Remembering the Way God Remembers

I've been developing some concern about our sacred institution of Remembrance Day.  As a former peace-time, infantry officer; and as one who has hardly missed involvement in November 11th, I think I have some sweat equity in the event.   I served for about 10 years as a Legion chaplain and became even more cynical. So here goes!

The mantra from sea-to-sea in our country, is "we remember our fallen heroes."  Most speeches include a sense of gratitude for the freedoms we have today.  Undoubtedly that is true.  But it's not placid gratitude that ought to drive our Remembrance Day ceremonies.  Lieutenant-Colonel McCrae said it best in the last stanza of his infamous poem:

Take up our quarrel with the foe:

To you from failing hands we throw

   The torch; be yours to hold it high.

   If ye break faith with us who die

We shall not sleep, though poppies grow

         In Flanders fields.

We ought to remember the way God remembers.   When we read in the Bible that "God remembers", we might get an image of a senile old man that try as he wish, he can't seem to recall what he is supposed to know.   That's not the God of the Bible.  That's not the eternal, self-existent, self-sufficient, omniscient, omnipotent God that is.  When the Scriptures use the term that "God remembered", the Holy Spirit is teaching us that God is acting upon His promises.   He is acting.  The best thing that can be said for any person is that God remembered them.

• Genesis 8:1 (NIV) ¹ But God remembered Noah and all the wild animals and the livestock that were with him in the ark, and he sent a wind over the earth, and the waters receded.
• Genesis 19:29 (NIV) ²⁹ So when God destroyed the cities of the plain, he remembered Abraham, and he brought Lot out of the catastrophe that overthrew the cities where Lot had lived.
• Genesis 30:22 (NIV) ²² Then God remembered Rachel; he listened to her and enabled her to conceive.
• 1 Samuel 1:19 (NIV) ¹⁹ Early the next morning they arose and worshiped before the Lord and then went back to their home at Ramah. Elkanah made love to his wife Hannah, and the Lord remembered her.
• Jeremiah 31:20 (NIV) ²⁰ Is not Ephraim my dear son, the child in whom I delight? Though I often speak against him, I still remember him. Therefore my heart yearns for him; I have great compassion for him,” declares the Lord.
• Psalm 105:42 (NIV) ⁴² For he remembered his holy promise given to his servant Abraham.

Remembrance Day ought to be a call to action, not simply a time of reflection, albeit thankfulness. There ought to be a firm resolve with all who "remember" to "take up the quarrel with the foe."  The Bible says that “Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin condemns any people.” (Proverbs 14:34, NIV). The greatest foe to Canada today is rampant unrighteousness.  The enemy is not a foreign nation, it is a foreign deity. “For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.” (Ephesians 6:12, NIV).

My grandfather and uncles served in both World Wars.  Neither war was ultimately driven by geo-political agendas.  The Divine diagnosis is simple, yet profound: “What causes fights and quarrels among you? Don’t they come from your desires that battle within you? You desire but do not have, so you kill. You covet but you cannot get what you want, so you quarrel and fight. You do not have because you do not ask God.” (James 4:1–2, NIV)

This is why I weary of Remembrance Day festivities.  It's because we never get to the root of the problem.  We never resolve to do what is necessary based upon the real issue.  We throw out empty and meaningless rhetoric and somehow go home feeling good.  It is the epitome of a secular society borrowing equity from religious ritual. Why not call communities to repent?  Why not call communities to return to God?  Why not plead with the Holy Spirit to rend our hearts and give us hearts that fear God and love neighbors?  I know its too radical.  That's because it is too real.  

“Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord, and that he may send the Messiah, who has been appointed for you—even Jesus.” (Acts 3:19–20, NIV).

Billy Graham is right when he said, "Only the gospel, God’s Good News, has the power to change lives, heal hearts, and restore a nation." 

Remembrance Day should be about reflection; about resolve, but it should also be about repentance and restoration of a nation to its God -- otherwise it is an empty facade.  The worst news possible is that all of humanity has fallen under the eternal condemnation of God for all of us have violated His glory and His holiness, for which we were created.  The best news possible is that because of God's immense love, He sent His Son, who took on humanity, lived a perfect life and died a substitutionary death for all who will, but put their trust in Him. 

Faith in this redemptive act, applies all of God's grace and goodness, by the Holy Spirit, to the believer; and placates God's righteous wrath against us.  His saving power enables the Christian to no longer live for themselves, but for Christ. His saving power grants the ability to conquer sin's power and live a life pleasing to God.