It occurred to me yesterday how much I love the number 40. Turning 40 a few years back got me on my 40 kick. That year was the year we were building our home. I found myself reading through the Bible and I started to notice how many times the number kept coming up - from Genesis all the way through. Think about it - It rained for 40 days and 40 nights when Noah was in the ark. Moses spent 40 years in Midian before he took on Pharaoh. Both King David and King Solomon ruled for 40 years. Then, into the new testament, Jesus spent 40 days in the desert right before his ministry began.
The year I was turning 40, I decided to count back 40 days before the actual day and take the time to be more reflective than usual, for, you guessed it, 40 days. I was doing then what I am doing now, praying for freedom, thanking God for my first 40 years, asking him to show me what he wanted me to do with the, hopefully, future 40 years. On the morning of the first day of the 40 day countdown, I came downstairs, full of anticipation. It was funny, I was not looking forward to aging, but I was looking forward to what God was going to show me during the 40 day period. When I got downstairs, there was a gift on the table! It was as if someone knew what a special day it was for me and had arranged a gift to be there! How could this be? I think it was a notepad or a journal, I can't even remember, but I remember wondering what in the world was going on! It turns out my siblings and parents had thought this through as well and had also counted down the 40 days before my birthday. Can you believe this - for the whole forty days before I actually turned 40, I got a little gift for each of the 40 days!?!!! I couldn't believe it. In a way, it kind of affirmed for me what I had already been feeling. I was entering into a new stage of life, ending an old one, and the daily celebration I got through these gifts was a way of marking the entrance and the leaving.
One of the things I noticed about all things in the Bible that have to do with the number 40 is that it always seems like a time of preparation. With Noah on the ark, Moses in Midian and Jesus in the desert - something huge always followed. It's pretty obvious with Noah....he was responsible for populating the earth and creating followers of God! No small task! Moses was responsible for freeing the people of Israel from the 400 years of bondage (a multiple of 40, I might add). Jesus? Freeing the world from its sin. Isn't it interesting to note that while they were in the midst of their 40 days, or in Moses' case, 40 years, each one of these men was responsible for bringing freedom to a group of people - freedom from some form of bondage in their lives. God had to send the flood because the world was so full of evil. The 40 days of rain was a form of washing the earth clean, literally and figuratively. While Noah was on the ark, I'm sure it was a serious time of reflection for him - why me, God? Why did you save me? How are you going to use me? I'm pretty sure it was also a time of gratefulness as God spared his whole family, too. They must have felt incredibly special. God chose his family very specifically. Once the rain was over, they weren't suddenly out of the ark. They spent many more days on it, but the time of washing the world took that long.
With Moses, it was a special time for him, too. It was during this time that he met his wife and had a family. He spent time with his father-in-law and learned much from him, too. He became a commoner after living in a palace his whole life and perhaps it was during this time in Midian that he learned what it was like to be like the Israelites, just a regular guy. It must have been a necessary 40 years as he was about to be used to set an entire people free from slavery. He didn't know what lay ahead for him. Perhaps if he had known, he would have run away from that burning bush.
Jesus also went through an incredibly challenging 40 days in the desert. It was during this time, with no food or water, that he endured the testing from Satan, challenging everything he was about and who he was. By passing these tests, he was prepared for the intense 3 years of ministry that lay ahead for him, not to mention a cruel death.
This is just scratching the surface of what I learned during that 40 day period right before I turned 40, but it made me take on my turning 40 as not just not another birthday. I thanked God for my first 40 years. I thanked him for the many opportunities to learn that he had given me, both the ups and downs, and I thanked him for what lay ahead, for what he had somehow prepared for me. It seems interesting that I now find myself writing about freedom, seeking to encourage others to find freedom, not just financial, but in all areas of their life...was this one of the things he was preparing me for?
The day I turned 40 I was pregnant, I just didn't know it yet. I found out a couple of weeks later. I was so happy! It was our 7th child (another neat number!) If I wasn't in the large family category before, I certainly was now and I loved it! I waddled around that 40th year, so thrilled to still be able to have children as so many at that age are not able to. I wondered how that baby would fit into God's plan for my life. We call him our Basement Baby as he was born in my friend's basement where we were staying just before we moved into our new house. We were never supposed to be there that long, in their house, and I never planned on giving birth there. It all just kind of happened! That sweet little baby has turned into the 3 year that has taught me many humbling lessons as a mom. God continues to humble me through this little guy - it's all in the plan!
So why am I sharing all of this? Because, like I said before, it is Ash Wednesday. Forty days lie ahead of me before Easter. Again, like I said before, Easter is the ultimate symbol of freedom - freedom from all bondage in all of its awful forms, all because Christ came into this world, died, and rose again. I'm seeking freedom. Join me. Forty days. It's why He came.
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