Remember Me… | Sunday, August 21, 2022

Remember me, O my God, concerning this, and do not wipe out my good deeds that I have done for the house of my God, and for its services. ... Remember me, O my God, concerning this, and also spare me according to the greatness of Your mercy. ... Remember me, O my God, for good! (Nehemiah 13:14, 22, 31)

Nehemiah recorded his deeds not so we would remember his name, but so God would remember him—and that same hope is offered to us.

Nehemiah: A Book of Remembrance

We have spent this summer going through the book of Nehemiah together. Nehemiah is a book of remembrance. At the start of the book the people of Israel are in exile, far from their homeland, and they are there because they had forgotten the Lord—His statutes and His ordinances.

They didn't forget in the sense of not knowing who God was. They knew the words of the law; many could probably recite large portions from memory. They had kept the feasts—Passover, Pentecost, Tabernacles—sung the Psalms, and remembered Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, and David. But their lives were not lived in accordance with what they knew to be true from God's word. We all know we can find ourselves in a very similar situation: we can know what is right, know what we ought to do, and then not do it at all.

Deuteronomy's Repeated Warning: Do Not Forget

Before Nehemiah we were in Deuteronomy this summer, where Moses, preparing Israel to enter the promised land, repeatedly reminds them not to forget the Lord.

Only take heed to yourself, and diligently keep yourself, lest you forget the things your eyes have seen, and lest they depart from your heart all the days of your life. (Deuteronomy 4:9)

Take heed to yourselves, lest you forget the covenant of the LORD your God which He made with you. (Deuteronomy 4:23)

Beware, lest you forget the LORD who brought you out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage. (Deuteronomy 6:12)

In Deuteronomy 8:11 Moses warns that when they have eaten and are full, built beautiful houses, and multiplied their herds, flocks, silver, and gold, their hearts will be lifted up and they will forget the Lord who brought them out of Egypt. God reiterates this over and over because He knows that, as the old hymn says, we are "prone to wander, prone to leave the God I love." He repeatedly reminds His people not to forget, because we are given to forgetfulness.

How Quickly We Forget

Israel forgot, as the psalmist recounts in Psalm 106:

Our fathers in Egypt did not understand Your wonders; they did not remember the multitude of Your mercies, but rebelled by the sea—the Red Sea. (Psalm 106:7)

Nevertheless God saved them for His name's sake, drying up the Red Sea and leading them through. "Then they believed His words; they sang His praise. They soon forgot His works." Later, "they changed their glory into the image of an ox that eats grass. They forgot God their Savior, who had done great things in Egypt."

Charles Spurgeon, commenting on Psalm 106:13, said they seemed in a hurry to get the Lord's mercies out of their memory. Sadly that is true of us too. And this is often not a slow process over years or decades—it can happen very quickly. Read Exodus 32: it took less than two months after receiving the commandments in Exodus 20 for Israel to be dancing around a golden idol.

God Is Not Forgetful

Israel forgot, yet in that very same psalm the writer pleads, "Remember me, O LORD, with the favor You have toward Your people; oh, visit me with Your salvation" (Psalm 106:4). I'm reminded of that cheesy 90s song, "I will remember you—will you remember me?" The sad reality is that though we profess sincere love and devotion to God, we often live forgetful lives.

Thankfully, God is not forgetful.

For the LORD your God is a merciful God; He will not forsake you nor destroy you, nor forget the covenant of your fathers which He swore to them. (Deuteronomy 4:31)

He remembers His covenant forever, the word which He commanded, for a thousand generations. (Psalm 105:8)

I am so grateful that our God is not forgetful, though we His people often are.

Israel Remembered and Returned

For nearly a century Israel was exiled in Babylon, and the whole time they remembered Jerusalem—they longingly remembered the blessings and benefits of being God's people, which they had taken for granted. They had been wholly given over to idolatry, but in Babylon, surrounded by the abundance of Babylonian idols, they began to remember the Lord and the word He had spoken through Moses nearly a thousand years before.

But from there you will seek the LORD your God, and you will find Him if you seek Him with all your heart and with all your soul. When you are in distress, and all these things come upon you in the latter days, when you turn to the LORD your God and obey His voice... for the LORD your God is a merciful God, He will not forsake you nor destroy you nor forget the covenant of your fathers. (Deuteronomy 4:29–31)

Israel repented, forsook their idols, and returned to God—and God, exactly as He promised through Moses, rescued them and brought them back to Jerusalem. The books of Ezra and Nehemiah are the record of that return and rebuilding.

