Psalm 50, 59, 60
Deuteronomy 9: 23– 10:5
Hebrews 4: 1-10
John 3: 16-21
Strengthen us, O Lord, by your grace, that in your might we may overcome all spiritual enemies, and with pure hearts serve you; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
The forty years in the desert for the Israelites. The forty days Jesus spent being tempted in the wilderness. No matter what time measurement we give, forty is simply a long time. Moses lays prostrate, face to the ground for forty days, praying to God to save the Israelites rather than destroy them in anger. Forty days with his face in the dirt on top of a mountain praying? Moses shows how much he cares for the people. We spend forty days in Lent, traveling through the spiritual wildernesses of fasting, praying, grieving, and reading. Such travels, either literally or figuratively, wear on us. Who doesn’t get grumpy or doubtful after a long time in the wilderness? Yet Moses prays for God to save us in our wildernesses. Jesus also prays for us in this wilderness. Maybe today, we can pray for our own and other’s journeys through the wilderness and the steadfastness of faith to come in strength to salvation.
The Reverend Elizabeth Yale