Monday • 1/9/2023 •
This morning’s Scriptures are: Psalm 1; Psalm 2; Psalm 3; Isaiah 40:12–23; Ephesians 1:1–14; Mark 1:1–13
This morning’s Canticles are: following the OT reading, Canticle 9 (“The First Song of Isaiah,” Isaiah 12:2–6, BCP, p. 86); following the Epistle reading, Canticle 19 (“The Song of the Redeemed,” Revelation 15:3–4, BCP, p. 94)
Welcome to Daily Office Devotions, where every Monday through Friday we explore that day’s Scripture readings, as given in the Book of Common Prayer. I’m Reggie Kidd. Thanks for joining me. This is Monday of the first week of Epiphany, and we are in Year 1 of the Daily Office Lectionary.
During the next few weeks—weeks “after Epiphany”—we will read through the second half of the Book of Isaiah. In blighted and calamitous times, it is good to survey a portion of Scripture that has as its keynote:
“Comfort, O comfort My people,” says your God.
“Speak kindly to Jerusalem;
And call out to her, that her warfare has ended,
That her iniquity has been removed,
That she has received of the Lord’s hand
Double for all her sins” (Isaiah 40:1–2).
In hard times, it’s hard to find real comfort. Not all avenues to comfort are especially beneficial, whether binge-watching or bourbon-drinking. Not all avenues to consolation are benign, whether addiction or indulgent hyper-indebtedness.
After thirty-nine chapters of preparing God’s people for a long night of exile, Isaiah looks to the daylight of return and restoration. It’s still going to be a long way off, but daylight is coming nonetheless. Happily, for us, much of what is revealed to us for Israel’s future in these chapters has come to pass in Jesus Christ, most notably the epiphany (the manifestation) of the Suffering Servant of Isaiah 53, who has been “crushed for our iniquities” so he can “make many righteous” (Isaiah 53:11).
Today’s verses from Isaiah 40 are cautionary. Having sounded the note of hope in the opening verses of this chapter, Isaiah warns against resorting to false sources of comfort and solace.
There is only one source of life, the very author of life. “Who has measured the waters in the hollow if his hand and marked off the heavens with a span, enclosed the dust of the earth in a measure, and weighed the mountains in scales and the hills in a balance?” (Isaiah 40:12).
There is only one who can unravel the puzzle of our lives. “Who has directed the spirit of the Lord, or as his counselor has instructed him?” (Isaiah 40:13).
There is only one hope for the righting of all wrongs in the world and in our lives. “Whom did he consult for his enlightenment, and who taught him the path of justice?” (Isaiah 40:14).
There is only one who has the power to unseat wicked rulers: “Even the nations are like a drop from a bucket, and are accounted as dust on the scales; see he takes up the isles like fine dust … [He] brings princes to naught, and makes the rulers of the earth as nothing” (Isaiah 40:15,23).
The props we build for ourselves—whether literal idols, or little godling crutches—they eventually prove to be useless, or worse. “To whom will you liken God, or what likeness compare with him? An idol?—A workman casts it … then seeks out a skilled artisan to set up an image that will not topple” (Isaiah 40:18,20). They all topple in the end.
“Comfort, O comfort my people….” May God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ speak comfort to our hearts today. May he encourage us that our lives and destinies are in his benevolent hands (a la Ephesians 1); assure us that he will work justice in the world and fortify us for our part in its pursuit; and displace all false and lesser sources of satisfaction and inner peace with the Spirit of his own life-giving presence.
Be blessed this day,
Reggie Kidd+