The Narrow Path

  Friday, 12 December, 2025 Psalms 99; 100 Isaiah 46:1-47:4 Revelation 14:1-12 A Call For Endurance (Revelation 14:12) Here is a call for the endurance of the saints, those who keep the commandments of God and their faith in Jesus. This account from Revelation about the song in heaven reminds me of a time I went to a hymn fest in a certain church. The church had been designed so as to make the most of a full house of full-throated hymn singers. The organisers had managed to pack in not only a couple of hundred punters like me, but also the church choir, the organist, and a full brass band. The sound we made was less like St John’s “sound of harpists playing on their harps” and more like his “roar of many waters and like the sound of thunder”. There is such a stark contrast in the two scenes we get in our second lesson today. From the heavenly choir above, to the angelic call for repentance on earth below, it really makes the reader know where they w...

  Thursday, 11 December, 2025 Psalms 95; 96 Isaiah 45:9-25 2 Thessalonians 3 Hearts Directed (2 Thessalonians 3:5) May the Lord direct your hearts to the love of God and to the steadfastness of Christ. Our hearts can be zoomy little things. They can flick this way and that, suddenly obsessed here, then obsessed there; falling down into despair, and rising up again into cheerful laughter. If we look back to how our hearts were this time last year, we might see something different. And if we look back to the state of our hearts this time five, ten, or more years ago, it may even be almost completely unrecognisable. St Paul’s prayer to the church in Thessalonica is that their hearts might be directed by the Lord. Like a stockman in a pen with a brumby, may the Lord stalk down our hearts, latch on, tame them, and direct them. At first the animal is terrified and enraged, completely confused at what is going on, and not a little aggressive. But when it i...

  Wednesday, 10 December, 2025 Psalms 92; 93 Isaiah 44:24-45:8 2 Thessalonians 2 Gladdening Work (Psalm 92:4) For you, O Lord , have made me glad by your work;     at the works of your hands I sing for joy. When someone else does a good job, and we appreciate what they have done, how often do we feel a pure joy at it? How honestly can we say that, on occasion, we might not be tempted to be at least a little bit jealous that it was them, and not us? Or, that if we had done it, we might have done it better? The 92 nd Psalm seems, at first, to be a song about how God has done a really good job at rescuing the singer. I say “at first” because this Psalm, like plenty others, starts to seem a little Messianic in successive readings. As Christians, we may start to recognise some resurrection themes in here, and think to ourselves what a jolly good way of putting into words how we feel about Jesus’ promise to raise us on the last day. ...

    Tuesday, 9 December, 2025 Psalms 76; 82 Isaiah 44:6-23 2 Thessalonians 1 A Block Of Wood (Isaiah 44:19) No one considers, nor is there knowledge or discernment to say, “Half of it I burned in the fire; I also baked bread on its coals; I roasted meat and have eaten. And shall I make the rest of it an abomination? Shall I fall down before a block of wood?” How do we recognise the idols in our lives? How do we sniff them out so that we may destroy them, and enter into the final part of today’s first lesson, rejoicing in the Lord who has done it? Perhaps one way might be to remember the peace from yesterday. When we confess to the Lord and taste the goodness of his forgiveness; discover new work of the Holy Spirit in our sanctification; rest in the joy that is the Lord who alone can make us right: whatever that sense of peace is, there is God. But there are also other things that give us pleasant sensations. Particularly in the build up to...

  Monday, 8 December, 2025 Psalms 70; 75 Isaiah 43:14-44:5 1 Thessalonians 5:12-28 Observances: The Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary; Richard Baxter, pastor and spiritual writer (d. 1691) Complete Sanctification (1 Thessalonians 5:23) Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. During Advent we spend our time intentionally reflecting and preparing ourselves anew for the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ: celebrating his first coming at Christmas, and his second coming, which is at any moment. We read through Holy Scripture and discover a couple of things God wants us to be aware of. First is the great injury we have caused him through our own sins. And the second is the great peace that he gives us in forgiving us of those sins. It is almost unfair to God, really, that he would be like this. We deserve less than nothing, and y...

  Saturday, 6 December, 2025 Psalm 86 Isaiah 42:18-43:13 1 Thessalonians 4:13-5:11 Observance: Nicholas of Myra, bishop and philanthropist (d. c. 342) For My Glory (Isaiah 43:5-6) “ I will say to the north, Give up,     and to the south, Do not withhold; bring my sons from afar     and my daughters from the end of the earth, everyone who is called by my name,     whom I created for my glory,     whom I formed and made.” God seems to have given us a great many number of hints in this world of how he works, and who he is like. When Holy Scripture reveals to us that we have a heavenly Father, for example, we can see glimpses of that in human fathers, especially in those particular instances when they are very proud of their children, and happy to be around them. Isaiah prophesied that, when God gathered his people to himself through the atoning work of Jesus Chr...