Ash Wednesday

[Madman]

The Penitential season of Lent begins today with Ash Wednesday. May we all have a reflective and penitent Lenten season.

Psalm li.

Have mercy on me, O God,
according to your steadfast love;
according to your abundant mercy
blot out my transgressions.
2 Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity,
and cleanse me from my sin!
3 For I know my transgressions,
and my sin is ever before me.
4 Against you, you only, have I sinned
and done what is evil in your sight,
so that you may be justified in your words
and blameless in your judgement.
5 Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity,
and in sin did my mother conceive me.
6 Behold, you delight in truth in the inward being,
and you teach me wisdom in the secret heart.
7 Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean;
wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.
8 Let me hear joy and gladness;
let the bones that you have broken rejoice.
9 Hide your face from my sins,
and blot out all my iniquities.
10 Create in me a clean heart, O God,
and renew a right spirit within me.
11 Cast me not away from your presence,
and take not your Holy Spirit from me.
12 Restore to me the joy of your salvation,
and uphold me with a willing spirit.
13 Then I will teach transgressors your ways,
and sinners will return to you.
14 Deliver me from bloodguiltiness, O God,
O God of my salvation,
and my tongue will sing aloud of your righteousness.
15 O Lord, open my lips,
and my mouth will declare your praise.
16 For you will not delight in sacrifice, or I would give it;
you will not be pleased with a burnt offering.
17 The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit;
a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.

 

[Israel]

Yep, may each man be so convinced he is living on lent time so that he can inherit what is his.

And if ye have not been faithful in that which is another man's, who shall give you that which is your own?

 

[SemperFiDawg]

The Penitential season of Lent begins today with Ash Wednesday. May we all have a reflective and penitent Lenten season.

Psalm li.

Have mercy on me, O God,
according to your steadfast love;
according to your abundant mercy
blot out my transgressions.
2 Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity,
and cleanse me from my sin!
3 For I know my transgressions,
and my sin is ever before me.
4 Against you, you only, have I sinned
and done what is evil in your sight,
so that you may be justified in your words
and blameless in your judgement.
5 Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity,
and in sin did my mother conceive me.
6 Behold, you delight in truth in the inward being,
and you teach me wisdom in the secret heart.
7 Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean;
wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.
8 Let me hear joy and gladness;
let the bones that you have broken rejoice.
9 Hide your face from my sins,
and blot out all my iniquities.
10 Create in me a clean heart, O God,
and renew a right spirit within me.
11 Cast me not away from your presence,
and take not your Holy Spirit from me.
12 Restore to me the joy of your salvation,
and uphold me with a willing spirit.
13 Then I will teach transgressors your ways,
and sinners will return to you.
14 Deliver me from bloodguiltiness, O God,
O God of my salvation,
and my tongue will sing aloud of your righteousness.
15 O Lord, open my lips,
and my mouth will declare your praise.
16 For you will not delight in sacrifice, or I would give it;
you will not be pleased with a burnt offering.
17 The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit;
a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.

I thank you for posting this. It reminds me of the day I saw my self-portrait in Psalms. I day I always need to remember.

Psalm 38
A psalm of David. A petition.
1 Lord, do not rebuke me in your anger
or discipline me in your wrath.
2 Your arrows have pierced me,
and your hand has come down on me.
3 Because of your wrath there is no health in my body;
there is no soundness in my bones because of my sin.
4 My guilt has overwhelmed me
like a burden too heavy to bear.
5 My wounds fester and are loathsome
because of my sinful folly.
6 I am bowed down and brought very low;
all day long I go about mourning.
7 My back is filled with searing pain;
there is no health in my body.
8 I am feeble and utterly crushed;
I groan in anguish of heart.
9 All my longings lie open before you, Lord;
my sighing is not hidden from you.
10 My heart pounds, my strength fails me;
even the light has gone from my eyes.
11 My friends and companions avoid me because of my wounds;
my neighbors stay far away.
12 Those who want to kill me set their traps,
those who would harm me talk of my ruin;
all day long they scheme and lie.
13 I am like the deaf, who cannot hear,
like the mute, who cannot speak;
14 I have become like one who does not hear,
whose mouth can offer no reply.
15 Lord, I wait for you;
you will answer, Lord my God.
16 For I said, “Do not let them gloat
or exalt themselves over me when my feet slip.”
17 For I am about to fall,
and my pain is ever with me.
18 I confess my iniquity;
I am troubled by my sin.
19 Many have become my enemies without cause;
those who hate me without reason are numerous.
20 Those who repay my good with evil
lodge accusations against me,
though I seek only to do what is good.
21 Lord, do not forsake me;
do not be far from me, my God.
22 Come quickly to help me,
my Lord and my Savior.

 

[Madman]

Thank you SFD. It is going.to be a long 40 days. Lost the only male friend, true friend, i have. Met him 41 years ago at the student athletic complex in college. We have stayed close, went to each others kids weddings, baptisms, whole nine yards.

Lost him Sunday to CJD, human equivalent of mad cow. 3 weeks from first symptoms to diagnosis to death.

58 years old.

Lot to consider.

Thank you very much for sharing your revelation.

Gods peace

 

[SemperFiDawg]

Thank you SFD. It is going.to be a long 40 days. Lost the only male friend, true friend, i have. Met him 41 years ago at the student athletic complex in college. We have stayed close, went to each others kids weddings, baptisms, whole nine yards.

Lost him Sunday to CJD, human equivalent of mad cow. 3 weeks from first symptoms to diagnosis to death.

58 years old.

Lot to consider.

Thank you very much for sharing your revelation.

Gods peace

Sorry to hear that. Almost 2 years ago I was going through the hardest thing I have ever endured. I was driving home and God spoke to me. It was an MOST EMPHATIC, "You need to thank me for the pain." I thought I had slipped from sanity into insanity. I called a trusted spiritual friend and he said, "I don't understand it, but do it." I got on my knees and said, "God I thank you for this pain. I don't thank you for what's causing it, but I thank you for the pain." That's all I said. It was that quick. Maybe 30 seconds from beginning to end. I stood up. By the time I had fully stood up, the pain was gone. It was God's way of working a miracle in my life that said, 'you can trust me, even if you don't understand the pain. '

 

[Madman]

Sorry to hear that. Almost 2 years ago I was going through the hardest thing I have ever endured. I was driving home and God spoke to me. It was an MOST EMPHATIC, "You need to thank me for the pain." I thought I had slipped from sanity into insanity. I called a trusted spiritual friend and he said, "I don't understand it, but do it." I got on my knees and said, "God I thank you for this pain. I don't thank you for what's causing it, but I thank you for the pain." That's all I said. It was that quick. Maybe 30 seconds from beginning to end. I stood up. By the time I had fully stood up, the pain was gone. It was God's way of working a miracle in my life that said, 'you can trust me, even if you don't understand the pain. '

Yeah me and him had a 3 AM conversation about my marriage many years ago.
This Lent is much needed.