TODAY’S SCRIPTURE | Ecclesiastes 3:1-11
Lent begins with a reminder of our mortality and need for reconciliation with God. In Scripture, ashes serve both as a symbol of mortality and as a sign of mourning and repentance. In this passage, Job has an encounter with God in which he sees himself in light of God’s holiness and repents in dust and ashes, a reminder that what changes us (repentance) is not mere information about God but awe in the presence of God.