The One People Who Returned

This is a story of God's grace. Study the ancient Near East and you'll meet many peoples named in the Bible and in secular history—the Hittites, Hivites, Amorites, Jebusites, Ammonites, Girgashites, Canaanites. Nearly all are lost to history. Conquered and relocated by the Assyrians, Babylonians, Persians, and Medes, none of them remained a people and returned to rebuild their homeland—save one. Israel returned and rebuilt. Why?

Many things could be said, but at the very least it is because the Lord your God is a merciful God, and as Moses foretold, He will not forsake you, destroy you, or forget the covenant He swore to your fathers.

Solomon's Prayer Foreseen and Fulfilled

When the temple was first built and consecrated under Solomon, the king prayed in 1 Kings 8, anticipating exactly this. He prayed that when Israel sinned and was carried captive far away, "yet when they come to themselves in the land where they are carried captive, and repent... and return to You with all their heart and with all their soul," that God would hear from heaven His dwelling place, forgive His people, and grant them compassion before their captors, "for they are Your people and Your inheritance."

Exactly as Moses said in Deuteronomy 4 and Solomon said in 1 Kings 8, that is what happened. From Babylon Israel cried out, repented, and returned with all their heart, and God who remembers His covenant and mercy heard from heaven—just as He promised in 2 Chronicles: "If My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land."

Write this down today: our God remembers His covenant and mercy. Even to those who have forgotten Him and have been failures, God remembers.

We Long to Be Remembered

This truth touches something deep, because we want to be remembered. A 2019 poll found that 75% of children ages 6 to 17 say they want to become a YouTuber or social media influencer when they grow up. When I was a kid I wanted to be a firefighter, then an astronaut, then a fighter pilot, then a pyrotechnician—the guy who blows things up for the movies. I went from wanting to put out fires to wanting to start them. But today, "YouTuber" tops nurse, doctor, lawyer, teacher, athlete, and rock star.

Why? Because we want to be known, noticed, and remembered. People all around us are clawing for notoriety. And the crazy thing is, in 150 years virtually no one will remember me, and probably no one will remember you. I don't even really know who most of my great-grandparents were. Two generations from now we will very likely be forgotten, even by our descendants—because people are forgetful.

Did Nehemiah Write to Be Remembered?

What does this have to do with Nehemiah? We just spent thirteen weeks in a 2,500-year-old book about a man and the things he did. We know Nehemiah wrote it because nearly 150 times he uses the words "I" or "me." I was in Shushan; I was the cupbearer; I asked about Jerusalem; I prayed; I spoke to the king; I surveyed the ruins; I planned the rebuilding; I organized the defense. It's almost the ancient equivalent of a daily vlog or Instagram stories.

And here we are 2,500 years later, remembering Nehemiah and his exploits. That is amazing staying power. His story went viral; it has a lot of likes and views. If Nehemiah was looking for notoriety, he definitely got it.

So I wonder—is this thirteen-chapter book, where he says "I" or "me" more than 150 times, just a narcissistic roll call of his own greatness so that millions after him would know how awesome he was? You could be forgiven for asking. Some of you may even feel uncomfortable hearing the question. But I think Nehemiah 13 answers it.

Three Verses, Five Words

Nehemiah 13 is the concluding list of the reforms Nehemiah brought to Jerusalem. He cleansed the temple and brought order to its disordered practices. He reformed the keeping of the Sabbath, which had been a problem before the exile. He made the people speak one language—Hebrew, the language of Judah—and challenged them to no longer marry outside their lineage. He cleansed the people and places of Jerusalem from their pagan practices. These were the very sins that had sent Israel into exile in the first place. Nehemiah essentially said: we've been there, we've reaped the consequences of our idolatry, immorality, and irreverence—and we're done. The city is secure, the temple is built; now we must worship the Lord rightly.

Why does Nehemiah record all of this? The answer is in three verses and five repeated words:

Remember me, O my God, concerning this, and do not wipe out my good deeds. (13:14)

Remember me, O my God, concerning this, and also spare me according to the greatness of Your mercy. (13:22)

Remember me, O my God, for good! (13:31)

Those are the very last words of the book. Nehemiah did not record his deeds out of some narcissistic bent so that you and I would remember his name, but so that God would remember him—remember him for his faith and his faithfulness. And as we've said, God remembers His covenant and His mercy, and God remembers His people.

