Lenten Journey, Day 13; Lenting by Walking
Psalm 26:1: “Vindicate me, O LORD, for I have walked in my integrity…”
There is a phrase I learned recently in Latin, “Solvitur Ambulando,” which means “It is solved by walking.” While we run our lives sitting in front of a screen, Lent is a season to slow our pace and think more deeply about our problems; by walking? Why not?
It is worth reflecting that “sitting” in the Psalms are almost always associated with evil practices (see Ps. 26:5). Whereas, walking is generally associated with righteousness (see Ps. 26:3). Some of the writers we most cherish like C.S. Lewis and Tolkien were men who treasured their daily walks. The Dessert Fathers emphasized walking and meditating. Apart from the physical benefits, it also allows us to contemplate creation, to meditate on our lives, to think through our day, etc.
Lent can provide us opportunities for greater reflection. Perhaps a walk with your family, or even a solitary walk to remember the journey of Jesus to the cross. Lent is a walk of faith. Perhaps we can begin practicing that faith by literally walking.
Lenten Journey, Day 10
Jonah 2:10: “And the Lord spake unto the fish, and it vomited out Jonah upon the dry land.”
The story of Jonah is very familiar to our ears. Our famous prophet is brought through this journey of death in the belly of the beast and through repentance is spat out of the fish after three days. This is meant to parallel Jesus’ three days in death after the crucifixion.
Unlike Jonah, our Lord was perfect so that he did not need to repent. Still, it is fairly certain to say that Jesus went to Sheol during those three days of bodily death and proclaimed victory from death; or, we could say, he proclaimed victory from Sheol.
The parallels are really remarkable. Jonah is swallowed up by Sheol; Jesus is swallowed up by Sheol. Jonah repents; Jesus prays right before death that his enemies would be forgiven through repentance; Jonah spends three days in Sheol; Jesus spends three days in Sheol. Jonah proclaims that salvation is of the Lord in Sheol; Jesus proclaims that salvation is of the Lord in Sheol; Jonah is spat out of Sheol after three days; Jesus is spat out of Sheol (grave) after three days.
The stories of the prophets always remind us in these remaining thirty-one days that Jesus is the greater prophet; Jesus is the greater Jonah.
Lenten Journey, Day 9
Philippians 2:13: “For God is working in you, giving you the desire and the power to do what pleases him.”
Sometimes we are tempted to view God as distant; uninterested, perhaps, in human affairs. Does God care about my life and works? But the Bible displays a God who treasures intrusion; who deeply cares about our affairs and the state of our godliness. As Peter Leithart observes: “God doesn’t let us be the way we would like to be.”
Lent reminds us that God does not want us to get away with sin, but he intrudes through people and means to ensure that his saints live Coram Deo, before his face. At the cross, Jesus intruded in the world’s status quo; he gave himself so that death would no longer have the last word. Blessed be the Lord’s intrusion. In these remaining thirty-two days, may our hearts desire the intrusion of God conforming us to the image of his Son.
Lenten Journey, Day 8
Galatians 6:14: But far be it from me to boast [in anything or anyone], except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.
We are told not to boast. Boasting assumes our excessive trust in our own achievements. It’s the talk of pompous and powerful men. Yet, the Apostle Paul urges us to boast. For Paul, our boasting is not in our own conquest, it’s the conquest of Another. We boast in a tree that was cut down to save us. We pride in a tree, shaped in the form of a sword where our Savior hung.
Jesus died to become the sword of salvation to all who believe; the protector of all those born anew. In him, we are rescued, restored, and redeemed. We boast in a Savior who conquers by dying.
In these remaining thirty-three days, let’s boast! Let us proudly exalt the cross of Jesus. Let’s show Christian pride in a bloody cross bearing a beautiful Savior.
Lenten Journey, Day 7
“Don’t call me Naomi,” she responded. “Instead, call me Mara, for the Almighty has made life very bitter for me.-Ruth 1:20
One of the most famous biblical names in the Bible is Naomi. Her name means “pleasant.” Yet, when she returned to Israel, she asked to be called Mara, which means “bitter.” It is an astounding thing that nowhere after this verse is she referred to as Mara. The author and the characters speak of her only as Naomi, pleasant.
