Holy Discontent and the Invitation of Lent

Lent is the 40–day season leading up to Easter. For centuries, the Church has set aside this time as a season of preparation — a time of repentance, prayer, fasting, and realignment as we ready our hearts to celebrate the resurrection of Jesus.

The forty days echo the story of Scripture: Israel’s years in the wilderness learning daily dependence on God’s provision, and Jesus’ forty days in the wilderness before He began His public ministry. In that place of physical hunger and spiritual testing, Jesus declared that we do not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from God.

Lent invites us into that same kind of dependence.

There are places in all of our lives where we feel discontented. We see habits we wish were different. Relationships that feel strained. Patterns in ourselves or in the world that trouble us. Our instinct is often to ask, How can I fix this? How can I change this?

That discontent deserves our attention. More than mere frustration, it may be a holy longing for God to do a deeper work within us.

Some of that discontent may rise as we look at politics or even the “big C” Church. We feel a spiritually driven dissatisfaction with the brokenness we see in the world. This, too, can be a holy discontent. But holy discontent does not begin with pointing outward. It calls us to invite God to search our own hearts. Real transformation always begins within. As we allow Him to refine us, our lives become part of the change we long to see.

Lent gives us space to bring that longing before God. It is not a season of self-improvement, but of surrender. We are not striving toward an uncertain outcome.

We walk toward Easter knowing that the victory has already been won through Jesus’ death and resurrection. Because of that, we can honestly examine our discontent without fear.

Join us this Lent season as we walk together through the Ashes to Awakening Sermon Series and corporate devotional. This is an invitation to practice simplicity (February) and fasting (March) — to intentionally declutter and make space for time spent seeking the Lord’s face.

When we sacrifice something during Lent — time, comfort, distraction, or indulgence — we are not proving our devotion. We are creating space. Space to seek God earnestly. Space to listen. Space to allow Him to speak into the areas of discontent in our lives. Space for realignment. Space for deeper dependence.

As we journey through these forty days together, we do so with hope — confident that the God who meets us in the wilderness is faithful to awaken new life within us.

Resurrection is coming.

Download your copy of the Ashes to Awakening devotional here.

Philippians 4:11-13 NIV "I am not saying this because I am in need, for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do all this through him who gives me strength."

“It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.’” - Jesus (Matthew 4:4 NIV)