The Saturday of Ember Week in Lent
Posted on March 15, 2025 by under
Scripture: Deuteronomy 26:12-19 (NKJV)
26:12 “When you have finished laying aside all the tithe of your increase in the third year—the year of tithing—and have given it to the Levite, the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow, so that they may eat within your gates and be filled, 13 then you shall say before the Lord your God: ‘I have removed the holy tithe from my house, and also have given them to the Levite, the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow, according to all Your commandments which You have commanded me; I have not transgressed Your commandments, nor have I forgotten them. 14 I have not eaten any of it when in mourning, nor have I removed any of it for an unclean use, nor given any of it for the dead. I have obeyed the voice of the Lord my God, and have done according to all that You have commanded me. 15 Look down from Your holy habitation, from heaven, and bless Your people Israel and the land which You have given us, just as You swore to our fathers, “a land flowing with milk and honey.”
16 “This day the Lord your God commands you to observe these statutes and judgments; therefore you shall be careful to observe them with all your heart and with all your soul. 17 Today you have proclaimed the Lord to be your God, and that you will walk in His ways and keep His statutes, His commandments, and His judgments, and that you will obey His voice. 18 Also today the Lord has proclaimed you to be His special people, just as He promised you, that you should keep all His commandments, 19 and that He will set you high above all nations which He has made, in praise, in name, and in honor, and that you may be a holy people to the Lord your God, just as He has spoken.”
Devotion
To keep God’s commandments, glorify His name, and walk as His holy people is to love and serve others so they may know God and believe as well. As the Church proclaims over and over: such acts do not save us or earn our righteousness; they show forth the righteousness that God has freely given us and sustains in us through faith by the power of His Spirit.
Our tithes, our service, and our love are for the sake of others, not for selfishly bringing glory and benefit to ourselves. Our glory is Christ’s glory, and our greatest benefit is from Christ alone. Our tithes, service, and love for others should not be an afterthought. As we walk in Christ’s righteousness, we should be deliberate and disciplined. We all need God’s help and instruction to remember and focus on His work. We all stumble often while trying to walk in His ways.
Thanks be to God that He does correct us, call us to repent, and show us the right way to discipline our heart, soul, mind, and strength. As we are made stronger by His Word and power, we are also made able to appreciate His blessings more and more, which helps us to serve better, and as the positive cycle goes on we are blessed according to His will, His kingdom, His power, and His glory!
Collect: O Lord, we beseech Thee, look down graciously upon Thy people, and mercifully turn away from them the scourges of Thy wrath; through our Lord Jesus Christ, Who liveth and reigneth with Thee and the Holy Ghost, ever One God, world without end. Amen.
Collect for Invocavit Sunday
O Lord, mercifully hear our prayer, and stretch forth the right hand of Thy Majesty to defend us from them that rise up against us; through Jesus Christ, Thy Son, our Lord, Who liveth and reigneth with Thee and the Holy Ghost, ever One God, world without end. Amen.
Collect for the Season of Lent
Almighty and Everlasting God, Who hatest nothing that Thou hast made, and dost forgive the sins of all who are penitent: Create and make in us new and contrite hearts, that we, worthily lamenting our sins and acknowledging our wretchedness, may obtain of Thee, the God of all mercy, perfect remission and forgiveness; through Jesus Christ, Thy Son, our Lord, Who liveth and reigneth with Thee and the Holy Ghost, ever One God, world without end. Amen.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
