Thursday, February 15, 2024  

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Today's Hymn
“Lord, Who throughout These Forty Days”

Lord, who throughout these forty days
for us did fast and pray,
teach us with you to mourn our sins
and close by you to stay.

As you with Satan did contend
and did the victory win,
O give us strength to persevere,
in you to conquer sin.

by Claudia F. I. Hernaman
Glory to God, Hymn 166
verses 1–2

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Reflection

The hymnist Claudia Hernaman draws on the fourth chapter of Luke for inspiration in this hymn, “Lord, Who throughout these Forty Days.” The Gospel writer emphasizes the Holy Spirit throughout his writing. So we can imagine that underlying the hymn’s verses is Jesus’ reliance on the Holy Spirit as he fasted and prayed.

I would like to think that, knowing (if perhaps only vaguely) what was ahead, Jesus felt God’s presence and comfort through the Holy Spirit. We are different from Jesus, who was without sin, and different in that most of us during Lent are not counting down from forty to a day certain of death. But we probably could easily come up with a few sinful acts we’ve done or thoughts we’ve had that we could “mourn.”

Identifying them is a good start. Using the next several weeks to work on repentance and, better still, avoidance would be even better. We might not totally “conquer sin,” as the hymnist urges, but we might make some progress.

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Prayer
Loving God, help me to reflect on the badness in my life and help me to persevere to tamp it down. Amen.

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Written by Rebecca Dixon, Member of Fourth Presbyterian Church

Reflection and Prayer © Fourth Presbyterian Church

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