March 2: Ash Wednesday
Read: Isaiah 58:1-12; Psalm 51:1-17
Ash Wednesday is the beginning of the period in the church calendar we call Lent. Lent is a period of six weeks that are set apart for drawing near to God and seeking him with greater focus and intensity. It is a time when many people abstain from food or some other activity to help them face the hold their sin has on their lives or to see where they have wandered from God and clung to something else. Disciplines of fasting and abstinence help us identify and detach from anything that is not from God.
Isaiah’s words to God’s people are a sobering reminder of what fasting is truly to be about. He sends the prophet to a people who were seeking God in their actions. They were fasting and praying. They were crying out to God and worshiping. But God wasn’t answering. They ask God, “Why have we fasted, and you do not see it?”
God’s answer is sobering. He says, “Yes, you fast, but you fight and quarrel and exploit and seek your own pleasure. How is that good? You go through the motions and think I’ll be pleased?”
It’s a good reminder to us as we prepare to being the season of Lent. If we choose to give something up, why are we doing it? What’s the purpose? Will we sacrifice for forty days and then go back to seeking our own pleasure? Will we fast but be so cranky and harsh that it blesses no one? Will either of those be acceptable to God?
Lent is a time for us to consider our lives. It’s a time to think about where our hearts have wandered from God; where our lives have drifted from what is right and best. It’s a time to invite the Holy Spirit to show us our true condition and to identify in us any sin that needs our attention. It isn’t that we dwell on how bad we are so much as we remember the depths we’ve been rescued from and hold our lives up to the light of the Holy Spirit to help us draw closer to Jesus.
The sacrifices we make in Lent help to reveal where our hearts need to be recalibrated. Our time of willingly going without invite us to live with that kind of self-control and willingness to say no to good things for the sake of Jesus all year long.
God is concerned with our hearts. He says through Isaiah that the fast he approves is the one that is more than just a box to check off; a duty done. It’s a sacrifice that isn’t from our surplus, but it costs something. It blesses someone else. It shares with those in need.
This year, we have again made “Salem on Mission” calendars. Our prayer is that they would be a tool Salem members could use to keep their time of Lent focused both on identifying things within us that God wants to change, but also to establish habits of blessing our neighbors and remembering that God blesses us, in part, so we can bless others.
When our hearts are right with God, our prayers, fasting, and sacrifice will be heard. God will revive those places in us that are dry and broken. Isaiah writes that the Lord will make us like a watered garden, like a spring of water, whose waters do not fail. 12 And your ancient ruins shall be rebuilt; you shall raise up the foundations of many generations; you shall be called the repairer of the breach, the restorer of streets to dwell in (Isaiah 58:11-12).
As we begin Lent on this Ash Wednesday 2022, let us seek God, not in actions alone, but with hearts that hunger for God to reorient our hearts and lives so they reflect his presence and priorities. We know, this side of the cross, that the blood of Jesus has washed us clean. We know that we have God’s Holy Spirit to guide us and transform us.
And so we can press in and pursue him with all our hearts. We can sacrifice or fast and bless others – not to gain his approval, but because we already have it! May this season of Lent be filled with the presence, power, and person of Jesus in such a way that our lives, our church, and our community receive the blessing.
Questions for Reflection:
As you begin Lent, where in your life do you feel distant from God?
Are there any areas where you’re “going through the motions” or right activity, but your heart is not in it? Talk to God about that.
Do you sense an invitation to “give up” something in your life this Lent? How will you balance that with the invitation to be “on mission” blessing others?
Readings this week:
March 3: Exodus 5:10-23; Acts 7:30-34
March 4: Exodus 6:1-13; Acts 7:35-42
March 5: Ecclesiastes 3:1-8; John 12:27-36
March 6: Psalm 91:1-2, 9-16; Luke 4:1-13