Today's Readings and Stuff -- Friday, 27 January 2018

This day has gone by fast, and pretty much eaten up with errands, stuff that "has to be done" and right now.  I appear to be, VERY slowly, getting a teense better from the "crud" that's been kicking me around for well over a week.  Not over it yet, but some better.  At the very least, no worse than yesterday.

Wife's been having it pretty rough.  She went in to take a nap a few hours ago, and is still in bed under blankets.  We have a doctor appointment for Monday afternoon, and I suspect he'll be concerned about her condition.  We hope and pray for an improvement, and the Lord is still in the business of doing  miracles -- we've seen a few -- but this constant being on the very edge of things does wear a person down, and has.   But we shall see.

We had a pretty nice day, weather-wise.  I believe that the temperature made it all the way up to 50° or so. and a great deal of the snow we had been accumulating melted off.  That's probably made driving on re-frozen ice a bit exciting, so I intend to stay off the roads.

Other than that, a pretty quiet day around here.  There's something ticking in the clockworks in the back of my mind:  I can hear the gears grinding in there, but nothing has come out yet.  Not ripe  yet, I guess.

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For  our Old Testament reading and meditation, we change gears a bit.
Today we begin the book of the Exodus, chapters 1 and 2.  This is, again, an account of events that occurred several thousand years ago, and affect our world to this day.  The Jews certainly make a point of remembering, and teaching their children, about what great things that the Lord did for them, His miraculous involvement.  That's something we should be doing with our kids, telling them about what the Lord has done for us, and for our own ancestors.  We don't always do that, which is wrong.
But I've also heard that there are others who are, yes, angry about what the Lord did.  As we will see later on, when the children of Israel finally began the Exodus, they took with them of the treasures of ancient Egypt.  Some of the Egyptians and the Moslems, want those treasures back!

Exodus 1

1:1 Now these are the names of the children of Israel, which came into Egypt; every man and his household came with Jacob.

1:2 Reuben, Simeon, Levi, and Judah,

1:3 Issachar, Zebulun, and Benjamin,

1:4 Dan, and Naphtali, Gad, and Asher.

1:5 And all the souls that came out of the loins of Jacob were seventy souls: for Joseph was in Egypt already.

1:6 And Joseph died, and all his brethren, and all that generation.

1:7 And the children of Israel were fruitful, and increased abundantly, and multiplied, and waxed exceeding mighty; and the land was filled with them.

1:8 Now there arose up a new king over Egypt, which knew not Joseph.

1:9 And he said unto his people, Behold, the people of the children of Israel are more and mightier than we:

1:10 Come on, let us deal wisely with them; lest they multiply, and it come to pass, that, when there falleth out any war, they join also unto our enemies, and fight against us, and so get them up out of the land.

1:11 Therefore they did set over them taskmasters to afflict them with their burdens. And they built for Pharaoh treasure cities, Pithom and Raamses.

1:12 But the more they afflicted them, the more they multiplied and grew. And they were grieved because of the children of Israel.

1:13 And the Egyptians made the children of Israel to serve with rigor:

1:14 And they made their lives bitter with hard bondage, in mortar, and in brick, and in all manner of service in the field: all their service, wherein they made them serve, was with rigor.

1:15 And the king of Egypt spake to the Hebrew midwives, of which the name of the one was Shiphrah, and the name of the other Puah:

1:16 And he said, When ye do the office of a midwife to the Hebrew women, and see them upon the stools; if it be a son, then ye shall kill him: but if it be a daughter, then she shall live.

1:17 But the midwives feared God, and did not as the king of Egypt commanded them, but saved the men children alive.

1:18 And the king of Egypt called for the midwives, and said unto them, Why have ye done this thing, and have saved the men children alive?

1:19 And the midwives said unto Pharaoh, Because the Hebrew women are not as the Egyptian women; for they are lively, and are delivered ere the midwives come in unto them.

1:20 Therefore God dealt well with the midwives: and the people multiplied, and waxed very mighty.

1:21 And it came to pass, because the midwives feared God, that he made them houses.

