Some people have the most amazing memories. Take Bobby Sands for example. Sands was a member of the Provisional IRA who died on hunger strike while imprisoned at the Maze prison. I discovered recently that ‘during evening storytellings’ he would shout from behind his locked doors to the other prisoners, reciting Leon Uris’s highly popular novel ‘Trinity’ from memory. 

On the other hand though, some of us can be embarrassingly forgetful. There was the unfortunate vicar who received an anxious phone call while he was out shopping. The caller wanted to know when he would be arriving at the church to take the wedding. It seems that a very happy (but anxious) bride and groom were waiting there wondering what to do!

Communities need good memories too, not least when it comes to honouring those who have died and suffered on their behalf. That’s why we need to regularly remember those who paid such a heavy price for our democratic freedoms as well as those who continue to serve us today. It’s good to be reminded how easily countries can slip into war. Whether we learn any lessons from history is a moot point of course but at least it’s always better to be forewarned. 

And so, at this time of national recollection I thought it would be helpful to remember several God given truths. For example, we need to accept that we will never fully understand everything that happens in life. God, as the hymn writer said, can work in mysterious ways, and at times like that we have to trust Him. I am particularly conscious of this at the moment because a Christian friend has died leaving a young family without a husband and father. From a human point of view it simply does not make sense but I take heart from some words Jesus shared with the apostle Peter: “You don’t understand now what I am doing, but someday you will.”

This is why we need to remember that the day is coming when this sad, hurting world will be replaced by a new heaven and a new earth and love ‘o’er the universe will reign’. God hasn’t promised to ‘repair’ this broken world, He is going to create a new one, free from every form of suffering and evil. The apostle John understood this which is why he could write: “Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the old heaven and the old earth had disappeared,’ adding, ‘‘He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.”

Christians are called to live in hope then, and they will not be disappointed because their hope is based on the historical fact of the resurrection. And so, while they can’t expect to live trouble-free lives, they should never forget that God is with them, and in the words of the Psalmist ‘He is always ‘ready to help when we need Him’. Put simply then, God wants to guide us and support us as we journey through life knowing that He has promised His people a future that will be infinitely better than anyone could ever imagine.