Doesn’t God Care?

When I was about three or four years old my mother took all four (four at the time) of the kids with her to the store.  The only problem was that when she left, she left me standing on the sidewalk.

Now that was in the day when you could leave your child alone and he would be perfectly safe.  At any rate, she soon realized that she had left one. Hey, remembering three out of four is not bad, unless you are the one who is left behind.

When she arrived back on the crime scene, there I was crying.  I was so young I do not recall the incident, however I am sure it accounts for some of my behavioral idiosyncrasies today.

Let’s fast forward to adulthood.  We still don’t want to be left behind or left out.  There was a time in Israel’s history when they thought God had forgotten about them.

In fact, the pain was so great that in the 80th Psalm the Psalmist repeated himself three times (verse 3 is repeated times).

Psalm 80:1-3

¹ Please listen, O Shepherd of Israel,
you who lead Joseph’s descendants like a flock.
O God, enthroned above the cherubim,
display your radiant glory
²     to Ephraim, Benjamin, and Manasseh.
Show us your mighty power.
Come to rescue us!