The war is over . . .

 

While this word has been part of this year’s devotional focus, it seems appropriate to look at REMEMBER again today. The novels I’m reading are set during the first world war, making vivid the need to remember men and women who sacrificed their lives for our freedom. While the Bible does not focus on those who fought and died in battle, it does tell me that God knows each person, all those on both sides of the conflict. He remembers.

The OT makes much of the fact that God remembers His covenants. A rainbow is His reminder to us that He will never again destroy the world with a flood. He remembered His promises to Abraham, to the barren women who prayed for children, and the promises made to His people groaning in bondage in Egypt.

He told His people if they humbled themselves and were obedient, He would “remember my covenant with Jacob, and I will remember my covenant with Isaac and my covenant with Abraham, and I will remember the land.” In other words, God does not forget any promise He has made. He remembers and keeps His word. Other examples are found in the Psalms:

Psalm 74:2–3. “Remember your congregation, which you have purchased of old, which you have redeemed to be the tribe of your heritage! Remember Mount Zion, where you have dwelt. Direct your steps to the perpetual ruins; the enemy has destroyed everything in the sanctuary!”

When I am in trouble, God remembers the promises He has made to protect me, guide me, even use all things that happen to me for my good. He also remembers that I am dust, and does not expect me to be perfect until that day when I leave this place and see Jesus face to face.

Sometimes God’s memory is negative in that He remembers and punishes sin. Even entire nations suffer because of God’s just and holy memory. But He also is merciful. While nothing drops out of His mind (like me when I forget someone’s name or where I put my phone), He does choose to not dwell upon or remember the sin of those who put their trust in His Son. The following OT promise is repeated in the NT because all those who have faith like Abraham are considered part of the “house of Israel” so God’s promises apply to Christians too:

Hebrews 8:10–12. “For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord: I will put my laws into their minds, and write them on their hearts, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. And they shall not teach, each one his neighbor and each one his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest. For I will be merciful toward their iniquities, and I will remember their sins no more.”

GAZE INTO HIS GLORY. Today is set aside to remember those who went to war and sacrificed their lives so we can live in peace. These warriors should be honored often for what they have done, and God be thanked for them. Yet every day I must remember and offer thankful praise to God who has chosen not to remember my sins, and to give me peace with Him and eternal life — all because of the sacrifice of one man who died in my place and ended the conflict — my Redeemer and Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ.