2026 Daily Lenten Journey Day 3

One of the most common conversations I have with people is how much, or how little, God is willing to help us. Expressions like ‘God placed me,’ or ‘God chose for me,’ reflect the idea that God is actively reaching down and manipulating people. I don’t see it.

What strikes me in today’s reading is how long people have lived with such an idea. Isaiah speaks on behalf of the people. Today’s reading reminds us that we continue to wait for God to ‘do something’ about those who fight against us. What about our role in all this?

Great Lent is about training ourselves to live and love like God. It isn’t about ‘sitting and waiting’ for God to ‘do’ anything. He already did the most glorious thing when He became man and died and rose for our sake. What else are we waiting for Him to do? Read today’s readings and come back…

Thus say the people:  “Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob; that he may teach us his ways and that we may walk in his paths.”  For out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.  He shall judge between the nations, and shall decide for many peoples; and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more. O house of Jacob, come, let us walk in the light of the Lord. For thou hast rejected thy people, the house of Jacob, because they are full of diviners from the east and of soothsayers like the Philistines, and they strike hands with foreigners.  Their land is filled with silver and gold, and there is no end to their treasures; their land is filled with horses, and there is no end to their chariots.  Their land is filled with idols; they bow down to the work of their hands, to what their own fingers have made.  So man is humbled, and men are brought low — forgive them not!  Enter into the rock, and hide in the dust from before the terror of the Lord, and from the glory of his majesty.  The haughty looks of man shall be brought low, and the pride of men shall be humbled; and the Lord alone will be exalted in that day. Isaiah 2.3-11

And God said, “Let the earth bring forth living creatures according to their kinds:  cattle and creeping things and beasts of the earth according to their kinds.”  And it was so.  And God made the beasts of the earth according to their kinds and the cattle according to their kinds, and everything that creeps upon the ground according to its kind.  And God saw that it was good. Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness; and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth.”  So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.  And God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it; and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the air and over every living thing that moves upon the earth.”  And God said, “Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree with seed in its fruit; you shall have them for food.  And to every beast of the earth, and to every bird of the air, and to everything that creeps on the earth, everything that has the breath of life, I have given every green plant for food.”  And it was so.  And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good.  And there was evening and there was morning, a sixth day. Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them.  And on the seventh day God finished his work which he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had done.  So God blessed the seventh day and hallowed it, because on it God rested from all his work which he had done in creation. Genesis 1.24-2.3

My son, if you receive my words and treasure up my commandments with you, making your ear attentive to wisdom and inclining your heart to understanding; yes, if you cry out for insight and raise your voice for understanding, if you seek it like silver and search for it as for hidden treasures; then you will understand the fear of the Lord and find the knowledge of God.  For the Lord gives wisdom; from his mouth come knowledge and understanding; he stores up sound wisdom for the upright; he is a shield to those who walk in integrity, guarding the paths of justice and preserving the way of his saints.  Then you will understand righteousness and justice and equity, every good path; for wisdom will come into your heart, and knowledge will be pleasant to your soul; discretion will watch over you; understanding will guard you; delivering you from the way of evil, from men of perverted speech, who forsake the paths of uprightness to walk in the ways of darkness, who rejoice in doing evil and delight in the perverseness of evil; men whose paths are crooked, and who are devious in their ways. You will be saved from the loose woman, from the adventuress with her smooth words, who forsakes the companion of her youth and forgets the covenant of her God; for her house sinks down to death, and her paths to the shades; none who go to her come back nor do they regain the paths of life. So you will walk in the way of good men and keep to the paths of the righteous.  For the upright will inhabit the land, and men of integrity will remain in it; but the wicked will be cut off from the land, and the treacherous will be rooted out of it. Proverbs 2.1-22

God created the universe and then rested, according to Genesis. He didn’t stop communicating with humanity, but His work shifted from active to inspirational. He spoke to us through Prophets like Isaiah and others to change the way WE LIVE, not wait for God to change us.

If you’re waiting for God to change your life ‘for you’ you will be waiting for a long time. He gave each of us free will for a reason. If He changes us, then we are not free. We are the ones who must ‘do’ something.

I invite you during Great Lent to focus on how YOU can change instead of how GOD can change things around you. What are things we can do? We can pray more. We can fast more. We can serve others more. We can love more. These are things WE do, not God.

The ancient Church converted the world from paganism not because God ‘did’ anything, but because Christians LIVED differently. When we love like God loves, others around us take notice. They turn toward God themselves. Then their love spreads. The world changes.

Today’s reading from Proverbs is a great challenge to change our lifestyle and avoid sinful choices. Again, this is about our actions, not God’s action. Get ready for change around you, once you focus on changing yourself, as Saint Seraphim of Sarov said.

“Acquire inner peace and a thousand souls around will be saved.” Its about what YOU do.