How Music Helps Us Remember God’s Faithfulness
54 “Your statutes have become my songs in the house of my sojourning. 55 I remember in the night Your name, O Yahweh, so I keep Your law. 56 This has become mine, that I observe Your precepts.”
My husband, Christian, and I are reading through a Bible in a year plan, and lately, our journey has taken us through the book of Exodus. As I reflected this morning, I found myself lingering over a different detail than usual. Typically, when I read Exodus, I imagine the awe and terror the Israelites must have felt as they left the only home they’d ever known—even under the harsh oppression of Pharaoh. I think about the miraculous plagues, the parting of the Red Sea, the pillar of fire and cloud. All the drama & all of God’s divine might are on display.
But today, something else caught my attention. Something quieter, but just as intentional: remembrance.
As God leads His people out of Egypt, He doesn’t simply rescue them and move on. He establishes rhythms of remembrance—holidays, feasts, and rituals that would help Israel remember who He is and what He has done. The Passover Lamb. The Feast of Unleavened Bread. Manna from heaven. Stones of remembrance. Symbols that point towards the soon-coming King, Jesus. But there’s another tool God uses in this rhythm of remembrance—one that stirs the heart as much as it shapes the mind.
He gives them a song.
After the Red Sea swallows Pharaoh’s army and Israel steps onto unknown & uncharted shores, their response isn’t just relief or celebration—it’s worship. Worship to a God who has remembered His covenant in their affliction. Exodus 15 records the very first communal worship song in Scripture. It’s called the Song of Moses & Israel, and it’s bursting with praise for God’s glory, mercy, and His name — the One who Is.
“Then Moses and the sons of Israel sang this song to Yahweh and said, “I will sing to Yahweh, for He is highly exalted; the horse and its rider He has hurled into the sea. Yahweh is my strength and song, and He has become my salvation; this is my God, and I will praise Him; my father’s God, and I will extol Him.” — Exodus 15:1-2.
It is so interesting to note that they were writing their story and theology into rhythmic melody. God had moved, and they marked the moment of their deliverance with music. Even though they historically forget, God commands them to remember.
Take Deuteronomy 31 as an additional example. God has just told Moses, Israel’s leader, that he will not enter the promised land with his people and Joshua is positioned to take his place in the event of his death. God, in his foreknowledge, also tells Moses Israel will soon forsake God, break His covenant, and play the harlot after other gods once again. God commands him to write a song for the purpose of generational remembrance. This song would later “testify before them as a witness (for it would not be forgotten from the lips of their descendants).”
Why a Song?
Because melodies have the power to sustain memories. They stay near to you. They shape moments. They remind you.
I have a personal example — remembering Scripture. As a child, my parents and Bible teacher would have us memorize Scripture for personal development and as assignments. To remember, I would turn verses into songs that I still remember to this day. My favorite is Micah 6:8 — “He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.”
God, in His wisdom, gave His people music as a tool of memory. He knew that long after the miracles faded from immediate view, a melody could echo across generations.
Music as Memory in Worship
The feasts that God commanded Israel to observe weren’t dry rituals. They were full-bodied experiences that engaged all the senses—and often included song. Think of the Hallel Psalms (Psalms 113–118) sung during Passover. Jesus Himself would have sung those with His disciples the night before His crucifixion.
Even in the New Testament and into eternity, music continues to serve as a memorial. In Revelation 15, the redeemed sing a new song at the Sea of Glass, and what do they sing? “The Song of Moses and the Song of the Lamb.”
From Exodus to eternity, music helps us remember.
A Refrain for Today
As I reflect on Exodus and consider the melodies rising from Israel’s deliverance, I’m reminded that we are still a singing people. And not just because it sounds beautiful or feels good—but because God made music a vessel of memory. A sacred echo of His faithfulness. He gives us songs not just as emotional expression, but as covenantal communication—a way to commune with Him, to remember Him, and to be formed by His truth.
Each time we lift our voices in worship, we join a long legacy of remembrance. We declare who God is, what He has done, and what He promises still to do. These songs—and others like them—point to something deeper: a God who sings us into remembrance, and meets us in the melody.
Let every song be a stone of remembrance.
Let every note lead us back to Him.
I will leave you with this verse found in Colossians 3:16 — “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God.”
