The Narrow Path

  Monday, 22 December, 2025 Psalm 118:1-18 Isaiah 24:21-25:9 Revelation 21:22-22:5 Observance: Thomas, apostle and martyr [ transferred from December 21 ] Plans Of Old (Isaiah 25:1) O Lord , you are my God;     I will exalt you; I will praise your name, for you have done wonderful things,     plans formed of old, faithful and sure. This idea of God having plans for us – plans he made long ago, at that – has been deeply comforting for Christians across the generations. The best sermon I ever heard about it was from the reference in Jeremiah (you probably know the bit), when the preacher got up to tell everyone that he was going to ruin the passage for everyone! But then, he said, he would make it even better than it was before. I think it is a helpful reminder, and encouragement, and source of wondering and reflection. Long ago, God made plans for every single human being, every spin of the planets, every dr...

  Saturday, 20 December, 2025 Psalms 114; 115 Isaiah 23:8-18 Revelation 20:11-21:8 All Things New (Revelation 21:5)   And he who was seated on the throne said, “Behold, I am making all things new.” Also he said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.” We are now getting dangerously close to the end of Advent. I pray that God has been working mightily in you to make something new in your heart. Advent (as well as Lent) are, I find, seasons in which God can do some really amazing things in the human soul. (There is a reason the Church has been doing it for so long, after all.) And so, when you came into the beginning of Advent this time around, was there anything you wanted God to change about you? Maybe you didn’t have anything particular in mind, or maybe you had no intention of changing at all – nonetheless, did God have his own idea of what he wanted to do with you? This morning we hear the prophetic words of Chris...

  Friday, 19 December, 2025 Psalms 110; 111 Isaiah 22:15-23:7 Revelation 20:1-10 Fear Of The Lord (Psalm 111:10) The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom;     all those who practice it have a good understanding.     His praise endures forever! I recently read a book called “Triumphing Over Sinful Fear” by the English divine John Flavel. What a wonderful title, or at least I think so. I mostly picked up a copy because I feel like (in the circles I move, at least) we have a stunted understanding of what it means to fear the Lord. It seems like we don’t like to talk about the fear of the Lord because we don’t really like to talk about the alternative: the fear of other humans, or of pain, or of anything else that is not God. But it is a shame, because if we did, we might all come to the sudden realisation that we actually don’t have anything to fear at all! If we fear pain, then read the history of the m...

  Thursday, 18 December, 2025 Psalm 107:1-22 Isaiah 22:1-14 Revelation 19:11-21 Shattered Doors (Psalm 107:16) For he shatters the doors of bronze     and cuts in two the bars of iron. Where were you, when God opened the eyes of your heart to his Son, the Lord Jesus Christ? Some wandered in desert wastes, when God gave them the living water of Jesus. Some were in the prison of the punishment of their sins, when the forgiveness of Christ’s blood was applied to their record. Some had fallen into the pit of self-autonomy, when the Lord rescued them and gave them the gentle yoke of his authority. The litany of human errors seems endless; yet Christ always has a way of answering them. No matter what door humanity slams in his face, he strides up and shatters them. When God decides to show someone the grace of his love, there is nothing they can do to refuse it. We still have the journey of this life to take. There is stil...

  Wednesday, 17 December, 2025 Psalm 106:1-24 Isaiah 21 Revelation 19:1-10 Fallen Is Babylon! (Isaiah 21:9) And behold, here come riders,     horsemen in pairs!” And he answered,     “Fallen, fallen is Babylon; and all the carved images of her gods     he has shattered to the ground.” This is the first time in a long time that I have enjoyed the lead-up to Christmas without social media in my life. I have to tell you, it’s pretty great. Not only have I re-learned that hardly anyone actually cares about the fact that the Feast of the Nativity of Our Lord, or, Christmas Day, is completely free of any alleged ancient pagan influences (why is this such a big deal on the internet?), but I also have very little to worry about, because when it comes to world events, I am living under a rock. My church and family takes up all my time. But back when social media was everywhere for me, I felt a ...

  Tuesday, 16 December, 2025 Psalm 105:1-22 Isaiah 13:1-13 Revelation 16 A Man Sent Ahead (Psalm 105:17) he had sent a man ahead of them,     Joseph, who was sold as a slave. What does the future hold for you? As a Christian, our relationship with the flow of time probably should be different to others. We recognise that, firstly, God has made time to move forwards and for us to live in that. Yet we also recognise that God is both over and outside time. If God is the same yesterday, today and forever, then his goodness and mercy is just as much in the part of the stream of time we call “tomorrow” as it was in the bend behind us called “yesterday”. Today’s Psalm refers to the sovereign purpose of God in Joseph’s life. Yes, he was betrayed by his brothers, sold into slavery, and imprisoned in Egypt after being falsely accused of sexual harassment. Things looked pretty bleak for Joseph, for a fair amount of his early life. Ye...

