I have considered the days of old, the years of ancient times. I call to remembrance my song in the night: I commune with mine own heart: and my spirit made diligent search” (Psalm 77:5–6).

It is so easy to forget. The burdens and pressures of these present times easily drown out the voices of the past.

God, however, remembers. It is good also for us to consider the olden days, not simply in sad nostalgia, but for our guidance in the present. With reference, particularly to those instances which the Lord selected to be recorded in Scripture, “they are written for our admonition” (I Corinthians 10:11). In addition to being written as warnings, they were also written for comfort. “For whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the scriptures might have hope” (Romans 15:4).

To the Christian, an annual Memorial Day should have still an additional special meaning. Not only do we desire to honor those who died for their country (and many of us do, indeed, recall with deep love and respect close friends and family members in this honored company), but also to remember those who lived for the Lord and whose lives and ministries have helped guide us to the light for our own difficult pathways today. Parents and teachers, authors and preachers, counselors and friends—many of whom have already gone to be with the Lord—deserve to be remembered and honored, for it will make that great future Homecoming Day all the more blessed when we are all together with the Lord when He returns (I Thessalonians 4:17).

Most importantly of all, of course, we must remember the Lord, not annually, but always. “I will remember the works of the LORD: surely I will remember thy wonders of old. I will meditate also of all thy work, and talk of thy doings” (Psalm 77:11,12). HMM