“Then take care lest you forget the LORD!” (Deut. 6:12).
How is it possible that Israel should need this warning from the Lord, so soon after being miraculously delivered from the hands of their enemies, and standing virtually at the entrance to the promised land? How could they forget the Lord, when everything around them on every side testified to them of the Lord’s unending mercy and matchless grace? God knew the tendency of the human heart to worship the gifts and forget the Giver, so He gave Israel, and He gives us this warning: “Take care lest you forget the LORD!”
Today marks one hundred years since the war to end all wars came to an end. The armistice was signed in a railroad car, at 11:00 AM Paris time, on November 11, 1918. And today we are called to remember the terrible price paid for our freedom. And we are called to remember those who, even now, are risking their lives that we may continue to live free. Ceremonies and services are being held today, and have been held in the past week, not only to honour the fallen, but to keep us from forgetting the cost of our liberty! We treasure our freedom, and we thank God for those whose lives secured our freedom.
And yet, as precious as freedom from Egypt was for Israel, and as precious as freedom from war is for us, freedom from the curse of sin is infinitely more precious! As much as men have suffered in obtaining freedom for us, our Lord Jesus Christ has suffered infinitely more when he suffered the agonies of God-forsakenness on the cross that we might know freedom from the curse of sin for all eternity. I Corinthians 11:24 ends with these familiar words: “do this in remembrance of me.” While in the context, these words apply directly to the celebration of Communion, would we not do well in applying them to every aspect of our lives? May God help us to live our lives in the constant remembrance of the tremendous price of the blood of the unblemished Lamb, paid at the cross of Calvary for our eternal freedom, and may He enable us to share the good news of that great freedom with many who are yet in sin’s bondage.