Remembering the Lord | Kevin Edmonds

The Peg and the Pen: "Penning words in order to shape culture and to train women to hammer with a peg the tyrants that the Lord has placed in their path of obedience."

How is your memory?  What types of things do you love to remember? What actions or events do you make an intentional effort to remember? 

 You know what an individual remembers says a lot about that person.  The people, events, tasks and moments we remember reveal the type of person we are, what we hold close to our heart and even what trajectory our life is heading.  Our memory or remembering reveals what we believe to be important and it is not only true of an individual but collectively as a people.   

For example, two causes were celebrated recently as a way of “remembering” others, and the way you celebrated or not says something about you as an individual and even us collectively as a people.  The two causes celebrated recently were PRIDE MONTH and D-Day. 

The first cause: Pride Month according to one definition is a month-long observance dedicated to the celebration of LGBTQ pride, commemorating the contributions of the LGBTQ culture and community. 

The second cause: D-DAY celebrated yesterday was the 82^nd anniversary of the day (June 6, 1944) on which Allied forces invaded northern France by means of beach landings in Normandy that laid the foundations for the Allied forces to defeat Nazi Germany in World War II.   

Whether we celebrated or remembered either of these causes says a lot about us as individuals as well as us collectively as a people.  Pride Month reveals that we are actively pursuing unrighteousness and immorality.  This would be wrong because God our Father says that those behaviors are sin and even an abomination to Him.  Even the name “PRIDE” assigned to promote this ideology and celebration, the Bible says God opposes (James 4:6).  However, remembering or celebrating the great sacrifice of others to resist evil at the cost of their own lives in WWII reveals something else.  It reveals a heart of gratitude, thankfulness and a realization that the freedoms we and others enjoy today was not free but was secured by the tremendous sacrifice of others. 

So, with that in mind, let’s look at what God’s word says about remembering or worse yet forgetting.

Deuteronomy 6:10-12, “So it shall be, when the LORD your God brings you into the land of which He swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to give you large and beautiful cities which you did not build, ¹¹ "houses full of all good things, which you did not fill, hewn-out wells which you did not dig, vineyards and olive trees which you did not plant-- when you have eaten and are full-- ¹² "then beware, lest you forget the LORD who brought you out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage.” (NKJV)

In this passage it was evident that the hand of the LORD was guiding, directing, providing and even fighting on the behalf of the people of Israel. Deuteronomy was written to the children of those who were adults when they were delivered from Egypt.  Unfortunately, that adult generation rebelled against the LORD and died in the wilderness. The children of that previous generation are poised to move into the promised land of Canaan.  Deuteronomy is the reminder of the blessings and curses that were present in the covenant of grace with their God. This is not a new set of laws. This same law that was given on Mount Sinai was being given to a second generation of Israelites. This people needed to be reminded to trust the LORD of the covenant lest because of His abundant grace and mercy they would forget Him. 

Isn’t it amazing that the more God blesses a people, the easier it is for the people to forget God.  The abundance of God’s mercy and grace can actually lead people to seek worldly pleasures, comfort and convenience and pursue their own desires rather than seek the Lord.

We, as a people and nation, are about to embark on a historic milestone as we celebrate the 250^th anniversary of the United States of America. We should feast, fellowship, set off fireworks, and thank the Lord for the freedom that we have enjoyed for many years.  However, leading up to this momentous occasion and the subsequent days, months, weeks and years that follow, I think we should ponder the condition of our union, our states, our communities, our churches, our families and even the condition of our own hearts. 

Will we be able to celebrate the 300^th anniversary of this great nation with the same freedoms we enjoy today? 

Will our great grandchildren have a union to celebrate 100 years from now?  What kind of nation will they inherit from their ancestors, from us?

Have we as a people who still to this day enjoy the blessings of the Christian principles written into the Constitution and founding documents of our great republic forgotten the LORD who has prospered us?

Have we as God’s elect forgotten that we represent Him to a lost world that desperately needs His truths to be made known? 

We were founded on a distinctively Christian heritage. The founding fathers were not vague or ambiguous in their preamble to the Declaration of Independence.

“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”

In a letter John Adams, one of the founding fathers wrote:

“Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.” -- John Adams

For decades I believe that there has been an intentional effort to disciple the citizens of this nation to follow other gods and to lead us to forget the Lord.  The very warning that many of the children of Israel failed to heed (to not forget the Lord their God) led their nation to fall geopolitically was because they had already apostatized spiritually.  I believe the same is true for America.  Our nation was aided by God in its founding and the people has since departed from the word and ways of God.  The church no longer has boldness and we as a people would rather fit in with the secular humanists and LGBTQ community (the Canaanites of our day) rather than boldly obey the Lord.  We have forgotten that we are a people who are individually and yes collectively, in covenant with our Creator God.

What does it mean to forget the Lord? To forget the Lord means we are not actively considering Him in our thoughts, decisions, and actions. It means that we are not loving Him with all of our heart, soul, mind and strength. It means that we are being disobedient to what we were commanded to do in Deuteronomy 6:5. We forget because we believe that something or someone is more important than God.

Before we double down that we are simply going to try harder. My goal is not to create self-righteous hypocrites. The goal is to see the graciousness of God and respond in genuine Spirit led gratitude and thankfulness. We must remember that we love Him because He first loved us (1 John 4:19).  We see this throughout scripture.

If we have forgotten to remember the Lord, what would God have us to do?

Revelation 2:4-5, “Nevertheless I have this against you, that you have left your first love. ⁵ "Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent and do the first works, or else I will come to you quickly and remove your lampstand from its place-- unless you repent.” (NKJV)

I believe America has forgotten the Lord, has fallen and now needs to remember our gracious God who is calling us to repent and return to do first works (Love God and others).  As we look to celebrate this 250^th anniversary of our great nation may we celebrate with true joy and thankfulness to God for His mercy and grace.  May this gratitude lead us to love and disciple others with the great and precious promises found in His Word.  This is the only hope for the future of our great Republic.