Broadcast
Repent - Part 3
Joel 2:14
02/14/2024
14 Who knows whether he will not turn and relent, and
leave a blessing behind him, a grain offering and
a drink offering for the LORD your God? (ESV)
Today is Ash Wednesday. This evening, at Trinity Lutheran
Church, many of our members will receive ashes in the sign of the
cross on their foreheads. They will hear the words of the
funeral service, ``Ashes to ashes and dust to dust.''
Tonight is one of the two days in the church year when the
paraments on the altar are optionally black. Our sin caused
Jesus to suffer death on the cross, and we mourn because of our
transgressions. The forty days commemorate Jesus' temptation in
the wilderness after His baptism, a time when He fasted and
wrestled with the devil.
Yet there is hope. The prophet Joel wrote:
Who knows whether he will not turn and relent, and
leave a blessing behind him, a grain offering and a
drink offering for the LORD your God?
God allows disasters, illnesses, and tragedy to humble us
before Him. This is to call us to repentance. In repenting, we
receive the assurance that our sins are absolved, removed
completely, and we are declared holy and righteous in God's
sight.
Along with the forgiveness of sins comes every blessing from
God. Because we trust in Him, we offer sacrifices of prayer and
thanksgiving, in the same way that the Old Testament grain and
drink offerings acknowledged God's rich mercy.
We gather this evening at 7:00 p.m. at Trinity to begin this
penitential season. May our Lord bless you during these forty
days so that you may know of His boundless love. Amen.