40 days
Forty days to Easter
From Ash Wednesday to Holy Saturday: the desert, turning back, water and light, the road to Jerusalem and the last week, one chapter a day.
Jesus spent forty days in the desert; Israel travelled through it for forty years. In the same way Catholics, Orthodox and many Protestants prepare for Easter, with prayer, fasting and sharing; in the West the Sundays do not count. This plan follows that road: first the desert and turning back, then the great stories from John that have been read in Lent since ancient times, then the road to Jerusalem and the last week. On Easter morning you read John 20.
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- Day 1Read Joel 2
Rend your heart
On Ash Wednesday many churches read Joel: rend your heart and not your garments, return to the LORD, for He is gracious and merciful (2:13). The cross of ashes says the same thing: we are dust, and God calls us back.
What would you like to turn away from during these forty days?
- Day 2Read Psalms 51
Create in me a clean heart
According to its heading, David wrote this psalm after his sin with Bathsheba. He makes no excuses, but asks: create in me a clean heart, O God (51:10). It has become the Church's prayer of repentance.
Which phrase from this psalm could you pray every day in these weeks?
- Day 3Read Isaiah 58
The fast God wants
The people fast and complain that God does not see it. God answers: the fast I choose is to loose the bonds of injustice, to share your bread with the hungry (58:6–7). Fasting is making room for God and for your neighbour.
What could you let go of to give more room to God or to someone else?
- Day 4Read Matthew 6
In secret
Giving, praying and fasting: the three practices of Lent all appear here. Jesus says: do not do it to be seen; your Father sees in secret (6:6).
Choose one of the three for this week: giving, praying or fasting. How will you do it?
- Day 5Read Matthew 4
Forty days in the desert
After his baptism, Jesus is led by the Spirit into the desert and tempted for forty days. To each temptation He answers with a word from Deuteronomy: man shall not live by bread alone (4:4).
Which temptation do you know best, and which word of God could you set against it?
- Day 6Read Deuteronomy 8
Not by bread alone
Moses looks back on forty years in the desert: God let his people go hungry and gave them manna, to teach that man lives by every word that comes from the mouth of God (8:3). This is where Jesus took his answer from.
What has God taught you in a 'desert time'?
- Day 7Read Exodus 16
Manna, enough for each day
In the desert the people grumble, and every morning God gives bread from heaven. Whoever gathers too much sees it go bad. It is a lesson in trusting one day at a time: give us this day our daily bread.
Where do you find it hard to trust God one day at a time?
- Day 8Read Jonah 3
A whole city turns back
Reluctantly, Jonah preaches in Nineveh, the cruel capital of Assyria: forty days more. The whole city fasts and repents, from the king to the cattle, and God has compassion (3:10). Even the greatest enemy is not too far away.
Who do you think could never change? What does this story say about that?
- Day 9Read Psalms 32
Relieved
As long as David kept silent about his guilt, he dried up 'as by the heat of summer'. When he confessed it to God, forgiveness came (32:5). Blessed is the one whose sin is forgiven.
Is there something you have not dared to tell God for a long time?
- Day 10Read Luke 15
The father who runs
The sheep, the coin and the son: three times something is lost and found, and three times there is a party. The father of the prodigal son runs to meet him, before the son can even finish his apology (15:20).
Do you recognise yourself more in the younger son or in the elder?
- Day 11Read Genesis 22
God will provide
Abraham is to sacrifice his son Isaac, and at the last moment God provides a ram. Since the first century, Christians have read this story with Good Friday in mind: the Father who does not spare his Son.
What would it mean to say, like Abraham: God will provide?
- Day 12Read Matthew 17
On the mountain
For a moment Peter, James and John see who Jesus really is: his face shines like the sun, Moses and Elijah stand with Him, and a voice says: listen to him (17:5). Then He goes back down the mountain, on the way to the cross.
When did you catch a glimpse of God's glory, and how did that help you keep going?
- Day 13Read Luke 19
Zacchaeus
A rich tax collector climbs a tree to see Jesus. Jesus invites himself to his house, and Zacchaeus gives away half of his possessions. The Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost (19:10).
What would you give away if Jesus came to eat at your house today?
- Day 14Read 2 Samuel 12
You are the man
The prophet Nathan tells King David a story about a rich man who steals a poor man's only lamb. David flies into a rage, until Nathan says: you are the man (12:7). David answers: I have sinned against the LORD.
Who is a Nathan in your life, someone who dares to be honest with you?
- Day 15Read Hosea 14
Come back
Hosea ends with an invitation: return to the LORD, take words with you. And God answers with promises of healing and love: I will be like the dew to Israel (14:5).
What words would you take with you when you return to God?
- Day 16Read Psalms 103
As far as the east is from the west
A psalm of thanks for forgiveness: as far as the east is from the west, so far does God remove our transgressions from us (103:12). He knows that we are dust, and has compassion like a father.
Thank God today for one thing He has forgiven you.
- Day 17Read John 3
Born again
Nicodemus comes to Jesus by night. Jesus speaks about being born again of water and the Spirit, and about the serpent that Moses lifted up in the desert. Then comes the sentence many people know by heart: for God so loved the world (3:16).
Read John 3:16 slowly and replace 'the world' with your own name.
- Day 18Read Numbers 21
The bronze serpent
Poisonous snakes bite the people. God has Moses put a bronze serpent on a pole: whoever looks at it lives (21:8–9). Jesus points to this story to explain what the cross will do.
Why would God give healing through looking at an image of what wounds you?
- Day 19Read John 4
Living water
In the middle of the day, at a well, Jesus speaks to a Samaritan woman, someone others avoided. He promises water that will become a spring welling up to eternal life (4:14). She becomes the first to go and tell her village.
