Nations Rise on Remembrance, and Fall Due to a Lack of It

Yesterday, we spent time, as a family, focusing on what Memorial Day really was. We didn’t have a cookout or barbeque planned, but we began the day at our county’s Memorial Day service, held by our local Veteran’s Affairs office. It was a moving service, highlighting one man in World War II’s journey from his first enlistment to his death at sea as a POW in the Philippines. Our oldest played Taps when we remembered the fallen, our second oldest led the service in the Pledge of Allegiance, my wife and our younger two served in many capacities, and I was asked to lead the invocation and benediction. We were honored, as a family, to serve.  After lunch, the younger two joined My wife after lunch to decorate the graves of our veterans and war dead in the local cemetery while I stayed home with the older two to rest.

We completed our day by watching the movie Saving Private Ryan. I felt it appropriate, in spite of the graphic nature and language, because I wanted our children to understand that the freedoms they treasure are not, in fact, free. It is the conversation we had throughout the day: Jesus died to make us free from the penalty of sin and death, to make us sons and daughters of God, and to reconcile us to the Father; and the American Soldier gave youth, health, and, in many cases, life, so that as a nation we could be free. When we forget, we take for granted the freedoms granted to us, and walk around like privileged children, entitled to what was bought with the dearest price.

The movie was shocking to all four boys. Our Oldest is still processing it, our Second desires to be able to go back in time and, if need be, give his life to fight along side men he considers heroes, our Third staved off a 3-hour need to go to the bathroom (without asking us to pause it) because he said “I wanted to see how men should act when trouble comes,” and our Fourth learned that fear can cause one to become so paralyzed, it can cause the needless deaths of many. Every one of my boys walked away with the knowledge of the price of freedom, and we brought it back to, ultimately, what Christ did for us. We cannot take any of it for granted! We must remember every day what has been done for us, and live in gratitude, ultimately to Christ above all else, and to the ones who never made it home so that we could build homes.

All of this reminds me of Israel, who set up memorials to not forget what God had done for them, and who promised to speak and read the Law, so that they would remember what God had done for them. They forgot, and they crumbled and fell. Nations rise on remembrance, and fall because they forget. Remembering is a deliberate act, and so let us never forget what has been done for us, spending time with Jesus every day, not out of compulsion, but out of love and gratitude. Let us also remember to thank those who served whenever we see them, and remember those who never made it home. Freedom isn’t free. Make every effort to not forget.

Deuteronomy 6

“Now this is the commandment—the statutes and the rules—that the LORD your God commanded me to teach you, that you may do them in the land to which you are going over, to possess it, that you may fear the LORD your God, you and your son and your son’s son, by keeping all his statutes and his commandments, which I command you, all the days of your life, and that your days may be long. Hear therefore, O Israel, and be careful to do them, that it may go well with you, and that you may multiply greatly, as the LORD, the God of your fathers, has promised you, in a land flowing with milk and honey.

 “Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.

“And when the LORD your God brings you into the land that he swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give you—with great and good cities that you did not build, and houses full of all good things that you did not fill, and cisterns that you did not dig, and vineyards and olive trees that you did not plant—and when you eat and are full,  then take care lest you forget the LORD, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. It is the LORD your God you shall fear. Him you shall serve and by his name you shall swear. You shall not go after other gods, the gods of the peoples who are around you— for the LORD your God in your midst is a jealous God—lest the anger of the LORD your God be kindled against you, and he destroy you from off the face of the earth.

“You shall not put the LORD your God to the test, as you tested him at Massah. You shall diligently keep the commandments of the LORD your God, and his testimonies and his statutes, which he has commanded you. And you shall do what is right and good in the sight of the LORD, that it may go well with you, and that you may go in and take possession of the good land that the LORD swore to give to your fathers by thrusting out all your enemies from before you, as the LORD has promised.

“When your son asks you in time to come, ‘What is the meaning of the testimonies and the statutes and the rules that the LORD our God has commanded you?’ then you shall say to your son, ‘We were Pharaoh’s slaves in Egypt. And the LORD brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand. And the LORD showed signs and wonders, great and grievous, against Egypt and against Pharaoh and all his household, before our eyes. And he brought us out from there, that he might bring us in and give us the land that he swore to give to our fathers. And the LORD commanded us to do all these statutes, to fear the LORD our God, for our good always, that he might preserve us alive, as we are this day. And it will be righteousness for us, if we are careful to do all this commandment before the LORD our God, as he has commanded us.’

Psalm 77

I cry aloud to God,

aloud to God, and he will hear me.

In the day of my trouble I seek the Lord;

in the night my hand is stretched out without wearying;

my soul refuses to be comforted.

When I remember God, I moan;

when I meditate, my spirit faints. Selah

You hold my eyelids open;

I am so troubled that I cannot speak.

I consider the days of old,

the years long ago.

I said, “Let me remember my song in the night;

let me meditate in my heart.”

Then my spirit made a diligent search:

“Will the Lord spurn forever,

and never again be favorable?

Has his steadfast love forever ceased?

Are his promises at an end for all time?

Has God forgotten to be gracious?

Has he in anger shut up his compassion?” Selah

Then I said, “I will appeal to this,

to the years of the right hand of the Most High.”

I will remember the deeds of the Lord;

yes, I will remember your wonders of old.

I will ponder all your work,

and meditate on your mighty deeds.

Your way, O God, is holy.

What god is great like our God?

You are the God who works wonders;

you have made known your might among the peoples.

You with your arm redeemed your people,

the children of Jacob and Joseph. Selah

When the waters saw you, O God,

when the waters saw you, they were afraid;

indeed, the deep trembled.

The clouds poured out water;

the skies gave forth thunder;

your arrows flashed on every side.

The crash of your thunder was in the whirlwind;

your lightnings lighted up the world;

the earth trembled and shook.

Your way was through the sea,

your path through the great waters;

yet your footprints were unseen.

You led your people like a flock

by the hand of Moses and Aaron.