The danger's past, and God's forgotten.

Fear can make a person turn to God for help, only for that attention to fade once the threat has passed. The proverb points to a contrast between urgent need and what follows relief.

It criticizes gratitude or devotion that lasts only as long as trouble does. More broadly, it warns against forgetting those one depended on when their help no longer seems necessary.

Use it to comment on someone who sought divine help during a crisis but gave little thought to God afterward. It can also frame a broader observation about gratitude fading after relief, though its wording gives that observation a religious cast.