The life of mortals is like grass, they flourish like a flower of the field; the wind blows over it and it is gone, and its place remembers it no more. (Psalm 103:15-16)
I’ve been spending a lot time in Psalm 103 recently, and this verse really hits me. It can actually sound kind of harsh if taken alone. I mean, it basically says, “once you’re gone, people ain’t gonna remember you for long.”
As a person with a brain tumor, I’ve spent a fair amount of time contemplating “my place” without me in it anymore. I have found myself hoping that I will be remembered. I’m sure each of you hope to be remembered by your loved ones and friends as well. Honestly, some of the more outrageous things I’ve said or done to get a laugh out of my family or friends has been done for the purpose of making it hard to forget and easy to remember me.
I’m sure you have done similar things in your own way. Maybe it wasn’t a joke or surprising comment. Maybe you made something to be passed down to your kids and grandchildren. Maybe it was a financial provision that you hope will be both beneficial for your family and a reminder of you and your love for them. I’m sure we can all sympathize with the desire to be remembered.
However, in this Psalm, David tells us the harsh truth that after a while, people won’t think about us much anymore. It sounds really harsh saying that I know, but remember, David said it first. Last night, Ayden and I were trying to find information on our ancestors. I actually found one that I had never heard of before. He was my great, great, great grandfather. I had heard of his son, but never of him or his wife. In the years since his passing in the 1800’s, he had passed out of our family lore. It’s a sad fact of life I know, but it is a fact none-the-less.
So what to do with this desire to be remembered? Are we to understand that this desire will forever be met with frustration? Hear David on this,
… its place remembers it no more.
But from everlasting to everlasting the Lord’s love is with those who fear him, and his righteousness with their children’s children.(Psalm 103:16-17)
In other words, your “place” may forget you, but your Lord never will. When our lives are lived in the “fear of God”, meaning in reverence and deference to Him, then He remembers us from “everlasting to everlasting”. We don’t have to worry about being forgotten because the Lord of the entire Universe will surely keep us in His heart and mind for all eternity.
And we don’t have to devise weak strategies that may or may not do the trick in ordered to be remembered by Him. He has told us that if we devote our lives to Him, He will surely remember us in His love.