It was Edmund Burke (left) who wrote “people will not look forward to posterity who never look backward to their ancestors.” This is not only a sound philosophical statement, but also a fundamental biblical principle. Our political, as well as spiritual leaders, would do well to take note of this, for our once great nation is being led by men who have lost their way and they are leading the British people astray. These men have failed to understand the great principle, of “remember and forget not”. They have, and one suspects deliberately, failed to remember God’s mercy in dealing with this nation throughout the ages, they have forgotten his many acts of deliverance. The result is that today’s politicians and spiritual leaders, rather than building on the solid foundation laid by previous generations, are building on sinking sand and they themselves flounder in the sinking sands of ungodliness, human ambition and vain hopes.
The act of looking back, is an act of recollection, of remembrance, of recalling past events, past blessings, important anniversaries in our lives, special events in our families history and in the history of the nation. The act of recollection is not living in the past, but is an important tool that enables the wise man and leader to avoid the pitfalls and mistakes of the past. By ignoring the past, men and nations leave themselves wide open to the very real danger of making the same mistakes over and over again, just as we see taking place today.
REMEMBER – REMEMBER
Again and again in the Bible, God’s children are exhorted to remember. In Deuteronomy 5:15 for example the Lord calls on the children of Israel to “Remember that they were servants in the land of Egypt,” and that it was God who delivered them. We too should look back and remember that we were also once servants, not only individually to sin, but as a nation servants of the Church of Rome, and that it was God, who in His grace and mercy set us free. We would have been slaves to the Third Reich had it not been for the intervention of God, yet today what these people failed to do by armed conflict, they are doing by guile. The British leaders cannot or will not see it; the words of the old song need to be remembered “Britain, never, never, never shall be slaves.” But slaves we will be if our leaders do not wake up.
In Deuteronomy 16:3 Israel are exhorted to remember their deliverance from the Egyptians and they are to do so through a special feast, the Passover (left). Then again there is Deuteronomy 25:17, when they are called to remember and a humiliating event in their early history when the heathen king crept up behind them unawares and killed a number of the people. So we could go on; these are but three examples of the principle of looking back. Looking back reminds us of what we were, where we have come from and above all the greatness of God and His dealings with us. As well as warning of danger, looking back enables one to take evasive action and build positively for the futur