Wednesday 6 March 2024

Today is Wednesday the 6th of March, in the third week of Lent.

Bifrost Arts sings, ‘Wisdom and Grace’. As you listen, what stands out to you?

Teach us to number our days
That we may apply our hearts to Your ways
O! Teach us to number our days
With wisdom and grace, wisdom and grace.
Wisdom and grace, wisdom and grace
You've been our home and our dwelling
Our place in all generations.
Before the earth or the mountains were formed,
Lord, You were God.
Teach us to number our days
That we may apply our hearts to Your ways
O! Teach us to number our days
With wisdom and grace, wisdom and grace.
Wisdom and grace, wisdom and grace
Now the span of our lives,
It is made of sorrow and labor
As the days pass away like the grass
How soon we are gone.
Teach us to number our days
That we may apply our hearts to Your ways
O! Teach us to number our days
With wisdom and grace, wisdom and grace.
Wisdom and grace
Let the work of our hands bring you praise,
Set Your favor upon us.
O establish the work of our hands,
May Your kingdom come!
Teach us to number our days
That we may apply our hearts to Your ways
O! Teach us to number our days
With wisdom and grace, wisdom and grace.
Wisdom and grace, wisdom and grace



Today’s reading is from the Book of Deuteronomy.

Deuteronomy 4: 1, 5-9

So now, Israel, give heed to the statutes and ordinances that I am teaching you to observe, so that you may live to enter and occupy the land that the Lord, the God of your ancestors, is giving you.

See, just as the Lord my God has charged me, I now teach you statutes and ordinances for you to observe in the land that you are about to enter and occupy. You must observe them diligently, for this will show your wisdom and discernment to the peoples, who, when they hear all these statutes, will say, ‘Surely this great nation is a wise and discerning people!’ For what other great nation has a god so near to it as the Lord our God is whenever we call to him? And what other great nation has statutes and ordinances as just as this entire law that I am setting before you today?

But take care and watch yourselves closely, so as neither to forget the things that your eyes have seen nor to let them slip from your mind all the days of your life; make them known to your children and your children’s children.

This passage speaks about “statutes and ordinances” – laws and guidelines – three times. What is your first reaction to being handed a set of rules for how you should live your life?

Notice that these rules are being offered to the people as they enter the Promised Land. They are meant to guide an entire society, not just individuals. How might that change how you feel about what God is offering here?

The people accepting these laws and ordinances are seen as wise and discerning. How far do you think of yourself as wise and discerning? What examples might you point to justify your answer?

As you listen again, notice what the passage has to say about the nearness of God.

You might end today’s prayer, as the passage ends, by asking God to help you remember whatever you have seen here today, and not lose sight of it.

You have given all to me
To you, Lord, I return it
Everything is Yours
Do with it what You will
Give me only Your love and Your grace
That is enough for me
Amen