1 Lord, who throughout these forty days,

For us did fast and pray,

Teach us with Thee to mourn our sins,

And close by Thee to stay.

~ 

2 As Thou with Satan didst contend,

And didst the vict'ry win,

O give us strength in Thee to fight,

In Thee to conquer sin.

 ~

3 As Thou didst hunger bear and thirst,

So teach us, gracious Lord,

To die to self, and chiefly live

By Thy most holy Word.

 ~

4 And through these days of penitence,

And through Thy Passiontide,

Yea, evermore, in life and death,

Jesus! with us abide.

~ 

5 Abide with us, that so, this life

Of suff’ring overpast,

An Easter of unending joy

We may attain at last!                  Amen.

Hymn of the Faith

This hymn (#59 in the 1940 Hymnal) is a perfect reminder of what this season of Lent is all about.  We are to follow the Lord’s example – in prayer and fasting!  God teaches us through saints who have come before us and from His own sojourn here on Earth in human flesh. 

As we seek to stay close to God through fasting and prayer, we contend against evil in order to be righteous… and thereby win the victory over sin, Satan, and eventually death. 

In stanza 3, we are reminded that we are to die to ourselves and to live for Christ through devotion to the Scriptures.  And we should be daily calling on the Lord in prayer, seeking His wisdom as stanza 4 states. 

When we supplicate – or ask – the Lord for His guidance, His wisdom, and His presence, He gives these to us.  Sometimes we do not know what we truly need, but we always need God’s presence in our lives through everything that comes our way!

And, as this hymn concludes, let us contemplate the Cross of Christ, what He accomplished there for us, and that we will attain eternal life with God in His good time if we believe in Him and endeavor to righteously live in His love the way we should.