This is indeed St. Valentine's Day. It is also Ash Wednesday. The day that starts the 40 days of Lent, the time that we as Christians observe the 40 days Jesus spent fasting in the wilderness, tempted by Satan. We Christians take this time to reflect what it means to be Christian. As I reflect on the next 40 days, I will be posting two scriptures: The Daily as well as a special Lenten scripture.
Daily Verse:
So now , O Israel, what does the Lord your God require of you? Only to fear the Lord your God, to walk in all his ways, to love him, to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, and to keep the commandments of the Lord and his decrees that I am commanding you today, for your own well being. Although heaven and the heaven of heavens belong to the Lord, the earth with all that is in it, yet the Lord set his heart in love on your ancestors alone and chose you, their decendents after them, out of all people, as it is today. Circumcise the foreskin of your heart, and do not be stubborn any longer. For the Lord is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great God, mighty and awesome, who is not partial and takes no bribe, who executes justice for the orphan and the widow, and who loves the strangers, providing them food and clothing. You shall also love the strangers, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt.
Deuteronomy 10:12-19
LENT Verse-Day 1:
Ash Wednesday
Yet even now, says the Lord,
return to me with all your with all your heart,
with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning;
rend your hearts and not your clothing.
Return to the Lord, your God,
for he is gracious and merciful,
slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love,
and relents from punishing.
Who knows whether he will not turn and relent
and leave a blessing behind him,
a grain offering and a drink offering
for the Lord.
Joel 2:12-14
Know It!
Q: What 4 characteristics does Joel describe?
A: Gracious, merciful, slow to anger, abounding in steadfast love.
Think About It!
Q: How can you work toward being slow to anger?
A: We can pray to God for patience. I also meditate on the words of Jesus every day.
-Torn Hearts-
In the Old Testament, men and women tore their robes as a sign of sorrow and mourning. Some Middle Easterners still do.
Jacob, Moses, Joshua, Elijah, David, and Job all tore their clothes as an expression of grief or anguish. In Joel's day however, God looked for change on the inside, not just another outward show of remorse. He sought broken hearts, not torn garments.
Related Lenten Verse:
In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lofty; and the hem of his robe filled the temple. Seraphs were in attendance above him; each had six wings: with two they covered their faces, and with two they covered their feet, and with two they flew. And one called to another and said:
"Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of host;
the whole earth is full of his glory."
The pivots on the thresholds shook at the voices of those who called, and the house filled with smoke. And I said: "Woe is me! I am lost, for I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips; yet my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts!"
Then one of the seraphs flew to me, holding a live coal that had been taken from the altar with a pair of tongs. The seraph touched my mouth with it and said: "Now that this had touched your lips, your guilt has departed and your sin is blotted out."
Isaiah 6:1-7
New Word:
Seraph/Seraphim- A heavenly creature with multiple sets of wings
Another prophet with a flair for interesting visuals is Ezekiel. He saw heavenly creatures with four wings and faces.
-Message from God-
Isaiah experienced a dramatic call from God to become a prophet. The message was personally delivered by seraphs, a term that appears only here and means "something burning and dazzling" Evidently, seraphs were angels who acted as spokesmen for God.
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