Wednesday of the First Week in Lent
Lent. As I encounter people, I generally hear three different approaches to it. The most common is “UGH, it’s Lent!” Another is “Lent? What’s that?” Less common is “I’m excited for Lent and all that God has for me!” Where do you find yourself as we enter into the second week of Lent 2020? I appreciate the folks who are honest about how they struggle to get through these 40 days of fasting and sacrifice. For many, it’s a slugfest, a difficult marathon, a daily grind. Perhaps moving into that third category of excitement simply involves a shift of our focus; a change of perspective from viewing the discipline of denial as an end in and of itself to recognizing it as a gateway to transformation in the power of God’s love. Lenten disciplines are a great exchange – an exchange of something of lesser value for something of infinitely greater value. As we are willing to exchange the needs of the body for the needs of our soul, we open ourselves to transformation. That’s what God desires. God desires more of you; God desires more of me. I don’t think God is interested in whether or not we can successfully run the marathon of physical denial. God is interested in us. The Lenten journey can become a pilgrimage of joy and excitement in the midst of denial and repentance as we shift our focus to earnestly desire and seek God’s transforming work within us. Every year in Lent, God presents us with an invitation to transformation. What is your RSVP this year?
The Ninevites embraced the transforming power of 40 days. We see in our first reading that God offered the people of Nineveh 40 days to repent of their sins. The king of Nineveh was so deeply convicted of the need for repentance that he decreed a fast for all the people and their livestock, too! Noah, Moses, Elijah, and Jesus all received the power of God during their 40 day or 40-year experiences. God established the transforming power of 40 into creation, as well. A caterpillar spends 40 days in her cocoon in order to emerge transformed into a glorious butterfly! A human being spends 40 weeks in the womb, being transformed from a microscopic union of two seeds into the glory of a little person created in God’s own image! In biblical numerology, the number 40 relates to a period of incubation before the fulfillment of a promise. Forty is the product of the factors four and ten, which represent completion and divine order, respectively. During a period of 40, God desires to bring God’s purposes to greater completion and to order our lives according to God-given destiny.
Lent is so much more than a 6-week test of self-discipline. Lent is a gateway to transformation, an invitation and opportunity to grow closer to God and to mature a little bit more as a radical disciple of radical love. I’m realizing more and more that if I’m struggling to give something up or lay something aside, then that thing(s) has become an obstacle to my growth in holiness. It’s in the places where Lent feels like “UGH” that I recognize where my life is actually bogged down. It’s in the “UGH” that my eyes are open to areas of my life that I’ve prioritized above my relationship with God. It’s in the “UGH” that I repent of the things that I’m using for my comfort, self-medication, or pleasure and turn to the One who alone is the source of my true comfort and the answer to my every need. My prayer today is that I might humble myself more and let go of the distractions and worldly pleasures that keep me mired and that hinder me from seeing and hearing God. May you enter into that transforming space yourself this day. Come, Lord Jesus!
- Elizabeth Wourms