While we work hard against evil during this Lenten Season, we need to remind ourselves that the one working in us will carry us to completion (Phil. 1:6). Our identity is bound up in him. Further, the Naomi story teaches us that whether we feel bitter or even choose to identify ourselves with bitterness, God continues to view us as pleasant. We are called this Lent to live the next thirty-four days according to how God sees us, not how we wish to be seen or understood.
Happy Lent! God is pleased with you.
Herbertian Lessons for Lent
Guest post from Brian G Daigle, Headmaster of Sequitur Classical Academy
I live in an area where Mardi Gras is in full swing, and I can remember from my upbringing that Fat Tuesday was a last-ditch effort at debauchery before the pseudo-spiritual practice of “giving something up for Lent” really began. In my youth, I would give up some kind of chocolate or candy, something that appeared to be a fast, and I would join others around me in sharing with friends and family what I’ve given up and why. Around day thirty it would turn into some kind of joke about how long I’ve been able to go without this first-world luxury. My aristocratic sacrifice was hardly creating in me a clean heart. Those imaginings still haunt me and each year I must consider anew why this kind of extended fast ought to be recognized. (more…)
Lenten Journey, Day 6
One-Minute Lenten Devotional
John 16:8: And when he comes, he will convict the world of its sin, and of God’s righteousness, and of the coming judgment.
Galatians 5:22-23: But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23gentleness
and self-control.
While Lent focuses on the Jesus-story and the reality of the cross, Lent is also a season to magnify the Spirit’s work in convicting us of our sins. The Church season of Lent is only beneficial when the Spirit works within us to produce fruits and virtues. And since the Spirit is conforming us to the image of the Son through these virtues, thus we have a calling to fight in harmony with the Spirit. In short, Lent is the harmony of the Spirit’s work with Spirit-empowered saints.
Just as the Lenten journey was a road of struggle, prayer, and communion for our Lord, so too, our walk to bear and reflect such fruits will demand struggle, prayer and communion with our Lord. Our entire lives can be summed up in warfare. Lent is a reminder to take sin as the Christian’s constant battleground. These next thirty-six days accentuate that journey stressing our need to repent of not loving, having joy, being a peace-maker, and all other necessary fruits of the Third Person of the Godhead.
Lent is Spirit-centered. None of us can ever expect to gain from fasting and building godly habits apart from the indwelling power of the Holy Spirit.
Lenten Journey, Day 5
One-Minute Lenten Devotional
Matthew 4:5: Then the devil took him to the holy city and had him stand on the highest point of the temple.
In the book of Job, the LORD said to Satan: “Have you considered my servant Job?” Before Yahweh presented Job to the devil, He declared Job blameless and upright. Indeed, Job came through the temptations of Satan as a faithful servant just as God said.
In Matthew’s Gospel, God offers a new Job to be tested by Satan. Jesus overcomes the temptations of the evil one by pointing the devil to God’s authoritative Word (see. Deut. 8). Again, before Jesus went to the wilderness, God declared Jesus blameless and upright. Jesus is the greater Job.
In these remaining thirty-six days, let us daily remind ourselves that God does not allow us to be tempted without blessing and training us in righteousness. We are God’s servants: blameless and upright in His sight. May the Lenten journey prepare us to be faithful to respond to Satan’s temptations.
Lenten Journey, Day 4
Within your temple, O God, we meditate on your unfailing love. -Psalm 48:9
Concentrated times make for focused meditation. We cannot think about the birth, cross, empty grave, ascension simultaneously. Thus, the church structures the year in a way where each part of Jesus’ life is emphasized. In other words, the calendar gives us the opportunity to meditate on the whole Christ.
Lent is a corporate focus on the cross of Christ and the journey to that cruel tree. As we face with boldness the next thirty-seven days, we need to remember that Lent is a gift from God; a gift of time what we are to steward well.
As we prepare for worship tomorrow, we would do well to remember God’s unfailing love. In love, our Lord Jesus gave his body for us that we would be made whole. Use this season. Don’t let it pass in vain. Meditate on his love for Lent is the embodiment of love.
