me asked as we munched on French toast sticks and slurped down orange juice.

“I’d want to fly…” one kid said as he leaped to his feet and started flying around the table like an airplane.

“I’d want to be able to read your mind,” another chirped as she gave me a devious wink.

“I’d want to be invisible,” a third chimed.

It was the third idea that got everyone chattering. “Yeah, then we could go into to the kitchen and eat all the cookies,” one camper suggested.

“And sneak out for a night hike without anybody noticing,” another added.

But when the clamor of ideas grew quiet, one camper around the table dissented.

“I’d never want to be invisible,” a familiar little voice admitted. “If you can’t see me. You’ll definitely forget me.”

The kids just shrugged their shoulders and moved on to a new topic of conversation, but I found myself thinking about those words for the rest of the day.

And I realized my anxious camper’s signature line wasn’t just a cry to be remembered; it was a plea to be seen.

Of course, it’s not just children that long to be noticed. Tucked in the heart of every human is a desire to be seen. When it’s warped by fear or marred by ego, that longing can drive us down a road of destruction. But the desire itself isn’t a sign of weakness or proof of pride. It’s not the outcrop of neediness or the stamp of self-promotion.

It’s simply the signature of a child of God.

We were created to delight in the gaze of our good Father. And when we recognize His eyes of love are always on us, we no longer fear being forgotten.

The very first book of the Bible tells the story of a woman named Hagar whose story reminds us of this timeless truth.

Hagar was a woman and a slave who knew the pain of rejection and injustice. When she fell prey to a wounded woman’s jealousy, she fled to the desert, pregnant and unprotected, hopeless and alone.

And in that place where she seemed invisible to man, she encountered the gaze of God.

Genesis 16:7-9, 13-14 says it like this:

“The angel of the Lord found Hagar near a spring in the desert; it was the spring that is beside the road to Shur. And he said, “Hagar, slave of Sarai, where have you come from, and where are you going?”

“I’m running away from my mistress Sarai,” she answered.

Then the angel of the Lord told her, “Go back to your mistress and submit to her.” The angel added, “I will increase your descendants so much that they will be too numerous to count.”

She gave this name to the Lord who spoke to her: “You are the God who sees me,” for she said, “I have now seen the One who sees me.”

In one remarkable moment, Hagar realized she wasn’t forsaken; she was found.

When Hagar’s earth-bound vision could see no hope, the God of Hope said, “You are seen”.

And being seen by a God who was with her in her present distress and committed to her future good changed everything.

Her frustrations didn’t immediately fade.

Her struggles didn’t instantly disappear.

But the presence of God upended the lie that she was alone.

It refuted the whisper that her pain was unknown.

Being seen by God restored Hagar’s perspective and rewrote her purpose.

It gave her peace for the present and assurance for what’s to come.

The gaze of God changed Hagar’s story. And it can change our story, too.

On that long-ago day at camp when the breakfast dishes were cleared away, we opened our Bibles to Genesis 16.

And as we read the account of Hagar in the wilderness, and I reminded my little listeners of the timeless truth tucked in that ancient tale:

We don’t need a superpower to be remembered or revered. We are intimately known and immeasurably cherished by the God Who Sees.

Our circumstances may make us feel forgotten. Our fears may tell us we’re invisible. But no matter where we go or what we do, we’ll never roam beyond the gaze of Love.

And when we fix our eyes on God, we realize His eyes are on us, too.

“Listen, the eye of the Eternal is upon those who live in awe of Him, those who hope in His steadfast love...” Psalm 33:18

Thanks for spending time with us today. If you could use a little reminder of God’s deep love for you, download this scripture prayer for free.

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