If We Forget to Remember …

Individual Responsibility

Cross posted from God, Guns, Glory!

The biblical book of Joshua records the story of the Israelites crossing the Jordan River just before the battle of Jericho. The priests carried the Ark of the Covenant before the people and when their feet touched the water, it dried up. The priests then advanced to the middle of the dried up river and stood there, holding the Ark while the nation of Israel passed over on dry ground. After the crossing was completed, the Lord Himself instructed Joshua to have 12 stones removed from the midst of the dried up Jordan and taken to the Israelite camp for the night. Later, those 12 stones were used to fashion a memorial in the midst of the Jordan River at the spot where the priests stood while the people passed over.

Joshua 4 reads:

WHEN ALL the nation had fully passed over the Jordan, the Lord said to Joshua, “Take twelve men from among the people, one man out of every tribe, and command them, take twelve stones out of the midst of the Jordan from the place where the priests’ feet stood firm; carry them over with you and leave them at the place where you lodge tonight.” Then Joshua called the twelve men of the Israelites whom he had appointed, a man from each tribe. And Joshua said to them, “Pass over before the ark of the Lord your God in the midst of the Jordan, and take up every man of you a stone on his shoulder, as is the number of the tribes of the Israelites, that this may be a sign among you when your children ask in time to come, What do these stones mean to you? Then you shall tell them that the waters of the Jordan were cut off before the ark of the covenant of the Lord; when it passed over the Jordan, the waters of Jordan were cut off. So these stones shall be to the Israelites a memorial forever.” … And Joshua set up twelve stones in the midst of the Jordan in the place where the feet of the priests bearing the ark of the covenant had stood. And they are there to this day.

The Book records many more instances where memorials are established. The Lord Himself made one in Genesis 9, setting His own bow in the sky as a reminder of his covenant with man. The tassels of the prayer shawls worn by Hebrew men were to be reminders of the commandments of the Lord in Numbers 15. A day per week, the Sabbath Day, was set aside at the command of the Lord in Deuteronomy 5. The purpose was so the Israelites would, “Remember that you were slaves in Egypt and that the LORD your God brought you out of there with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm.”

Biblical memorials have a purpose. They are not simply interesting or informative. They are crucial! In times of testing, in times of trial, when the enemies of the people of God were pressing hard and it was tempting to give in to to despair, to abandon faith in a God that is near, to reject not only His ability but His willingness to deliver, these memorials were designed to draw attention away from the clamor of the immediate to the immutable reality of the past. God’s people were to remember that He would deliver them today, not merely because He had said He would do so but because He had actually done so before and because His character does not change. Thus they could be confident of the tactic of placing their faith in God and hold firm to His deliverance from today’s enemy.

When the people of Israel forgot to remember God and His provision, they made poor choices and reaped accordingly. In Joshua 9, Joshua does not remember to consult with God on a crucial decision involving the Gibeonites and makes an ill advised treaty. At other times in their history, they failed to remember God’s words and neglected to drive out the Canaanites from the land or to destroy the high places where false gods were worshiped. Just before his death Joshua erected one last memorial. At Shechem, he recited for the people a history of God’s provision and encouraged them to follow God ending his exhortation with his famous line, “As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord!” Near the end of Joshua 24 we read,

On that day Joshua made a covenant for the people, and there at Shechem he drew up for them decrees and laws. And Joshua recorded these things in the Book of the Law of God. Then he took a large stone and set it up there under the oak near the holy place of the LORD. “See!” he said to all the people. “This stone will be a witness against us. It has heard all the words the LORD has said to us. It will be a witness against you if you are untrue to your God.”

Today we celebrate Memorial Day here in the United States of America. Separated by thousands of miles and thousands of years from those who established biblical memorials we are yet as close to them as if we stood shoulder to shoulder. Today, we remember the provision a gracious and loving God made for us and for freedom loving peoples across the world. We remember the love of country and liberty that fills the heart of America’s soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines.

We remember those, not driven or coerced, but those who, moved by love and devotion, willingly left hearth and home for a thousand battlefields known to none but God and the men who died there. We remember those in whose hearts God placed a fire that burns, depending on the times, with a quiet smoldering or a consuming blaze. We remember those who looked at the same times and events as their fellows yet responded differently. Possessed of purer and truer vision than the masses, they saw the world as their biblical forbears did, “(the) … men of Issachar, who understood the times and knew what Israel should do, …” These are men we may describe today, as the writer of Hebrews described other heroes of faith, as “men of whom the world was not worthy”. Men who did not tell others of their support, commitment and love since it was plainly evident in their deeds. As the Master clearly said, “Greater love has no man than this, that he lay down his life for his friends”, and again, “The Good Shepherd lays down his life for the sheep!”

I think it may be Providential that Memorial Day this year falls here and now. As a nation in the midst of a debate about our role in the world; as a nation in the midst of a debate about what has happened to us and what our response should be; as a nation planning to continue these debates in the aftermath of a pathetic, short term funding of our military mission we have some decisions to make.

We must decide if the freedom we enjoy today is something we can simply take for granted will be there tomorrow. If we determine the answer is ‘No’ then we must decide how we will proceed to ensure that it is. It is at this point Memorial Day makes its crucial contribution to the debate. It reminds us that without the ability and the will to fight for what we believe our future is at risk. If we are not careful, we will miss the mute reminder of millions of silent graves. Their worldly voices silenced by the violence they endured, their counsel is easily overpowered by the click of the stock ticker, the cries of our children, the myriad demands of daily life made possible by the freedom we enjoy. If we are to have a chance at hearing the whispers from those who earned the right to speak in death by serving us in life we must make the conscious choice to stop and listen for them.

Their quiet wisdom is needed in times of doubt and indecision. It is needed when the choices we face are clear but the determination of which is the right choice is not. It is needed, today more than ever, as we choose the course we’ll follow as a nation in the days ahead. If we stop and choose to remember those that navigated these same murky waters before us we’ll find those things the memorials they erected were intended to enshrine. Their voices counsel us, “Duty … Honor … God … Country … Sacrifice … Liberty … Love!”

If we will not make the effort; if, in the midst of the liberty they pass down to us, we forget to remember, we are fools. And like the stone erected by Joshua at Shechem, the very thing intended to comfort, guide and preserve us will bear witness against us that we received wisdom but were untrue to our fallen, our nation and our God.

Praying we strive to keep our memories clear and strong …

Blue Collar Muse

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Blue Collar Muse @ May 28, 2007