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Ash Wednesday
The First
Lesson
Isaiah 58:1-12
1 Cry aloud, spare not, lift up thy voice like a trumpet, and
show my people their transgression, and the house of Jacob their
sins.
2 Yet they seek me daily, and delight to know my ways, as a nation
that did righteousness, and forsook not the ordinance of their
God: they ask of me the ordinances of justice; they take delight
in approaching to God.
3 Wherefore have we fasted, say they, and thou seest not? wherefore
have we afflicted our soul, and thou takest no knowledge? Behold,
in the day of your fast ye find pleasure, and exact all your
labours.
4 Behold, ye fast for strife and debate, and to smite with the
fist of wickedness: ye shall not fast as ye do this day, to make
your voice to be heard on high.
5 Is it such a fast that I have chosen? a day for a man to afflict
his soul? is it to bow down his head as a bulrush, and to spread
sackcloth and ashes under him? wilt thou call this a fast, and
an acceptable day to the LORD?
6 Is
not this the fast that I have chosen? to loose the bands of wickedness,
to undo the heavy burdens, and to let the oppressed go free,
and that ye break every yoke?
7 Is it not to deal thy bread to the hungry, and that thou bring
the poor that are cast out to thy house? when thou seest the
naked, that thou cover him; and that thou hide not thyself from
thine own flesh?
8 Then shall thy light break forth as the morning, and thine
health shall spring forth speedily: and thy righteousness shall
go before thee; the glory of the LORD shall be thy rearward.
9 Then shalt thou call, and the LORD shall answer; thou shalt
cry, and he shall say, Here I am. If thou take away from the
midst of thee the yoke, the putting forth of the finger, and
speaking vanity;
10 And if thou draw out thy soul to the hungry, and satisfy the
afflicted soul; then shall thy light rise in obscurity, and thy
darkness be as the noonday:
11 And the LORD shall guide thee continually, and satisfy thy
soul in drought, and make fat thy bones: and thou shalt be like
a watered garden, and like a spring of water, whose waters fail
not.
12 And they that shall be of thee shall build the old waste places:
thou shalt raise up the foundations of many generations; and
thou shalt be called, The repairer of the breach, The restorer
of paths to dwell in.
1st Lesson Question -
Is it easy to do the externals only of religion (fasting, etcetera), while ignoring the internal and spiritual? What am I going to do this Lent in order to become more fully Christ's faithful soldier and servant? Specifically, what am I going to do, regarding the LORD's fast described in verses 6-7? RESOLVE.
The Second
Lesson
Hebrews 12:1-14
1
Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a
cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin
which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the
race that is set before us,
2 Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who
for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising
the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of
God.
3 For consider him that endured such contradiction of sinners
against himself, lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds.
4 Ye have not yet resisted unto blood, striving against sin.
5 And ye have forgotten the exhortation which speaketh unto you
as unto children, My son, despise not thou the chastening of
the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of him:
6 For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every
son whom he receiveth.
7 If
ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for
what son is he whom the father chasteneth not?
8 But if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers,
then are ye bastards, and not sons.
9 Furthermore we have had fathers of our flesh which corrected
us, and we gave them reverence: shall we not much rather be in
subjection unto the Father of spirits, and live?
10 For they verily for a few days chastened us after their own
pleasure; but he for our profit, that we might be partakers of
his holiness.
11 Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but
grievous: nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit
of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby.
12 Wherefore lift up the hands which hang down, and the feeble
knees;
13 And make straight paths for your feet, lest that which is
lame be turned out of the way; but let it rather be healed.
14 Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no
man shall see the Lord.
2nd Lesson Questions -
Do I feel alone, or surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses? (V. 1) When was the last time I endured any chastening of the LORD? Have I? (Vs. 7,8) RESOLVE.