The Lord tells His people to have this Passover as a memorial to Him. A memorial is something to remind us of a person or event. In this case, it’s both.
We need to remember. The Israelites are about to leave Egypt, and it’s like they get instant amnesia. I want to yell at the pages and tell them to remember and make the right choices. Then I find myself doing the same thing again, like running around frantically trying to find something instead of stopping to pray, or maybe jumping to contacting customer service and going through the whole pain of that process with maybe no help at the end, instead of turning to the one who promises to be my ever-present help when I am in trouble. And I stay up late and don’t get up early, or whatever it is, that I know better about but find myself doing anyway.
It’s our human nature to forget. It’s our sinful nature that wants to be god and save ourselves instead of relying on the perfect answer.
We don’t make it easy on ourselves, when we could live a life of rest by just leaning on the Everlasting Arms, letting His strong arm uphold us, letting Him carry us in the palm of His hand, close to His heart.
And so, we need memorials. We need the reminder. Passover was given as a reminder.
Does your family have memorials? Do you acknowledge and remember the Lord at each mealtime, or together at a special time each day or week?
Our family has a special meal every Friday evening where we more specifically look to the Lord and remember what He’s done for us. We also have a memorial wall, a corkboard where we post notes and pictures and other tokens to remind us of answered prayers and other miracles the Lord has worked in our lives.
We want to remember.
1 Chronicles 16:8-12a
Oh give thanks to the Lord; call upon his name; make known his deeds among the peoples! Sing to him, sing praises to him; tell of all his wondrous works! Glory in his holy name; let the hearts of those who seek the Lord rejoice! Seek the Lord and his strength; seek his presence continually! Remember the wondrous works that he has done