Known But To God (Memorial Day)

At Arlington National Cemetery, is to be found the tomb of the unknown soldier. On that marker are these words: "Here rests in honored glory an American Soldier, known but to God."

In fact, the tomb contains the body of not just one soldier, but several: the remains of a soldier from the First World War, one from the Second World War, one from the Korean conflict, and one from the Vietnam Conflict.

From the thousands of tiny white crosses dotting memorial cemeteries, caskets had been dis‑interred. By a complicated means of mixing and chance selection, the identities are guaranteed absolute anonymity. No one knows which dead soldiers were selected. They are "known but to God".

And so for this reason, every parent losing someone in the war, may go to that monument, with its closely guarded secret, and there shed a tear or two, in the knowledge that it might be their son or daughter.

It is better that some things are "known but to God." In J.B. Phillips translation of Romans 14, he has Paul saying, "The truth is that we neither live nor die as self‑contained units. At every turn, life links us to God..."

To "know everything" is a burden too heavy to bear. It is better that way, that some things are known, "but to God".

The future is one of these things. There are some who claim that the Bible gives us knowledge of when the Lord will return, but the Bible also says that "no man knoweth the times or the seasons of the Lord's coming". And it is better this way. Because the future is unknown, and I do not know the way, I must place my hands in those of Him who said, "I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life."

It was Mary G. Brainard who wrote:

So, on I go, not knowing
I would not, if I might.
I would rather walk in the dark with God
Than walk alone in the light.
I would rather walk with Him by faith
Than walk alone by sight.
It is better also that my personal mistakes are not known to the whole world, but by God alone. And my inner thoughts are known also only to Him, and I am glad.

"At every turn," Paul said, "life links us to God." Some things we know, and other things are unknown to us and it is best that way. "for when we die we come face to face with Him, and then we shall know even as now we are fully known.

Known but to God is the identity of the soldiers at rest in the famous tomb at Arlington National Cemetery, and known but to God are a thousand and one things about life which cause us to trust because we cannot see.

Thank God that we are not "self‑contained units"..."islands of solitude" in a sea of indifference. But that at every turn, we are linked to God and that whether in life or in death, we are in His hands.