House of Hope Online

May 26, 2024

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Memorial Day is an especially important holiday in the United States.  It is a day to remember those who died while serving our country.  We remember and celebrate those who made the ultimate sacrifice to protect our freedom and to resist the forces of evil that would oppress us.

It is a rare trait to be willing to sacrifice your life for the benefit of others.  Jesus said this in John 15, referring to Himself:

John 15:

 13 “Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends.

Those who died in service to the country are Christ-like in that they laid down their lives for us, and Jesus said there is no greater love than this.

And so, in this small way, we celebrate as a way of saying thank you and a way of remembering the blessing that their ultimate sacrifice represents to us.  Thank the Lord for these men and women.  Remember to pray for those who lost loved ones in the war, and those who returned with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).  Many of these ended their life or continue to suffer.  If you know any families suffering in this way, encourage them to seek the Father of mercies and the God of all comfort, as the Apostle Paul instructed in 2^nd Corinthians 1:

2^nd Corinthians 1:

 2 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

 3 ¶ Blessed [be] the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort;

 4 who comforts us in all our affliction so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.

 5 For just as the sufferings of Christ are ours in abundance, so also our comfort is abundant through Christ.

Remember the Blessings of the Lord

I believe the Lord is encouraging us to count the sacrifice of the many service men and women as a great blessing.  Our calendar marks it as a feast day, and we are to rejoice in the blessing of “greater love has no one than this.”  The Lord is encouraging us to take time to remember and celebrate all the many blessings in our lives. 

For example, Memorial Day is also Nancy and my 46^th wedding anniversary, and we plan to celebrate by going to dinner and remembering the early days of our marriage, the birth of our children, and the many milestones along the way.  To an extent, we are watching a rerun of all that as our grandchildren grow up.

I was talking to my four-year old granddaughter, Riley, the other day and she had a book with a sparkling cover, and I asked where she got it.  We were in our family room and Riley explained she got it for her birthday, and she pointed to the exact spot where she was sitting when she opened the gift.  And she pointed to the front of the fireplace where she reached over and unwrapped the gift.  She remembered her little friends who were present.  I was amazed at the detail of her recall.

The next morning, the Lord spoke to me and said that He wants His children to remember the good gifts He has given us with the same level of detail and excitement that Riley had.  Riley remembered all the circumstances of the day she was blessed with that gift.

Feasting In Remembrance Is Ordained by God

God believes in feasting to commemorate the important things in our walk with Him.  Let’s discuss just two of these Old Testament feasts as examples.

Feast of Booths

We talked briefly last time about the Feast of Booths, or the Feast of Tabernacles, which is a day to celebrate the faithfulness of God to provide food and shelter as the people dwelt in tents during their forty years in the wilderness.  God wanted the people to feast over that and remember that He is our provider of all things we need for life and living.

Deuteronomy 16:

 12 “And you shall remember that you were a slave in Egypt, and you shall be careful to observe these statutes.

 13 “You shall celebrate the Feast of Booths seven days after you have gathered in from your threshing floor and your wine vat;

 14 and you shall rejoice in your feast, you and your son and your daughter and your male and female servants and the Levite and the stranger and the orphan and the widow who are in your towns.

 15 “Seven days you shall celebrate a feast to the LORD your God in the place which the LORD chooses, because the LORD your God will bless you in all your produce and in all the work of your hands, so that you shall be altogether joyful.

Notice God is telling His people to rejoice in their feast and to remember how they were slaves in Egypt and He delivered them.  Verse 15 says to celebrate because God will bless the work of your hands and “…you shall be altogether joyful.”

Feast of Passover

Exodus 12 gives the reason for the Feast of Passover.  God had told Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt that He would go through Egypt and execute judgment against their gods by striking down the first born male and beast in each unbelieving household.  God called for Israel to feast by roasting an unblemished lamb, but they were to take some of the blood of the lamb and mark their doorposts, so that the angel of the Lord would “pass over” that household when executing the judgement of the Lord.  Here is the word spoken by the Lord:

Exodus 12:

 12 ‘For I will go through the land of Egypt on that night, and will strike down all the first-born in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgments–I am the LORD.

 13 ‘And the blood shall be a sign for you on the houses where you live; and when I see the blood I will pass over you, and no plague will befall you to destroy [you] when I strike the land of Egypt.

 14 ‘Now this day will be a memorial to you, and you shall celebrate it [as] a feast to the LORD; throughout your generations you are to celebrate it [as] a permanent ordinance.

There is of course tremendous symbolism in the Passover Feast.  The unblemished lamb sacrificed is prophetic symbolism of sin-free Jesus, whose blood covers us and enables God to pass over us when He executes judgment for all eternity.  The Last Supper of Jesus with His disciples occurred on the Feast of the Passover.  But notice verse 14: the day is to be a memorial and you are to celebrate it as a feast to the Lord.  Consider this a permanent ordinance.  The Lord is commanding us to feast over our many blessings.

In Closing: Rejoice before the Lord Every Day

As you celebrate Memorial Day, rejoice before God that men and women in our armed forces expressed love by giving their lives to free us from oppression, just as Jesus gave His life to liberate us.  They certainly are a great blessing to be celebrated as a permanent ordinance in our lives.

But God is also telling us to remember joyfully all the blessings in our lives.  It is easy to focus on the trials we face, but the word of the Lord today is to rejoice in remembrance of what He has done for us. 

God is telling us to remember our blessings in detail just as Riley remembers her birthday gifts.  Ask yourself what things God has done for you that He wants you to joyfully remember.  What has He done to provide for you?  What has He done to protect you?  And what has He done to liberate you from the oppression of the devil?

I have shared in prior podcasts how God has seen me through the wilderness of poverty and the orphan spirit of my early life, and how He used my brother and my uncles to speak into my youth.  God directed my steps through high school and college and made a way for me to meet Nancy and become a father to four beautiful children and now four, soon to be six, grandchildren.

But, most importantly, He drew me into relationship with His Son Jesus, who met with me while I was frustrated and worked with me to solve practical problems in my business career.  He has remained faithful to me in that regard.  Jesus is my personal Passover Lamb, the One whose blood allows the Father to pass over me as He executes final judgment on a sinful world of unbelievers in the days ahead.

The Lord has provided food and shelter for our family, and so I rejoice in my own personal Feast of Booths.  He leads us through the great and terrible wilderness.

Deuteronomy 8:

 15 “He led you through the great and terrible wilderness, [with its] fiery serpents and scorpions and thirsty ground where there was no water; He brought water for you out of the rock of flint.

 16 “In the wilderness He fed you manna which your fathers did not know, that He might humble you and that He might test you, to do good for you in the end.

 17 “Otherwise, you may say in your heart, ‘My power and the strength of my hand made me this wealth.’

 18 “But you shall remember the LORD your God, for it is He who is giving you power to make wealth, that He may confirm His covenant which He swore to your fathers, as [it is] this day.

He feeds us and gives us sustaining water during the wilderness days of our lives.  He is the One who gives us the power to make wealth.

I encourage you today, on this Memorial Day weekend, to spend some time thinking about what else the Lord has done for you, and rejoice before Him as a memorial, and celebrate it as a feast to the Lord.

Let us pray.

Father God, thank You for the men and women who gave their lives in service to our country.  We intercede for the families who lost loved ones and those who have suffered and are suffering from PTSD and other injuries sustained in war.  But Lord, we also are altogether joyful for the Passover Lamb, Jesus, and for Your provision of food, water, shelter, and protection in our wilderness.  Help us to remember to celebrate all You have done as a permanent ordinance.  In Jesus’ holy name we pray.  Amen.