Today's Readings and Stuff -- Thursday, 25 January 2018

Last Thursday in January.  Lord willing, a week from today we shall have entered into February.  Not my favorite month, but better than January.

Song of the day came to me last evening and would not leave.  I confess I've never sung it, but wish that I had.  An a capella male group, and the title is great as well:  His Grace Reaches Me.   Sing along with it, you won't regret it, and the message fits us all, I think.  Don't really expect much argument on that one.  Hope not, anyway.

Wife was sick during the evening, night, and morning.  She actually got up around 02:00 and sat in shower a little while to try to let the steam clear her head and deal with with all the "itchies" from the contact urticaria all over her back.  Helped a bit, I think, at least for getting a bit of sleep (her, not me).   But she's been horizontal, or nearly so, most of the day.  I got to make the secondary grocery run which also included getting one of her prescriptions refilled.  For some odd reason, some of her meds are notably less expensive on one side of the nearby state line than on the other.  We generally go to the Big Box pharmacy right over the state line because it's much closer (about 7 miles rather than 17) but today's was cheaper on our side even though it's 10 miles further.  So I did the thing, picked up a few needed things like yeast and some over the counter sinus  / crud / flu stuff for both of us.  Neither of us feels good, and haven't.
But she's heading across the yard in a few minutes to take care of the little ones.  Hopefully not contagious.

 31 here, going to 50 or so tomorrow.  9 hours 50 minutes of "day", and 2 minutes 1 second better tomorrow.  Making headway.  Might just make it to the 10 hour mark by the dawn of the new month.  Would certainly be an improvement over what we had at the Winter solstice, roughly 9 hours 10 minutes.  At the Summer Solstice in June, that will be around 15 hours 11 minutes, much better to my mind.  Gives a person something to look forward to, anyway.



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Our reading for the day in the Old Testament is chapters 49 and 50 in the Genesis, concluding it.
It's worth looking back over the readings for the last few weeks.  In just 3-1/2 weeks, we've seen the rewind of history beginning with those wonderful words, "In the beginning, GOD!  ".  Through generations of men, civilizations rising and falling, the birth, life, and death of many, and the setting in motion of events that very much affect us today, thousands of years later, and in ways we often overlook.    For example, remember Abraham's son, Ishmael?  His descendants are very much still around, and still harbor resentment and hatred towards the descendants of Isaac.  Ishmael was the progenitor of the Arabs, and the Moslems consider themselves to be his heirs.  As the Jews consider themselves the descendants of Isaac.  See?   You may know people named Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, or the like.  Know anyone named Lot, or Esau, or Onan?  Probably not.   Probably no towns named Babel either.  Though I do sometimes drive past a road named after Sodom, but I don't know the story behind that, and don't really want to.  Pretty bad to have a sin named after you, right?

So we are to the point where Jacob / Israel has rejoined his son Joseph in Egypt, died, and is buried.  Joseph is pretty well running things just due to his post.  And his brothers are, understandably, concerned that it might be "get back at them" time.  Joseph makes as strong a statement of faith and obedience to the Lord as we can fathom, in verse 20 of chapter 50.  Yes, they thought to do evil, but God used it for good.  Happens that way more often than we realize.  If we will only trust Him.

Genesis 49

49:1 And Jacob called unto his sons, and said, Gather yourselves together, that I may tell you that which shall befall you in the last days.

49:2 Gather yourselves together, and hear, ye sons of Jacob; and hearken unto Israel your father.

49:3 Reuben, thou art my firstborn, my might, and the beginning of my strength, the excellency of dignity, and the excellency of power:

49:4 Unstable as water, thou shalt not excel; because thou wentest up to thy father's bed; then defiledst thou it: he went up to my couch.

49:5 Simeon and Levi are brethren; instruments of cruelty are in their habitations.

49:6 O my soul, come not thou into their secret; unto their assembly, mine honor, be not thou united: for in their anger they slew a man, and in their self-will they digged down a wall.

