Lenten Devotion

The sign of the cross may be made by all in remembrance of their Baptism.

In the name of the Father and of the † Son and of the Holy Spirit.
Amen.

The Lord's Prayer

Our Father who art in heaven,
hallowed be Thy name,
Thy kingdom come,
Thy will be done
on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread;
and forgive us our trespasses
as we forgive those who trespass against us;
and lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil.
For Thine is the kingdom
and the power and the glory
forever and ever. Amen. Matthew 6:9-13

Old Testament: Exodus 9:29-10:20

²⁹ Moses said to him, “As soon as I have gone out of the city, I will stretch out my hands to the LORD. The thunder will cease, and there will be no more hail, so that you may know that the earth is the LORD’s.
³⁰ But as for you and your servants, I know that you do not yet fear the LORD God.”
³¹ (The flax and the barley were struck down, for the barley was in the ear and the flax was in bud.
³² But the wheat and the emmer were not struck down, for they are late in coming up.)
³³ So Moses went out of the city from Pharaoh and stretched out his hands to the LORD, and the thunder and the hail ceased, and the rain no longer poured upon the earth.
³⁴ But when Pharaoh saw that the rain and the hail and the thunder had ceased, he sinned yet again and hardened his heart, he and his servants.
³⁵ So the heart of Pharaoh was hardened, and he did not let the people of Israel go, just as the LORD had spoken through Moses.
¹ Then the LORD said to Moses, “Go in to Pharaoh, for I have hardened his heart and the heart of his servants, that I may show these signs of mine among them,
² and that you may tell in the hearing of your son and of your grandson how I have dealt harshly with the Egyptians and what signs I have done among them, that you may know that I am the LORD.”
³ So Moses and Aaron went in to Pharaoh and said to him, “Thus says the LORD, the God of the Hebrews, ‘How long will you refuse to humble yourself before me? Let my people go, that they may serve me.
⁴ For if you refuse to let my people go, behold, tomorrow I will bring locusts into your country,
⁵ and they shall cover the face of the land, so that no one can see the land. And they shall eat what is left to you after the hail, and they shall eat every tree of yours that grows in the field,
⁶ and they shall fill your houses and the houses of all your servants and of all the Egyptians, as neither your fathers nor your grandfathers have seen, from the day they came on earth to this day.’” Then he turned and went out from Pharaoh.
⁷ Then Pharaoh’s servants said to him, “How long shall this man be a snare to us? Let the men go, that they may serve the LORD their God. Do you not yet understand that Egypt is ruined?”
⁸ So Moses and Aaron were brought back to Pharaoh. And he said to them, “Go, serve the LORD your God. But which ones are to go?”
⁹ Moses said, “We will go with our young and our old. We will go with our sons and daughters and with our flocks and herds, for we must hold a feast to the LORD.”
¹⁰ But he said to them, “The LORD be with you, if ever I let you and your little ones go! Look, you have some evil purpose in mind.
¹¹ No! Go, the men among you, and serve the LORD, for that is what you are asking.” And they were driven out from Pharaoh’s presence.
¹² Then the LORD said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand over the land of Egypt for the locusts, so that they may come upon the land of Egypt and eat every plant in the land, all that the hail has left.”
¹³ So Moses stretched out his staff over the land of Egypt, and the LORD brought an east wind upon the land all that day and all that night. When it was morning, the east wind had brought the locusts.
¹⁴ The locusts came up over all the land of Egypt and settled on the whole country of Egypt, such a dense swarm of locusts as had never been before, nor ever will be again.
¹⁵ They covered the face of the whole land, so that the land was darkened, and they ate all the plants in the land and all the fruit of the trees that the hail had left. Not a green thing remained, neither tree nor plant of the field, through all the land of Egypt.
¹⁶ Then Pharaoh hastily called Moses and Aaron and said, “I have sinned against the LORD your God, and against you.
¹⁷ Now therefore, forgive my sin, please, only this once, and plead with the LORD your God only to remove this death from me.”
¹⁸ So he went out from Pharaoh and pleaded with the LORD.
¹⁹ And the LORD turned the wind into a very strong west wind, which lifted the locusts and drove them into the Red Sea. Not a single locust was left in all the country of Egypt.
²⁰ But the LORD hardened Pharaoh’s heart, and he did not let the people of Israel go. (ESV)

