Dear friends,

Forty Days

Soon we enter into Lent (Ash Wednesday is on the 22nd February). Forty days long, it echoes the forty days that Christ spent in the desert prior to the start of his ministry.

The number forty turns up in a number of places in the Bible.

¤ It rained for forty days and forty nights when God flooded the world (Genesis 7:12).

¤ Noah waited forty days after the rain stopped before he opened a window in the ark (Genesis 8:6).

¤ Moses spent two periods of forty days on a mountain with God (Ex 24:18; Deuteronomy 10:10).

¤ It took the Israelite spies forty days to explore the Promised Land and bring back fruit (Numbers 13:25).

¤ The Israelites spent forty years in the wilderness (Exodus 16:35).

¤ Goliath tormented the Israelites for forty days before David killed him (1 Samuel 17:16).

¤ Elijah fasted for forty days before encountering God at Horeb (1 Kings 19:8).

¤ Jonah gave Nineveh forty days' notice of God's coming judgement (Jonah 3:4).

¤ Jesus fasted for forty days in the wilderness (Matthew 4:1-2).

¤ Jesus appeared to people over a period of forty days after his Crucifixion (Acts 1:3)

Is this coincidence? I don't think so! You will notice that in each example, forty days (or years) comes just before God brings a major change.

Each year, forty days of Lent is followed by Easter, where we remember and celebrate the biggest point of change this world has ever seen.

Lent is offered by the church as a time for each of us to reflect and consider our own lives, before God. It's a gift that we can choose to make use of - a time to ask God to draw closer to us.

In the busyness of our lives it can be difficult to find time to pray.

Why not choose a simple prayer and pray it each day through Lent? How about; Lord God, help me to know more of you. Amen.

Details of all our church services can be found on the back of this magazine. Do come!

May God bless you this Lent,

John Lewis