Isaiah 49:8-15 / John 5:17-30
WW II lasted for about 6 years, from 1939-1945. And out of those 6 years, Singapore was under the Japanese Occupation for about 3 years, from 1942-1945.
Those 3 years of Occupation was lived in fear and hardships. Those who lived during that time will never forget how life was hanging on a thin thread.
Even for those who believed in God, their faith was tested all the more. Such as when a few Japanese shells hit the our church's roof and brought it down with the ceiling and destroyed many pews, lights and fittings and other church articles.
Who would not ask questions like: Where is God? Why did He not protect His church? What is He doing? Has God forgotten us?
Those were the kind of questions that the people of God were asking in the 1st reading as they were exiled in Babylon.
In reply to that question, the prophet Isaiah has this to ask: Does a woman forget the baby at her breast? Or fail to cherish the son of her womb?
And the prophet had this to say: Yet even if these forget, I will never forget you!
God will never forget His people and He even sent His Son to speak to His people so that they will know that God has not forgotten them.
Difficult times are not easy to bear with, and they even seem to pass very slowly. But in difficult times, like us know that God has not forgotten us.
But let us also not forget to hear God's Word, because it is His word that gives us life, it is His word that gives us hope and strength.