"Timothy, my son, I give you this instruction in keeping with the prophecies once made about you, so that by following them you may fight the good fight, holding on to faith and a good conscience. Some have rejected these and so have shipwrecked their faith." Paul the Apostle (1 Timothy 1:18-19, NIV)
At the time Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize he was asked the question, "What made it possible for the Russian Revolution to take place and for Communism to rise to power?"
Solzhenitsyn's reply was simple and direct: "Men forgot God."
What tragedies occur when nations forget God. History is replete with such examples. And what tragedies can befall individuals and their families when they, too, forget God.
I have seen men and women who have grown up in the church, profess to be Christians and been active in church work get caught up in the secular world system with its thirst for material gain and seek to climb the ladder of success—and little by little drift away from the church, forsake their Christian heritage, and gradually forget God.
Twenty years later, some have made shipwreck of their lives. Committing our lives to God won't deliver us from the problems of life, but faith in his Son, Jesus Christ, gives us an anchor to hold on to when the storms of life surround us and the tough times threaten to overwhelm us.
Sometimes life can be heartbreaking. We ask why but cannot find an answer. We search for a light to see us through the night but are overcome by the darkness. But when we have a solid faith in Jesus, as the gospel song says, "When answers aren't enough, he is there!" And this may be all we need to know to keep us from forgetting God and making shipwreck of our lives.
Suggested prayer: "Dear God, help me never to forget your goodness to me and your everlasting love and grant that, no matter how dark the night, I will never turn from you. And graciously grant that our nation will turn to and never forget you. In Jesus' name."