There is a line in a lovely song that goes: “I forget to pray for the angels and then the angels forget to pray for us.” Every time I hear these words, I am moved by them. Whether or not they make sense is another matter. However, this saying from the 1960s often causes me to ask myself whether God can also forget something in this sense?

I am not talking about a forgiveness that involves God purposefully forgetting our sins. Can God forget you or me in the same way as we forget our car keys? Does God forget, or would that even fit with His nature? The prophet Isaiah (49:15) states unequivocally in connection with the restoration of Israel, “Can a woman forget her nursing child, and have no compassion on the son of her womb? Even these may forget, but I will not forget you.” Does this refer only to the collective Israel, or to every believer and disciple?

When the nation of Israel was living scattered throughout the Diaspora, the Jews really did assume that...