Day 10 – Call on the Name of the Lord

When we come to our senses after having committed sin, we tend to pick ourselves up and start over on our journey to God. The same has been true for every human being since our first ancestors. Life goes on and we must go on with it, and it ultimately ends with calling on the Name of the Lord.

In today’s reading from Genesis (you can read it below) we see this being played out in front of us. Adam and Eve, having just lost both their children, one to death, the other to sin, started over and God rewarded them with their son Seth. Even though they now lived outside the protection and glory of the Garden, that did not stop them from trusting in the Lord, and He rewarded their faith. If they had given up and spent their remaining years wallowing in self-pity, the Savior would never have been born.

As we continue on our Daily Lenten Journey, I invite you to consider your sin. Adam and Eve were removed from the Garden and lost everything, but they never stopped loving God. I won’t ask IF you’ve sinned, since we have ALL sinned, but I will ask have you picked yourself up and started over yet? If Adam and Eve can start over, if Cain can start over, then you can too. It only takes a willingness to trust in the Lord and get off your pity party and start over. But read to the end!

The reading today finishes, “At that time men began to call upon the name of the LORD.” If you need to start over with your fasting, today is your chance. Tonight, in most every Orthodox Church is the Presanctified Liturgy. It is your chance to call upon the Lord, as your ancestors did before you.

Then Cain went away from the presence of the LORD, and dwelt in the land of Nod, east of Eden. Cain knew his wife, and she conceived and bore Enoch; and he built a city, and called the name of the city after the name of his son, Enoch. To Enoch was born Irad; and Irad was the father of Mehujael, and Mehujael the father of Methushael, and Methushael the father of Lamech. And Lamech took two wives; the name of the one was Adah, and the name of the other Zillah. Adah bore Jabal; he was the father of those who dwell in tents and have cattle. His brother’s name was Jubal; he was the father of all those who play the lyre and pipe. Zillah bore Tubalcain; he was the forger of all instruments of bronze and iron. The sister of Tubalcain was Naamah. Lamech said to his wives: “Adah and Zillah, hear my voice; you wives of Lamech, hearken to what I say: I have slain a man for wounding me, a young man for striking me. If Cain is avenged sevenfold, truly Lamech seventy-sevenfold.” And Adam knew his wife again, and she bore a son and called his name Seth, for she said, “God has appointed for me another child instead of Abel, for Cain slew him.” To Seth also a son was born, and he called his name Enosh. At that time men began to call upon the name of the LORD. (Genesis 4.16-26)