Military Devotion – Remember – September 11, 2026

It’s at this time of year where we hear that word “remember” or the words “don’t forget,” and they immediately tie our minds and hearts to the awful events that happened 25 years ago. Those of us who are old enough remember exactly where we were and what we were doing and how we reacted when we first heard the awful news.  

There’s some of you who were (and still are) on active duty and cannot forget where you were or what you were doing because you knew what this meant for you in your vocation as a war fighter. Some of you were in high school, and you will not forget because those events moved something in you to join the fight and defend our nation so that something like this would never happen again. For some of you who went over there, you wish you could forget some of the things that happened over there.   

There is a lot wrapped up in that word “remember.” Why would I want to remember? Part of us doesn’t want to remember because of how awful it was. We don’t want to remember because of people we lost to the war, people whose minds and bodies have been lost because of the war. And then we get to the deeper spiritual question, “God, do you remember where you were? What were you doing on that day?” And those who suffer may ask, “Lord, do you remember me in my grief and sorrow?”   

What are we to do when remembering is difficult on the heart and soul? The only thing that we can do is to remember who our God is, who never forgets and always remembers – ah, with one exception. “I will forgive their wickedness and remember their sins no more” (Hebrews 8:12). The most important thing God forgets is your sin, for he has hidden it in his Son’s death on the cross.   

When God looks back at the cross, he remembers. God remembers the pain and trauma and grief and death for God suffered it all for you and me to redeem us from it. God remembers why it was necessary for him to suffer. For God remembers the garden where we brought destruction and trauma and war and death—all the consequences of sin—into the world. God remembers he made a promise right there in the garden and kept that promise by going to the cross and grave for the world. God remembers what happened three days later, because it was on that day he guaranteed, “I redeem all things. I make all things right. I remember that I came to save you.”        

Since our God is a God who does not forget, let us hold him to those things he remembers.  

“Remember, O God, that my life is but a breath” (Job 7:7).

“Remember, LORD, your great mercy and love, for they are from of old” (Psalm 25:6).

“Remember your word to your servant, for you have given me hope” (Psalm 119:49).

God remembers you. He remembers when he put his name on you, on your baptism day, when he claimed you as his own child, and tied you so intimately to his Son’s death and resurrection. He doesn’t forget you. He will not forget the awful things that have happened to you, your friends, your family, our country, because you are his.   

He will remember to be your strength when you are weak, to be your peace when there is chaos, to be your joy when there is sadness, to be your life in death.  

So do not forget 9/11. But do not forget your God. Remember him. Remember his promises. Because he doesn’t forget them. And he doesn’t forget about you.