If you are reading this, you are probably familiar with the name of the Jewish new year, Rosh Hashanah, literally “the head of the year..”

Yet, Rosh Hashanah is also called by four other names:

1. Yom HaZikaron, the Day of Remembering.

2. Yom HaDin, the Day of Judgment.

3. Yom Harat Olam, The Day the World was Conceived, in God’s plan.

4. Yom Tru’ah, the Day of the Broken Sound, the name of the holiday in Leviticus 23.

Each name is ripe with meaning, and leads one into deep reflection. As we approach the High Holiday season, consider the above names, but as questions:

1. What am I remembering? What am I thinking on, dwelling on, or bringing into living? Is it reflective of the new man in Messiah, or a lingering presence of the old? Also, what or who am I forgetting, and in need of remembering?

2. Who is the judge? Do I set myself in His position, or am I allowing His grace to penetrate the hard shell that the human heart is prone to develop?

3. What has God conceived me to be in Messiah? What has He purposed for me to do while on this earth?

4. Why is my sound broken, when He has made me whole in Messiah? What are you called to by the shofar (trumpet)?

Rosh Hashanah awakens the heart to a season of new beginnings, renewal, and anticipation for the coming of Messiah Yeshua/Jesus (Rev. 7:9). The sound of the shofar causes “us to turn away from to,” as we look to see the sound.

As you prepare for this holiday season, reflect on the above questions, but also allow your mind to construct your own, specific to your situation. Look to the Word of God for answers, direction, and correction. Hear the shofar, and anticipate with joy all that the Lord has planned as He moves you through this season.

Be well. Shalom.