The Forgotten Man

2012-04-23

“My kinsfolk have failed, and my familiar friends have forgotten me.” (Job 19:14)

This is Job speaking, after he had lost everything and his friends have accused him of sin. Job was at his lowest point, and worse yet, everyone had rejected him. But now I do not want to discuss Job, but of another man who was left behind and forgotten.

My uncle died recently. He was a war hero, business owner, and a very remarkable man. He inspired me to do family research while he and his generation were still living. I miss him already, and I do not know if he trusted Jesus Christ to be saved.

His wife had died ten years before, and he had no children. His family name has vanished from our land; you would have to go back across the sea to find someone bearing his name. His sister and my grandmother, however, had many children and grandchildren.

Honestly, we dropped the ball. When the older generation started to pass, we all fractured apart in many ways, and my uncle was largely left to his own. When he died, people his family hardly knew ran his funeral, and his family was never once mentioned during the service. His obituary was silent about them. His estate was handled by others. What happened?

Anyone with any heart or brain does not care about his possessions; they cannot bring him back from the dead. The fact that strangers are now handling his estate speaks volumes about how we did reach out to him and care for him as we should have. He did not need special assistance of any kind; he was actively traveling and running his businesses until his last breath. He needed people. He needed his family to be a family to him. We failed at that. Those friends of his that took charge of his estate, they were a family to him.

First Timothy 5:8 reads, “But if any provide not for his own, and specially for those of his own house, he hath denied the faith, and is worse than an infidel.” It was not material wealth or physical assistance he needed; he needed people that cared about him. I am guilty: Worse than an infidel.