1:22 And Pharaoh charged all his people, saying, Every son that is born ye shall cast into the river, and every daughter ye shall save alive.

Exodus 2

2:1 And there went a man of the house of Levi, and took to wife a daughter of Levi.

2:2 And the woman conceived, and bare a son: and when she saw him that he was a goodly child, she hid him three months.

2:3 And when she could not longer hide him, she took for him an ark of bulrushes, and daubed it with slime and with pitch, and put the child therein; and she laid it in the flags by the river's brink.

2:4 And his sister stood afar off, to wit what would be done to him.

2:5 And the daughter of Pharaoh came down to wash herself at the river; and her maidens walked along by the river's side; and when she saw the ark among the flags, she sent her maid to fetch it.

2:6 And when she had opened it, she saw the child: and, behold, the babe wept. And she had compassion on him, and said, This is one of the Hebrews' children.

2:7 Then said his sister to Pharaoh's daughter, Shall I go and call to thee a nurse of the Hebrew women, that she may nurse the child for thee?

2:8 And Pharaoh's daughter said to her, Go. And the maid went and called the child's mother.

2:9 And Pharaoh's daughter said unto her, Take this child away, and nurse it for me, and I will give thee thy wages. And the women took the child, and nursed it.

2:10 And the child grew, and she brought him unto Pharaoh's daughter, and he became her son. And she called his name Moses: and she said, Because I drew him out of the water.

2:11 And it came to pass in those days, when Moses was grown, that he went out unto his brethren, and looked on their burdens: and he spied an Egyptian smiting an Hebrew, one of his brethren.

2:12 And he looked this way and that way, and when he saw that there was no man, he slew the Egyptian, and hid him in the sand.

2:13 And when he went out the second day, behold, two men of the Hebrews strove together: and he said to him that did the wrong, Wherefore smitest thou thy fellow?

2:14 And he said, Who made thee a prince and a judge over us? intendest thou to kill me, as thou killedst the Egyptian? And Moses feared, and said, Surely this thing is known.

2:15 Now when Pharaoh heard this thing, he sought to slay Moses. But Moses fled from the face of Pharaoh, and dwelt in the land of Midian: and he sat down by a well.

2:16 Now the priest of Midian had seven daughters: and they came and drew water, and filled the troughs to water their father's flock.

2:17 And the shepherds came and drove them away: but Moses stood up and helped them, and watered their flock.

2:18 And when they came to Reuel their father, he said, How is it that ye are come so soon to day?

2:19 And they said, An Egyptian delivered us out of the hand of the shepherds, and also drew water enough for us, and watered the flock.

2:20 And he said unto his daughters, And where is he? why is it that ye have left the man? call him, that he may eat bread.

2:21 And Moses was content to dwell with the man: and he gave Moses Zipporah his daughter.

2:22 And she bare him a son, and he called his name Gershom: for he said, I have been a stranger in a strange land.

2:23 And it came to pass in process of time, that the king of Egypt died: and the children of Israel sighed by reason of the bondage, and they cried, and their cry came up unto God by reason of the bondage.

2:24 And God heard their groaning, and God remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob.

2:25 And God looked upon the children of Israel, and God had respect unto them.




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Our Bible text in the Poetry heading today is Psalm 20.
Remember that David, who brought us the great majority of the Psalms, wrote more than a few of them as "cries of the heart", in moments of trouble and distress, several when he was fleeing for his life, or menaced by hostile forces.

Psalm 20

20:1 The LORD hear thee in the day of trouble; the name of the God of Jacob defend thee;

20:2 Send thee help from the sanctuary, and strengthen thee out of Zion;

20:3 Remember all thy offerings, and accept thy burnt sacrifice; Selah.

20:4 Grant thee according to thine own heart, and fulfil all thy counsel.

20:5 We will rejoice in thy salvation, and in the name of our God we will set up our banners: the LORD fulfil all thy petitions.

20:6 Now know I that the LORD saveth his anointed; he will hear him from his holy heaven with the saving strength of his right hand.

