February 17 - Sundays are actually "in" Lent but not "of" Lent. Sundays are not counted in the 40 days because Sunday is always a "little Easter". Try shouting for joy somewhere, sometime today because it's a "little Easter".
In most Western traditions the Sundays are not counted as part of Lent; thus the period from Ash Wednesday until Easter consists of 40 days when the Sundays are excluded. The 40 days represents the 40 days that Jesus spent in the Wilderness.
Forty days has been always a popular amount of days mentioned in the Bible, so much so that we told the Sunday School children this morning that if we ask you for the number of days of something it most like will be 3, 7 or 40.
Forty has many Biblical references: the forty days Moses spent on Mount Sinai with God (Exodus 24:18); the forty days and nights Elijah spent walking to Mount Horeb (1 Kings 19:8); the forty days and nights God sent rain in the great flood of Noah (Genesis 7:4); the forty years the Hebrew people wandered in the desert while traveling to the Promised Land (Numbers 14:33); the forty days Jonah gave in his prophecy of judgement to the city of Nineveh in which to repent or be destroyed (Jonah 3:4). For forty days, every morning and evening, Goliath strutted in front of the Israelite army, before David slayed him. (1 Samuel 17:16) Jesus retreated into the wilderness, where He fasted for forty days, and was tempted by the devil. (Matthew 4:1–2, Mark 1:12–13, Luke 4:1–2; there also 40 day between Jesus's resurrection and ascension into Heaven. (Acts 1: 3).
Anyway - our thought for today is to give a shout for joy! My Sunday School Lesson focused on gratitude for what God has given us. So give God a SHOUT OUT today! Give Him Thanks!
You like it when someone thanks you - so why wouldn't God.
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