What are you thirsty for, deep down?
- Day 20Read Isaiah 55
Come, everyone who thirsts
'Come to the waters, and you who have no money.' God invites people to eat and drink for free, and says: my thoughts are not your thoughts (55:8). His word does not return empty.
What would you do differently if you really believed that God's grace is free?
- Day 21Read John 9
I was blind, now I see
Jesus heals a man born blind, and a long argument follows: who sinned, who is Jesus? The man himself says simply: one thing I know, that though I was blind, now I see (9:25).
What could you tell just as simply about what God has done in your life?
- Day 22Read Psalms 27
The LORD is my light
'The LORD is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear?' David asks for only one thing: to dwell in the house of the LORD. And he ends: wait for the LORD, be strong (27:14).
Where do you need to learn to wait for God today?
- Day 23Read Ezekiel 37
Dry bones
Ezekiel sees a valley full of dry bones, and God asks: can these bones live? When the Spirit blows over them, they rise up like a great army. God promises to bring his people up from their graves (37:12).
What in you or around you seems dead, over which you would like to ask for God's breath?
- Day 24Read John 11
I am the resurrection
Lazarus has been in the tomb for four days. Jesus says to Martha: I am the resurrection and the life (11:25). He weeps at the tomb, and then calls: Lazarus, come out. It is the last sign before his own death.
Jesus weeps, even though He knows what He is going to do. What does that say about how He looks at your grief?
- Day 25Read Mark 8
Take up your cross
Peter says: you are the Messiah. Straight after that, Jesus begins to speak about suffering and dying, and He says: whoever wants to follow me must deny himself and take up his cross (8:34).
What would 'taking up your cross' mean for you today?
- Day 26Read Mark 10
Not to be served
On the way to Jerusalem, James and John ask for the best seats. Jesus says: whoever wants to be great must be a servant, for the Son of Man came to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many (10:45).
Whom could you serve this week, without anyone seeing it?
- Day 27Read Isaiah 50
My face like flint
A servant of God lets himself be struck and spat upon and does not hide his face. He sets his face like flint, for the Lord helps him (50:7). Luke writes that Jesus 'set his face to go to Jerusalem'.
Where do you need determination to keep going the right way?
- Day 28Read Philippians 2
He emptied himself
An ancient hymn about Jesus: He was equal with God, but emptied himself, became human and obedient to death on a cross. Therefore God has highly exalted Him (2:9). Paul says: have the same mind as Christ Jesus.
What would it mean for you to have the same mind as Jesus?
- Day 29Read Isaiah 53
By his wounds
The suffering servant: despised, rejected by men, a man of sorrows. He was pierced for our transgressions, and by his wounds we are healed (53:5). The first Christians recognised Jesus here.
Read verses 4 to 6 slowly. What touches you most?
- Day 30Read Hebrews 4
A high priest who sympathises
We do not have a high priest who cannot sympathise with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. So let us approach the throne of grace with confidence (4:16).
With which weakness would you dare to come to God with confidence today?
- Day 31Read John 12
Unless a grain of wheat dies
Greek pilgrims want to see Jesus. He answers with an image: unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit (12:24). The hour of the cross has come.
What needs to 'die' in you so that new life can grow?
- Day 32Read Psalms 22
My God, why?
Jesus prays the first line of this psalm on the cross. It describes mockery, pierced hands and divided clothes, and ends in praise: all the ends of the earth shall turn to the LORD (22:27).
What does it mean that Jesus prayed with words from the Psalms as He died?
- Day 33Read Lamentations 3
New every morning
After the destruction of Jerusalem, the poet laments bitterly. And then, in the middle of the lament: the steadfast love of the LORD never ceases, his mercies are new every morning (3:22–23).
Where do you see a small sign of God's faithfulness today, in the middle of something hard?
- Day 34Read Romans 5
While we were still weak
Christ died for the ungodly, not for people who deserved it. God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us (5:8).
What difference does it make that God loved you before you got better?
- Day 35Read Mark 11
A house of prayer
After the entry on Palm Sunday, Jesus goes into the temple and overturns the tables of the money changers. My house shall be called a house of prayer for all the nations (11:17). From now on the leaders look for a way to kill Him.
What would Jesus want to clear out of your 'temple'?
- Day 36Read Mark 12
The greatest commandment
In the temple, leaders ask trick questions. A scribe asks which commandment is the most important. Jesus answers: love God with all your heart, and your neighbour as yourself (12:30–31). And He praises a poor widow who gives everything.
Which of those two commandments is hardest for you this week?
- Day 37Read Matthew 26
Thirty pieces of silver
In Bethany a woman anoints Jesus with costly oil. Judas goes to the chief priests and agrees on thirty pieces of silver. On this Wednesday of Holy Week, the Church remembers the betrayal.
The woman gives everything, Judas sells everything. What does that contrast say to you?
- Day 38Read John 13
Maundy Thursday: the washing of feet
On the evening before his death, Jesus washes his disciples' feet, the work of a slave. He gives them a new commandment: love one another as I have loved you (13:34). That evening He also institutes the Lord's Supper.
Whose 'feet' could you wash?
- Day 39Read John 19
Good Friday: it is finished
Pilate has Jesus flogged and crucified. At the foot of the cross stand his mother and the beloved disciple. Jesus says: it is finished (19:30), and gives up his spirit. Read slowly, and take your time.
What do you want to say to Jesus today, on Good Friday?
- Day 40Read Matthew 27
Holy Saturday: the tomb
Joseph of Arimathea lays Jesus in his own tomb. A stone in front of it, a seal and guards. The women stay sitting opposite the tomb (27:61). It is quiet. Tomorrow you read John 20.
What is it like to wait without knowing what is coming? What do you hope for tomorrow?