20:7 Some trust in chariots, and some in horses: but we will remember the name of the LORD our God.

20:8 They are brought down and fallen: but we are risen, and stand upright.

20:9 Save, LORD: let the king hear us when we call.




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The passage for us this day in the New Testament is chapter 20 in the Gospel of Matthew.
Jesus and the disciples are en route to Jerusalem and the cross.  Not tearing up any speed records along the way, He is teaching and ministering the entire way.  I sometimes wonder about those He touched during this journey, how they carried that memory in the times to come.

Matthew 20

20:1 For the kingdom of heaven is like unto a man that is an householder, which went out early in the morning to hire labourers into his vineyard.

20:2 And when he had agreed with the labourers for a penny a day, he sent them into his vineyard.

20:3 And he went out about the third hour, and saw others standing idle in the marketplace,

20:4 And said unto them; Go ye also into the vineyard, and whatsoever is right I will give you. And they went their way.

20:5 Again he went out about the sixth and ninth hour, and did likewise.

20:6 And about the eleventh hour he went out, and found others standing idle, and saith unto them, Why stand ye here all the day idle?

20:7 They say unto him, Because no man hath hired us. He saith unto them, Go ye also into the vineyard; and whatsoever is right, that shall ye receive.

20:8 So when even was come, the lord of the vineyard saith unto his steward, Call the labourers, and give them their hire, beginning from the last unto the first.

20:9 And when they came that were hired about the eleventh hour, they received every man a penny.

20:10 But when the first came, they supposed that they should have received more; and they likewise received every man a penny.

20:11 And when they had received it, they murmured against the goodman of the house,

20:12 Saying, These last have wrought but one hour, and thou hast made them equal unto us, which have borne the burden and heat of the day.

20:13 But he answered one of them, and said, Friend, I do thee no wrong: didst not thou agree with me for a penny?

20:14 Take that thine is, and go thy way: I will give unto this last, even as unto thee.

20:15 Is it not lawful for me to do what I will with mine own? Is thine eye evil, because I am good?

20:16 So the last shall be first, and the first last: for many be called, but few chosen.

20:17 And Jesus going up to Jerusalem took the twelve disciples apart in the way, and said unto them,

20:18 Behold, we go up to Jerusalem; and the Son of man shall be betrayed unto the chief priests and unto the scribes, and they shall condemn him to death,

20:19 And shall deliver him to the Gentiles to mock, and to scourge, and to crucify him: and the third day he shall rise again.

20:20 Then came to him the mother of Zebedees children with her sons, worshipping him, and desiring a certain thing of him.

20:21 And he said unto her, What wilt thou? She saith unto him, Grant that these my two sons may sit, the one on thy right hand, and the other on the left, in thy kingdom.

20:22 But Jesus answered and said, Ye know not what ye ask. Are ye able to drink of the cup that I shall drink of, and to be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with? They say unto him, We are able.

20:23 And he saith unto them, Ye shall drink indeed of my cup, and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with: but to sit on my right hand, and on my left, is not mine to give, but it shall be given to them for whom it is prepared of my Father.

20:24 And when the ten heard it, they were moved with indignation against the two brethren.

20:25 But Jesus called them unto him, and said, Ye know that the princes of the Gentiles exercise dominion over them, and they that are great exercise authority upon them.

20:26 But it shall not be so among you: but whosoever will be great among you, let him be your minister;

20:27 And whosoever will be chief among you, let him be your servant:

20:28 Even as the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many.

20:29 And as they departed from Jericho, a great multitude followed him.

20:30 And, behold, two blind men sitting by the way side, when they heard that Jesus passed by, cried out, saying, Have mercy on us, O Lord, thou son of David.

20:31 And the multitude rebuked them, because they should hold their peace: but they cried the more, saying, Have mercy on us, O Lord, thou son of David.

20:32 And Jesus stood still, and called them, and said, What will ye that I shall do unto you?

20:33 They say unto him, Lord, that our eyes may be opened.

20:34 So Jesus had compassion on them, and touched their eyes: and immediately their eyes received sight, and they followed him.