God's Unforgettable People

"God remembered Noah" (Genesis 8:1). "God remembered Abraham" (Genesis 19:29). When Israel cried out in Egypt, "God remembered His covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob." What makes a person memorable to God? You become one of God's unforgettable people first by your faith, and then by your faithfulness.

Now some of you may already have an issue with my adding "faithfulness." You may want to say, "Just leave it at faith." I understand the tension—I feel it too. But I can't get over passages like James 2:20 and 2:26: "Faith without works is dead." I'm not discounting that Abraham believed God and it was accounted to him as righteousness. I'm not minimizing Ephesians 2:8–9: "For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast."

Some struggle with me throwing faithfulness into the mix because it seems like a work of man. But I don't want to ignore Jesus' commendation of faithful servants and His caution to lazy ones in Matthew 25: "Well done, good and faithful servant; you were faithful over a few things, I will make you ruler over many things. Enter into the joy of your lord." We are saved wholly by grace through faith, the gift of God—and it is also true that God remembers those who trust in and follow Him faithfully.

Better to Be Written in God's Book

In a world hyper-focused on celebrity and fame, where people are clawing to be known, I want to encourage you to gain a proper perspective. You may never be known by man—and it matters very little if you are. Your name may never be written in lights, but it is far better to have your name written in God's book in heaven.

Of the woman who anointed Him with costly oil, Jesus said, "Wherever this gospel is preached in the whole world, what this woman has done will also be told as a memorial to her" (Matthew 26:13). The thief on the cross said the very words Nehemiah used: "Lord, remember me when You come into Your kingdom"—and Jesus answered, "Today you will be with Me in Paradise."

Then those who feared the LORD spoke to one another, and the LORD listened and heard them; so a book of remembrance was written before Him for those who fear the LORD and who meditate on His name. (Malachi 3:16)

As you fellowship with others in the body of Christ and speak of how good God is, God keeps a book of remembrance of those who speak of Him and meditate on His name. And Hebrews 6:10 says, "For God is not unjust to forget your work and labor of love which you have shown toward His name."

"I Will Not Forget You"

Sometimes we feel forgotten by God. Israel often felt that way. I remember in 2001, right after 9/11, three other men and I went to New York City to minister with the Red Cross and the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association. We were in midtown Manhattan, near Times Square, with Bibles and flyers offering a prayer line. A Jewish woman took a flyer, walked a few steps away, then came back with tears in her eyes and said, "God has forgotten us." I've never forgotten that.

Isaiah knew people would feel that way:

Can a woman forget her nursing child, and not have compassion on the son of her womb? Surely they may forget, yet I will not forget you. See, I have inscribed you on the palms of My hands. (Isaiah 49:15–16)

Could you imagine a mother completely forgetting her nursing child? You'd say it could never happen. And God says even if that were possible, "I will not forget you."

Be Memorable to God

The Scriptures make it clear: God remembers His covenant and mercy, He remembers His people, and He remembers those who trust in Him and follow Him faithfully. Just as there is an earthly record of those who followed God by faith—Hebrews 11, the great "hall of faith"—there is a book of remembrance in heaven for those who continue to do the same today.

So as we conclude Nehemiah, I want to challenge you to be an individual who is memorable to God by your faith and your faithfulness, because in the end only His opinion matters. It won't matter how much was written or said about you on earth; it will only matter what the Lord knows about you because of your faith and faithfulness.

It's a great book, and it's been fun going through it this summer. More than 150 times Nehemiah says "I did this." But three times at the end he says, "Lord, I've written this only so that You'd remember." In spite of whatever bad things he may have done in his life, he says, "Lord, please forget all of that, and remember what I did for Your name."

Closing Prayer

God, I pray that You'd help us to become the kind of people who are memorable before You—because we have trusted in You and because we follow You by faith. Lord, would You quicken us by Your Holy Spirit to follow You faithfully this week, trusting in You. Every one of us will encounter obstacles and challenges this coming week. I pray, God, that You would lead and direct us, that we would hear a voice behind us saying, "This is the way, walk in it," and that we would trust You and follow You. For we ask this in Jesus' name. Amen.