This weekend many people in the United States will be celebrating the Memorial Day by going camping, fishing, watching sporting events, swimming, grilling out or maybe engaging in a combination of these things. It makes me wonder, though, how many people will even take a moment to realize the reason and significance of the Memorial Day holiday: It is to remember all those brave individuals who gave their lives in battle and made the ultimate sacrifice a person can do, in order o protect the citizens of this nation and the freedom and liberty we cherish as a people.
When I reflect upon the lack of remembering what the significance of the Memorial Day holiday is supposed to be about, I am reminded of a very unique passage of Scripture found in God’s holy word in Ecclesiastes 9:14-15 [RSV]. The Wise Writer states, 14. There was a little city with few men in it; and a great king came against it and besieged it, building great siegeworks against it. 15. But there was found in it a poor wise man, and he by his wisdom delivered the city. Yet no one remembered that poor man. Who was this man? What on Earth did he do and what plan did he devise in his wisdom to deliver his city that was being besieged by a king? I can imagine the great hero’s celebration the city provided for this poor man, and I can almost hear the speeches proclaimed by the city elders and leaders, probably making claims such as, “We will never forget what you have done for us!” while they handed him the keys to the city. And yet we are told what really happened: “Yet no one remembered that poor man.” We joke about how we begin to lose our capacity to remember as we age. Forgetting certain things can be a good thing, such as ceasing to remember wrongs or perceived slights others have done to us. But it seems to me that our failure as a people to remember things that should be remembered and memorialized is a symptom of a much deeper problem that is plaguing our nation, and that is our forgetting our spiritual roots as a people. The freedoms and liberties we have enjoyed as a people and have taken for granted came as a result of much bloodshed of others, and we are witnessing a time in which freedom and liberty are being taken away from us all in the name of “Democracy,” forgetting again that our Founding Fathers never envisioned that we should be anything other than a Republic. They innately understood that a Democracy would never sustain a people to remain a righteous people that would be exalted by God (Proverbs 14:34), for Democracies cease to respect the private properties of others, which is a violation of God’s eternal and immutable law which proclaims, “You shall not steal” (Romans 13:9 [RSV]). "Democracies have ever been spectacles of turbulence and contention; have ever been found incompatible with personal security, or the rights of property; and have, in general, been as short in their lives as they have been violent in their deaths." (James Madison, Federalist No. 10, 1787) In 1798 John Adams wrote, “Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other." Will we dare to remember and heed the words of our Founding Fathers? Will we dare to be Christians and follow our Lord, and remain “faithful unto death” (Revelation 2:10)?
When I reflect upon the lack of remembering what the significance of the Memorial Day holiday is supposed to be about, I am reminded of a very unique passage of Scripture found in God’s holy word in Ecclesiastes 9:14-15 [RSV]. The Wise Writer states, 14. There was a little city with few men in it; and a great king came against it and besieged it, building great siegeworks against it. 15. But there was found in it a poor wise man, and he by his wisdom delivered the city. Yet no one remembered that poor man. Who was this man? What on Earth did he do and what plan did he devise in his wisdom to deliver his city that was being besieged by a king? I can imagine the great hero’s celebration the city provided for this poor man, and I can almost hear the speeches proclaimed by the city elders and leaders, probably making claims such as, “We will never forget what you have done for us!” while they handed him the keys to the city. And yet we are told what really happened: “Yet no one remembered that poor man.” We joke about how we begin to lose our capacity to remember as we age. Forgetting certain things can be a good thing, such as ceasing to remember wrongs or perceived slights others have done to us. But it seems to me that our failure as a people to remember things that should be remembered and memorialized is a symptom of a much deeper problem that is plaguing our nation, and that is our forgetting our spiritual roots as a people. The freedoms and liberties we have enjoyed as a people and have taken for granted came as a result of much bloodshed of others, and we are witnessing a time in which freedom and liberty are being taken away from us all in the name of “Democracy,” forgetting again that our Founding Fathers never envisioned that we should be anything other than a Republic. They innately understood that a Democracy would never sustain a people to remain a righteous people that would be exalted by God (Proverbs 14:34), for Democracies cease to respect the private properties of others, which is a violation of God’s eternal and immutable law which proclaims, “You shall not steal” (Romans 13:9 [RSV]). "Democracies have ever been spectacles of turbulence and contention; have ever been found incompatible with personal security, or the rights of property; and have, in general, been as short in their lives as they have been violent in their deaths." (James Madison, Federalist No. 10, 1787) In 1798 John Adams wrote, “Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other." Will we dare to remember and heed the words of our Founding Fathers? Will we dare to be Christians and follow our Lord, and remain “faithful unto death” (Revelation 2:10)?
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