Blog
“Forgotten by Men but Known by God”
Categories: Bulletin Articles, Clay Gentry
I was recently lent a copy of “Maury County Cemeteries.” Its pages provide a tangible link to the lives and communities that shaped the landscape of Maury County over the last two centuries. As I paged through the two volumes, rich with historical notes, a recurring description caught my eye with a sense of sadness: abandoned, destroyed, forgotten.
The thought that family and community burial plots lie within our community, though documented but lost to the relentless march of progress, is profoundly sad. These final resting grounds, meant to be places of remembrance and honor, have ultimately succumbed to the march of time and now lie abandoned, destroyed, and forgotten.
I was recently at Polk Memorial, a cemetery where stones endure and names remain legible, a testament to its ongoing care and use. However, the stark descriptions in those volumes serve as a sobering reminder that even this well-maintained ground may, a century or two from now, also face the specter of abandonment, destruction, and forgetfulness.
The individual stories etched in these markers, the very lives of those who rest there, while meaningful to us today, will eventually fade from the memory of those who pass by, and nature will reclaim that place.
Yet, this human tendency to forget stands in powerful contrast to the divine promise articulated by the Apostle Paul: “For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed. This perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality. When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written: ‘Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?’ The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, and always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain” (1 Cor 15:52b-58).
While human efforts to memorialize the dead may crumble and earthly resting places may be lost to the unwavering progress of time, God’s remembrance is eternal. He will not allow His people to be destroyed; even as our physical forms return to dust, He promises resurrection. He will not abandon our bodies to the permanent silence of the grave but will call us forth to new life. Most importantly, He will not forget our labors of faith and service that marked our earthly journey, but He will reward us accordingly.
Through God’s grace, His people have a lasting significance that surpasses the limits of human memory and the deterioration of earthly monuments.
