Our Holy Father Sophronius, Patriarch of Jerusalem (638)
Great Fast Day 25
Sixth Hour – Isaiah 28:14-22; Vespers – Genesis 10:32-11:9; Proverbs 13:19-14:6
According to liturgical prescriptions, the Divine Liturgy is not celebrated today.
Read Isaiah 28:14-22
Discernment and discretion are crucial elements to a good and healthy life. No mature person will disagree with this. However, these elements of discernment and discretion need to be informed by prayer and the will of God.
Judah made a military alliance with Egypt in order to help protect themselves against an Assyrian attack. Such a pact made sense according to earthly wisdom, however, Judah did this without any trust in the Lord. Therefore, according to the Prophet, it was doomed to be a “covenant with death”.
In the context of the war that Isaiah was writing about, it is understandably difficult to see trust in the Lord as a good military strategy. We need strong men, powerful weapons, and the right tactics! That’s how war is won! However, the Lord, through the Prophet, reminds Judah that merely human strategy will not succeed.
The Lord, in His mercy, provides Sion with a rock, a foundation, and a stronghold. If one trusts in this rock, he will ‘not be in haste’—that is, he will not have reason to worry or panic. This is strange advice amidst the threat of foreign invasion, but it is what the Lord is communicating to His people.
And this rock is Jesus Christ—He is the foundation and stronghold upon which we can rely. While most of us don’t have to worry about making alliances with foreign powers or developing military strategy, every day we are faced with decisions concerning family, employment, and business. We need to stay anchored to the rock that is Our Lord. We need to build our lives upon this foundation.