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New Testament: Hebrews 3:1-19; John 12:24-43

¹ Therefore, holy brothers, you who share in a heavenly calling, consider Jesus, the apostle and high priest of our confession,
² who was faithful to him who appointed him, just as Moses also was faithful in all God’s house.
³ For Jesus has been counted worthy of more glory than Moses—as much more glory as the builder of a house has more honor than the house itself.
⁴ (For every house is built by someone, but the builder of all things is God.)
⁵ Now Moses was faithful in all God’s house as a servant, to testify to the things that were to be spoken later,
⁶ but Christ is faithful over God’s house as a son. And we are his house, if indeed we hold fast our confidence and our boasting in our hope.
⁷ Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says, “Today, if you hear his voice,
⁸ do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion, on the day of testing in the wilderness,
⁹ where your fathers put me to the test and saw my works for forty years.
¹⁰ Therefore I was provoked with that generation, and said, ‘They always go astray in their heart; they have not known my ways.’
¹¹ As I swore in my wrath, ‘They shall not enter my rest.’”
¹² Take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God.
¹³ But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called “today,” that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.
¹⁴ For we have come to share in Christ, if indeed we hold our original confidence firm to the end.
¹⁵ As it is said, “Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion.”
¹⁶ For who were those who heard and yet rebelled? Was it not all those who left Egypt led by Moses?
¹⁷ And with whom was he provoked for forty years? Was it not with those who sinned, whose bodies fell in the wilderness?
¹⁸ And to whom did he swear that they would not enter his rest, but to those who were disobedient?
¹⁹ So we see that they were unable to enter because of unbelief.

²⁴ Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.
²⁵ Whoever loves his life loses it, and whoever hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life.
²⁶ If anyone serves me, he must follow me; and where I am, there will my servant be also. If anyone serves me, the Father will honor him.
²⁷ “Now is my soul troubled. And what shall I say? ‘Father, save me from this hour’? But for this purpose I have come to this hour.
²⁸ Father, glorify your name.” Then a voice came from heaven: “I have glorified it, and I will glorify it again.”
²⁹ The crowd that stood there and heard it said that it had thundered. Others said, “An angel has spoken to him.”
³⁰ Jesus answered, “This voice has come for your sake, not mine.
³¹ Now is the judgment of this world; now will the ruler of this world be cast out.
³² And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.”
³³ He said this to show by what kind of death he was going to die.
³⁴ So the crowd answered him, “We have heard from the Law that the Christ remains forever. How can you say that the Son of Man must be lifted up? Who is this Son of Man?”
³⁵ So Jesus said to them, “The light is among you for a little while longer. Walk while you have the light, lest darkness overtake you. The one who walks in the darkness does not know where he is going.
³⁶ While you have the light, believe in the light, that you may become sons of light.” When Jesus had said these things, he departed and hid himself from them.
³⁷ Though he had done so many signs before them, they still did not believe in him,
³⁸ so that the word spoken by the prophet Isaiah might be fulfilled: “Lord, who has believed what he heard from us, and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?”
³⁹ Therefore they could not believe. For again Isaiah said,
⁴⁰ “He has blinded their eyes and hardened their heart, lest they see with their eyes, and understand with their heart, and turn, and I would heal them.”
⁴¹ Isaiah said these things because he saw his glory and spoke of him.
⁴² Nevertheless, many even of the authorities believed in him, but for fear of the Pharisees they did not confess it, so that they would not be put out of the synagogue;
⁴³ for they loved the glory that comes from man more than the glory that comes from God. (ESV)

Unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. Christ is the true grain of wheat who died to bring forth the harvest of the Church. We are called to hold fast our confidence and the rejoicing of our hope firm unto the end, looking not to the signs of this world, but to the Light who has come into the darkness.

Prayer of the Day

Lord God, heavenly Father, look on our neediness with the eyes of Your mercy and compassion. Rescue us from everything that would cause harm and destruction to us both physically and spiritually, and keep us in the true faith. Amen.

Closing Prayer

O God, who desires not the death of a sinner, but rather that he should turn from his way and live, graciously accept the repentance of Your people, and grant them Your forgiveness; through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.