That's Appropriate

            I thought today’s reading was really appropriate for Ash Wednesday.  Check out these verses:

“Do not say in your heart, after the LORD your God has thrust them out before you, ‘It is because of my righteousness that the LORD has brought me in to possess this land,’ whereas it is because of the wickedness of these nations that the LORD is driving them out before you.  Not because of your righteousness or the uprightness of your heart are you going in to possess their land, but because of the wickedness of these nations the LORD your God is driving them out from before you, and that he may confirm the word that the LORD swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob (Deuteronomy 9:4-5; ESV).

Notice how Israel is not supposed to presume on their own righteousness.  Moses is clear, “You are not the reason that God is giving you the land.”  Then he lays out for them just how their righteousness has failed—rebellion after rebellion, culminating (at least in ch. 9) in the golden calf incident.

            Look, Moses is clear:  the Canaanites are wicked, and they’re being dispossessed because they are wicked . . . but so is Israel!

            So, why is this appropriate for Ash Wednesday?  Because Christians can stand the reminder that they are not better than other people.  Ephesians 2 says it about as well as it can be said, “It is by grace you are saved through faith not by works so that no one can boast.”  Like Israel, Christians are also sinners—part of God’s problem, and a day of repentance calls our attention to that fact.

            Of course, the flip side of a day of repentance (see my devotions this morning . . .) is that today is also a day of forgiveness, a day to be refreshed in the knowledge that God does not leave us in our sins, but freely gives His son for our salvation.