  Monday, 15 December, 2025 Psalm 104:1-25 Isaiah 10:33-11:9 Revelation 15 The Stump Of Jesse (Isaiah 11:1) There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse,     and a branch from his roots shall bear fruit. How often have we heard these words! Hopefully you have at least twice a year – once through the reading cycle for Advent, and again at whichever Lessons and Carols service you attend! This passage gets better and better as it goes on. There are more and more amazing scenes of peace and getting-along-ness as you read on. But what makes it really hit home is what has been working to lead up to this moment. The wickedness of the land had come to such a fever pitch that God sent the Assyrians – and then the Assyrians themselves were so wicked that God cut down them as well. People had formed a society, God had let them try and work it out themselves, they had ended up in misery and sin, and God replaced them with som...

  Saturday, 13 December, 2025 Psalms 101; 102:1-11 Isaiah 48:1-13 Revelation 14:13-20 I Did Them (Isaiah 48:3) The former things I declared of old;     they went out from my mouth, and I announced them;     then suddenly I did them, and they came to pass. God seems to be really concerned about making sure we know who did what. It makes sense; we don’t like to act under false pretences with each other, why would we want to worship the wrong deity? In our first lesson from Isaiah, there seems to be a bit of competition in people’s minds between the true God, and the little statues people have on their shelves at home. Who made the universe? Who holds it together? Who makes it all move the way it does? The thing on my shelf that I made? Or God? God says: I told you I would do it, then I did it, so give me credit where it is due. Then God turns around and says look, I’m going to do new things. Because, if people...

  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...

  Friday, 5 December, 2025 Psalms 82; 84 Isaiah 42:1-17 1 Thessalonians 4:1-12 The Things I Do (Isaiah 42:16) And I will lead the blind     in a way that they do not know, in paths that they have not known     I will guide them. I will turn the darkness before them into light,     the rough places into level ground. These are the things I do,     and I do not forsake them. The prophet has been preaching on the mystery of the Messiah, and now he moves into God’s words about how the earth will respond when he appears. The effect the Messiah will have seems to be very great; and yet there is also this curious mingling of humility and great strength. He will not lift up his voice, rather, he will be one who encourages even the most down-cast: a bruised reed he will not break, a faintly burning wick he will not quench. At the same time, he will go out like a mighty man...

  Thursday, 4 December, 2025 Psalm 80 Isaiah 41:17-29 1 Thessalonians 3 Observance: Nicholas Ferrar, deacon, man of prayer (d. 1637) None Who Knew (Isaiah 41:26) Who declared it from the beginning, that we might know,     and beforehand, that we might say, “He is right”? There was none who declared it, none who proclaimed,     none who heard your words. Australian Rugby Union is in a funny place at the moment. Our teams seem to be right about the “above average” line when it comes to leading in games. But their special skill is to pull victory out of the jaws of defeat. I have had more than a few moments in the past months with my heart in my mouth during extra time as I watched the replay on a Sunday afternoon! When something unexpected happens, there is this almost physical shock to the system. It makes one pay attention, and it also causes not a little discomfort. In today’s first lesson, the proph...

  Wednesday, 3 December, 2025 Psalms 28; 62 Isaiah 41:1-16 1 Thessalonians 2:13-20 Observance: Francis Xavier, priest and missionary (d. 1552) God Alone (Psalm 62:1) For God alone my soul waits in silence;     from him comes my salvation. How many of us can honestly say that we wait for God alone – and in silence, at that? Christmas is approaching, and with our senses bombarded with the petty trinkets of the world, we learn to love the tradition more and more that teaches us that these weeks are to be spent in the reflection and quiet of the penitent. We wait for God alone, that is, God only. It is a shocking thing to consider, that one would, to their utmost, try to empty their thoughts and desires of everything apart from God. Offensive, even. Yet that is the path he has laid before us, if we want to find him. Our God is a jealous God. And we wait for God in silence. “How long will all of you attack a man, to...

  Tuesday, 2 December, 2025 Psalm 77 Isaiah 40:18-31 1 Thessalonians 2:1-12 Observance: Frances Perry, founder of the Royal Women’s Hospital, Melbourne (d. 1892) Eyelids Held Open (Psalm 77:4) You hold my eyelids open;     I am so troubled that I cannot speak. There is a prayer of confession in the old prayer book with a certain line that is so miserably accurate to the human condition when faced with their own sin, that it is a shame that it has been left out of our modern translation: We do earnestly repent, and are heartily sorry for these our misdoings; the remembrance of them is grievous unto us, the burden of them is intolerable. St Augustine of Hippo suggested a way of approaching memories that can lead to a real healing of the soul, when used to bring personal sins before God for forgiveness. I wish now to review in memory my past wickedness and the carnal corruptions of my soul – not because I still lo...