Today is “Father’s Day,”
not only here in the United States, but also celebrated in most of the
countries of the world. It’s the day set aside to remember and honor our
dads especially those whose fathers are still living. My father went home
many years ago and I still miss him. I think that we grow to miss our
fathers more as we age ourselves. Probably because he’s not there to
share the good times and special experiences we have in our lives. How
many times have you (and I) said, “I wish dad could have seen this, or been
here?”
But, whether your father
is still living or has passed, we remember them and how they affected our
lives. Did you ever pause to consider what a great blessing it is
that we possess the ability to “remember?”
That man is the only creature of God that has that ability? How sad it is
to think about what life would be like without that faculty.
Of course, we all have
different degrees of that ability, don’t we? I jokingly tell people that
“many can remember half of what they’ve experienced, and some can even remember
three-fourths of what they’ve learned. But my wife has the best memory of
all because she can remember things that never happened.” Like I said, I
say that “jokingly.” (But still.......?)
In preparation for
writing this editorial, I did a rough count of the times we find the word “remember” in the Old
Testament, as in where God told Israel “to
remember.” Roughly, it was 43 times with the majority of them
being when God told them to “remember”
His law and commandments. Or some particular event wherein He had “delivered” them from
various situations.
The reason for His
continuing admonishment to “remember”
is because He knows His creature man and his propensity to forget. One of
man’s major mistakes is to apply his abilities and emotions to God and think
that He will also “forget”
something. Even though we may “forget”
Him, and many do, if we’re righteous, He will not “forget” us. (Isa. 49:15)
As to Israel “remembering” God, to their
great detriment, they got away from the continual “reminding” of Him and all that He had done for
them and one of the saddest pictures painted of them is found in Judges 8:34
where we read: “And the
children of Israel remembered not the Lord their God, who had delivered them
out of the hands of all their enemies on every side.”
Here’s a question for
you: do you think that we can be like ancient Israel and “forget” God?
Absolutely, especially if we don’t continually bring to memory the great and
wonderful things that God has blessed us with. We have to heed the advice
given to Israel and strive to always “remember”
what our “heavenly Father”
has done for us.
I once read the
following little item in a small-town newspaper. I don’t know the
author’s name but he/she certainly said a mouthful when they penned these
words: “It is not what people
eat, but what they digest that makes them grow. It is not what they read,
but what they remember that makes them learned. It is not what they
profess, but what they practice that makes them righteous.”
The term “practice” as
used in the above paragraph has the definition of being “prepared.”
To “exercise” or “condition” oneself which implies that we do it on a continual
basis. Which is exactly why we continually study God’s Word so that we
won’t become like Israel of old and “forget”
God.
So that we always “remember” our “heavenly Father” and that
we do so each and every day rather than just one day per year. As our
earthly fathers provided for us and gave us many, many things, let’s never “forget” what God has given
us. His “only begotten
Son.” (John 3:16) And why did He do that? The answer is
found in the following verse (17) “....but
that the world through Him might be saved.”
Wouldn’t you say that
His sacrifice of His Son in order that man doesn’t have to “perish, but have everlasting life”
is by far the greatest gift a Father ever gave to His children? I certainly
do and should we “forget”
this “gift” we
have a very ominous future ahead of us. Israel did so and I think that we
can read and know what God had to say about it: “Therefore, behold, I, even I, will utterly forget you, and
I will forsake you, and the city that I gave you and your fathers, and cast you
out of my presence: and I will bring an everlasting reproach upon you, and a
perpetual shame, which shall not be forgotten.” (Jer.
23:39-40)
It’s reported that it is
most inconsiderate to greet someone with the question, “Do you remember
me?” The great Winston Churchill had a response for that particular
question when he was asked it. He said, “Why, should I?” I just
hope and pray that, when I face my Father at judgment, His response isn’t the
same as Winston’s.
For the close of today’s
message, let’s return to some thoughts regarding our “earthly fathers” for a
moment. Here’s a little poem written by Ogden Nash that fits with
our earthly families and thoughts about our fathers no longer with us.
When I remember bygone days,
I think how evening follows morn;
So
many I loved were not yet dead,
So many I love were not yet born.
Let me leave you with
one last passage relative to our thoughts today and it’s found in Psalm
103:17-18.
“But the mercy of the
Lord is from everlasting to everlasting upon them that fear Him and His
righteousness unto children’s children; to such as keep His covenant, and to
those that remember His commandments to do them.”
Respectfully submitted,
Ron Covey
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