Remember Me Project

1 Chronicles: 14:13,14

Once more the Philistines raided the valley, so David inquired of God again, and God answered him, ‘Do not go straight up, but circle around them and attack them in front of the balsam trees’.

Last Friday, the US Holocaust Memorial Museum hosted a candle-light ceremony to honor the victims of the Nazi persecution and to promote awareness to help-prevent future genocides. There was an estimate of 1.5 million Jewish children and tens of thousands other youths who died during the Holocaust. Thank God, there were survivors. After the war, social service agencies across Europe were able to photograph some 1,100 of those displaced children. As of November 2011, 230 of them were found and their stories heard via the Museum’s Remember Me? Project.  Newer pictures were attached to their old, younger versions, meaning, they’ve survived and continued life. I’ve cried over Schindler’s List and Life is Beautiful , but these best pictures are no match to these photographs. They’re worth our remembrance.

Walls broken down and every building burned. Rubbles were all that’s left in the once glorious city of David. The remnants knew his name as the greatest king who ever lived. That he fought against giants and armies, as a fugitive ‘til he’s crowned. They probably wished they were born in his timeline instead. Or prayed for someone like him to help them rise from ground zero. It was at this point that God moved his chronicler to choose this story of David against the Philistines. He had just been anointed as king when his enemies full-forced-raided the valley, twice. As listeners, I imagine the remnants awaiting to know his signature moves, or his battle strategies, or at least his quotes to live by.  And it did not disappoint them. For he had all three. His winning move was to inquire of the Lord. Two wars, both times. His battle strategies were dictated by God: one straight up, one by circling around.  The second one with the note, ‘God has gone out in front of you’. That was the quote he likewise lived by. It made his fame spread throughout every land; made him the greatest king in Judah’s eyes. He’s worth their inspiration. Worth their remembrance. 

Holocaust survivors had people to thank God for. Latest finds mentioned a nanny who pretended to be his non-Jewish mother; another remembered an American MP who escorted them safely to an apartment; one was already lined up against the wall for the shot when an army lieutenant appeared, placed them under arrest, and then miraculously set them free. These stories were already engraved in their hearts. The same engraving that David’s army and the remnants many years after kept treasured because they experienced God’s salvation. Our stories may not be as dim as the holocaust. But sin’s slavery and its sure eternal punishment in hell was the worst ever written. To us who have already been saved, may we see the need to publicize those photos so that the world would see and hear His grace. To those of you still trapped and in deep pits, He said ‘Call upon Me in the day of trouble and I shall rescue you’. He will leave his ninety-nine other sheep just to find you. His heart is set to see a new you on His wall, reconnected to Him and with a beautiful story to share.  Let’s Remember God today.