The Narrow Path

  Wednesday, December 4, 2024 Psalm 80 Isaiah 2:19-3:12 Mark 5:1-20 Observance: Nicholas Ferrar, deacon and man of prayer (d. 1637) Of What Account Is Man? (Isaiah 2:22) The search for a guide to virtuous living is a search that has kept humanity busy for a very long time. One cannot turn their head without bumping into someone who thinks they have it all figured out, and is trying to convince everyone else that their way is the right way. But in today’s passage from Isaiah we can see exactly where we should be looking, and what happens when we don’t look in the right place. God is very clear that he alone has the power over life and death; wealth and poverty; virtue and wickedness; success and failure. The people to whom Isaiah is prophesying have turned from the Lord’s ways, and so the Lord is withdrawing his blessing. What results is the implosion of society from top to bottom. We all rely on the farmers who provide our bread, and the engineers who de...

  Tuesday, December 3, 2024 Psalm 78:16-38 Isaiah 2:1-18 Mark 4:21-41 Observance: Francis Xavier, priest and missionary (d. 1552) Utterly Pass Away (Isaiah 2:18) As we search Isaiah for the type of kingly virtues that our King Jesus desires of us, we are presented with a pretty stark contrast in today’s passage. One group of people are ascending the lofty heights of the mountain of the house of the Lord. Another sits in the land blinded by pride. These two groups of people are then presented with “a day”: “For the LORD of hosts has a day against all that is proud and lofty”. (Is 2:12) This “day of the Lord” is a theme that runs through just about every prophet in the Old Testament. We can look at this to mean a couple of different things as it is a layered expression. The most obvious meaning would be the final day of everything, when Jesus returns in glory to judge the living and the dead. Yet we can discover another layer; that it could also be speaking abo...

  Monday, December 2, 2024 Psalm 77 Isaiah 1:18-31 Mark 4:1-20 Observance: Frances Perry, founder of the Royal Women’s Hospital, Melbourne (d. 1892) Willing And Obedient (Isaiah 1:19) Over the course of the year that has been, we have been thinking about what a Christian society looks like – we have been looking at the bigger picture. We have learned what it means to carry a sword and a trowel, and what message that has for us as a group of people. But as we approach the coming incarnation of the eternal Word of God, we will turn our focus inwards. The king is coming to his people, and he searches the hearts of everyone. So, let’s spend the next four weeks preparing our hearts for our great king by developing some kingly virtues. Our readings will give us a broad overview of roughly the first third of the book of the prophet Isaiah. His is one of the most often quoted books in the New Testament. If the inspired writers thought he had some important things to ...