A Season of Hope

Have mercy on me, O God according to your unfailing love;
according to your great compassion blot out my transgressions.
Wash away all my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin.

For I know my transgressions, and my sin is always before me.
Against you, you only have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight,
so that you are proved right when you speak and justified when you judge.
Surely I was sinful at birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me.
Surely you desire truth in the inner parts; you teach me wisdom in the inmost place.

Cleanse me with hyssop and I will be clean; wash me and I will be whiter than snow.
Let me hear joy and gladness; let the bones you have crushed rejoice.
Hide your face from my sins and blot out all my iniquity.

Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.
Do not cast me from your presence or take your Holy Spirit from me.
Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me.

Then I will teach transgressors your ways, and sinners will turn back to you.
Save me from bloodguilt, O God, the God who saves me, and my tongue will sing of your righteousness.
O Lord, open my lips and my mouth will declare your praise.
You do not delight in sacrifice, or I would bring it;
you do not take pleasure in burnt offerings.
The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.

~Psalm 51: 1-17

It's Ash Wednesday...a day to reflect on and come in touch with human frailty and sin. Some may say it's the gloomiest day on the calendar. I like to think of it differently. In tradition, people who repented of their sins covered their bodies with ashes and wore sackcloth as a sign of wanting to repent from their sins and turn back toward God. It was a bit of a humiliating symbol I am sure. I can just imagine walking through the marketplace and seeing someone covered in sackcloth and ashes and seeing the groups of people turning and whispering to one another, "What do you suppose he did this time?" So as I received the ashes on my forehead today I was humbled at the fact that I am a sinner.

How else could we start this season of Lent than to confess openly to God that we have sinned against Him and to make a public symbol of the fact that we are turning our hearts toward him in repentence? How else could we prepare our hearts for this season in the wilderness with Jesus than to admit that we are fallen and powerless without God's mercy and help? It may be sobering, but I find hope in it. It doesn't mean beating yourself up...it means relying on God instead of on yourself. When we admit we are powerless on our own, then and only then are we able to be sustained by Him.

The season of Lent has traditionally been a season in which to identify with Jesus' 40 days in the wilderness. And because it is followed by the celebration of the Resurrection, Christ's triumph over death, it is also a season of hope. Christ's death has made our life possible. As we enter into the wilderness, let us take hope in the fact that God has taken mercy on us and forgiven us of our sins. And with all sins confessed, we are better able to examine our hearts to find the ways in which we can become more like Jesus. More thoughts on that later.

For now, remember your frailty and place your hope in Christ.