Devotions
Now, Lord our God, who brought your people out of Egypt with a mighty hand and who made for yourself a name that endures to this day, we have sinned, we have done wrong. 16 Lord, in keeping with all your righteous acts, turn away your anger and your wrath from Jerusalem, your city, your holy hill. Our sins and the iniquities of our ancestors have made Jerusalem and your people an object of scorn to all those around us.
Lord, the great and awesome God, who keeps his covenant of love with those who love him and keep his commandments, 5 we have sinned and done wrong. We have been wicked and have rebelled; we have turned away from your commands and laws. 6 We have not listened to your servants the prophets, who spoke in your name to our kings, our princes and our ancestors, and to all the people of the land.
During Lent, we remember Jesus, the One who “…humbled himself by becoming obedient to death-even death on a cross! (Phil. 2:8).” It is sometimes tempting to sanitize and romanticize the cross, but this ancient ritual introduced to Rome by the Phoenicians in the 3rd century BC was no romantic matter. Death on a cross resulted in a brutal and violent death which lasted anywhere from 4-6 hours, and which resulted in, among other things, hemorrhage, asphyxia, dehydration, and cardiac arrest.
