Remember Lest We Forget

This weekend, our church is celebrating its 60^th anniversary. While some might say the first anniversary is the most important, reaching six decades is definitely noteworthy.

While most anniversaries are celebrated, others, like 9/11 or D-Day, serve as solemn reminders of past events. Regardless of the reason, we mark the date because it represents something significant. Our remembrance emphasizes the significance of a person or event, and we mark it on our calendars to prevent us from forgetting.

The phrase “remember lest we forget” comes from the poem ‘Recessional’ by Rudyard Kipling, written for Queen Victoria’s Diamond Jubilee in 1897. The poem's theme emphasizes the importance of a nation remembering that God is the source of its success.

“Remember lest we forget” is often used to remind people not to forget those who have lost their lives in war, even while living in times of relative peace. Remembering our hope during peaceful times helps us hold onto hope during challenging moments. Celebrating an anniversary can give us the opportunity to thank God for His work in the past and to express our hope for His continued work in us in the future.

Remembering is not only important in our daily lives, but it is also vital to our walks with God. We should remember the Lord in everything we do. The word “remember” appears approximately 240 times in the Old and New Testaments. Consider a few examples of what we are called to remember.

We are to remember that: the Lord brought you out of Egypt (Deuteronomy 6:12); I am God, and there is none like me (Isaiah 46:9); The Holy Spirit… will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you. (John 14:26)

Just as we mark our calendars with birthdays or anniversaries so we won't forget, we are also to remember the Lord. “Be careful that you do not forget the LORD your God, failing to observe his commands, his laws, and his decrees that I am giving you this day. Otherwise…” (Deut. 8:11–12a)

The best way to avoid forgetting is to remember. Life is so full of distractions that it’s easy for us to forget. Few people deliberately forget their spouse’s birthday or anniversary – yet we often do. Our forgetting isn’t usually due to a lack of love, but rather because we fail to remember how important they are. To prevent this, we will mark our calendars so we don’t forget.

To help the Israelites remember, the Lord gave Joshua instructions as they entered the Promised Land. As the people crossed the Jordan River into the land, the Lord told Joshua to have a representative from each tribe of Israel pick up a stone and place it on the land along with these instructions,

“When your children ask in time to come, ‘What do those 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 the Jordan were cut off. So these stones shall be to the people of Israel a memorial forever.” (Joshua 4:6b–7)

The stone monument was meant to stand as a lasting reminder of the Lord’s favor. It wasn’t a monument to the people’s hard-fought battle, but rather a reminder of the miraculous work accomplished by the Lord. Yes, it partly testified to the people’s obedience, but it was an obedient response to the Lord’s faithful deliverance of His people. They were to remember, so they wouldn’t forget that it was “the Lord who brought them out of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.” (Deut. 6:12)

There are many things we must remember and not forget. First and foremost, we should remember and never forget our love for the Lord. We should take to heart the warning given to the church in Ephesus: “But I have this against you: You have abandoned your first love. Yet I hold this against you: You have forsaken the love you had at first. “But I have this complaint against you. You don’t love me or each other as you did at first!” (Revelation 2:4)

Second, just as we celebrate anniversaries—remembering the Lord’s faithfulness in marriage or the history of a church—we should also remember who gives us the reason to celebrate. We celebrate what the Lord has provided for us. And as we celebrate, we testify to the Lord’s faithfulness, just as the Israelites did on the banks of the Jordan River.