He has made His wonderful works to be remembered; the Lord is gracious and full of compassion. (Psalm 111:4)

Whenever the Bible uses the word “remember,” it is typically translating the Hebrew root word זכר zachar, which means “to act on behalf of others.” This concept is the basis of why this same word is also rendered in noun form as “memorial.” Think about it: memorials are established with the intent of prompting us to remember something or someone very important — usually critical events in history and those who have acted on our behalf. So it is that the psalmist reminds us that the Lord has made His wonderful works — those deeds He has performed on our behalf— to be remembered and memorialized.

This truth is revealed to us in the very beginning when God established the Sabbath day as holy. He set it apart from the other days to serve as a day of rest, and at the same time, He commanded us to acknowledge the Sabbath as a memorial of His creative works. By keeping the Sabbath holy, not only are we remembering what He did but we testify to the world that He is the Creator.

The Hebrew calendar is filled with dates that are forever etched in the psyche of God’s people, many of them memorialized in order to recall the wonderful, and sometimes ominous, works of God. For instance, Israeli Independence Day commemorates the day that God miraculously restored the nation of Israel after 2,000 years of captivity. On the other hand, the 9th of Av remembers the destruction of the Temple and the scattering of the Jewish people — the event that initiated the 2,000 years of captivity. The point is, when the Lord does something on behalf of His people, including those things that aren’t so desirable, we are to remember. As we do, we should always acknowledge that, in the good times and the bad, the Lord acts on our behalf and in our best interests because He is gracious and full of compassion.

In that vein of thought, let us remember that God ordained Passover as a time of “solemn observance” — a time to remember that the Lord brought His people out of the land of Egypt (Exodus 12:42). As followers of Messiah, not only do we remember the deliverance from Egypt, but we also remember how Yeshua became our Passover Lamb and delivered us from the bondage of sin. So when we observe this memorial, we testify that He is the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. He is the manifestation of God’s grace and compassion to all. Therefore, as the people of God, let us be diligent to observe and honor these memorials with the intent of remembering all that He has done for us and to proclaim to the world that our God is gracious and full of compassion — He is always acting on our behalf.

Blessings and Shalom,  

Bill