Lent

March 22, 2022

Scripture Reading:

Joshua 5:9-12

The Lord said to Joshua, ‘Today I have rolled away from you the disgrace of Egypt.’ And so that place is called Gilgal to this day.

While the Israelites were encamped in Gilgal they kept the passover in the evening on the fourteenth day of the month in the plains of Jericho. On the day after the passover, on that very day, they ate the produce of the land, unleavened cakes and parched grain. The manna ceased on the day they ate the produce of the land, and the Israelites no longer had manna; they ate the crops of the land of Canaan that year.

The disgrace of Egypt may have been the failure of the escaping Israelites to continue the practice of circumcision when they wandered in the wilderness. I am unsure why. Were they angry at God for both being enslaved and being thrust into what they considered a God-forsaken place to wander with only what they had been able to carry out of Egypt? Maybe they thought if God had left them, they would leave God. Joshua reminded his people that God is still with them, that they needed to return to his loving care that was there all along.

My morning news today carried a brief video of a worship service being held in Ukraine amid the bombings. It gave me hope for them but also for the rest of us dealing with a world gone mad and in desperate need of a Savior we already have.

O soul, are you weary and troubled?
No light in the darkness you see?
There’s light for a look at the Savior,
And life more abundant and free.

 Turn your eyes upon Jesus,
Look full in His wonderful face,
And the things of earth will grow strangely dim,
  In the light of His glory and grace.

Prayer: Lord, hold us closer than ever in your loving arms and help us to see a peaceful way to end the battles of war and governance. Amen.

First verse and chorus of Turn Your Eyes upon Jesus by Helen Howarth Lemmel. See at https://www.hymnal.net/en/hymn/h/645

All scriptures are quoted from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicized Edition, copyright 1989, 1995, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights are reserved.