49:7 Cursed be their anger, for it was fierce; and their wrath, for it was cruel: I will divide them in Jacob, and scatter them in Israel.

49:8 Judah, thou art he whom thy brethren shall praise: thy hand shall be in the neck of thine enemies; thy father's children shall bow down before thee.

49:9 Judah is a lion's whelp: from the prey, my son, thou art gone up: he stooped down, he couched as a lion, and as an old lion; who shall rouse him up?

49:10 The sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh come; and unto him shall the gathering of the people be.

49:11 Binding his foal unto the vine, and his ass's colt unto the choice vine; he washed his garments in wine, and his clothes in the blood of grapes:

49:12 His eyes shall be red with wine, and his teeth white with milk.

49:13 Zebulun shall dwell at the haven of the sea; and he shall be for an haven of ships; and his border shall be unto Zidon.

49:14 Issachar is a strong ass couching down between two burdens:

49:15 And he saw that rest was good, and the land that it was pleasant; and bowed his shoulder to bear, and became a servant unto tribute.

49:16 Dan shall judge his people, as one of the tribes of Israel.

49:17 Dan shall be a serpent by the way, an adder in the path, that biteth the horse heels, so that his rider shall fall backward.

49:18 I have waited for thy salvation, O LORD.

49:19 Gad, a troop shall overcome him: but he shall overcome at the last.

49:20 Out of Asher his bread shall be fat, and he shall yield royal dainties.

49:21 Naphtali is a hind let loose: he giveth goodly words.

49:22 Joseph is a fruitful bough, even a fruitful bough by a well; whose branches run over the wall:

49:23 The archers have sorely grieved him, and shot at him, and hated him:

49:24 But his bow abode in strength, and the arms of his hands were made strong by the hands of the mighty God of Jacob; (from thence is the shepherd, the stone of Israel:)

49:25 Even by the God of thy father, who shall help thee; and by the Almighty, who shall bless thee with blessings of heaven above, blessings of the deep that lieth under, blessings of the breasts, and of the womb:

49:26 The blessings of thy father have prevailed above the blessings of my progenitors unto the utmost bound of the everlasting hills: they shall be on the head of Joseph, and on the crown of the head of him that was separate from his brethren.

49:27 Benjamin shall raven as a wolf: in the morning he shall devour the prey, and at night he shall divide the spoil.

49:28 All these are the twelve tribes of Israel: and this is it that their father spake unto them, and blessed them; every one according to his blessing he blessed them.

49:29 And he charged them, and said unto them, I am to be gathered unto my people: bury me with my fathers in the cave that is in the field of Ephron the Hittite,

49:30 In the cave that is in the field of Machpelah, which is before Mamre, in the land of Canaan, which Abraham bought with the field of Ephron the Hittite for a possession of a buryingplace.

49:31 There they buried Abraham and Sarah his wife; there they buried Isaac and Rebekah his wife; and there I buried Leah.

49:32 The purchase of the field and of the cave that is therein was from the children of Heth.

49:33 And when Jacob had made an end of commanding his sons, he gathered up his feet into the bed, and yielded up the ghost, and was gathered unto his people.

Genesis 50

50:1 And Joseph fell upon his father's face, and wept upon him, and kissed him.

50:2 And Joseph commanded his servants the physicians to embalm his father: and the physicians embalmed Israel.

50:3 And forty days were fulfilled for him; for so are fulfilled the days of those which are embalmed: and the Egyptians mourned for him threescore and ten days.

50:4 And when the days of his mourning were past, Joseph spake unto the house of Pharaoh, saying, If now I have found grace in your eyes, speak, I pray you, in the ears of Pharaoh, saying,

50:5 My father made me swear, saying, Lo, I die: in my grave which I have digged for me in the land of Canaan, there shalt thou bury me. Now therefore let me go up, I pray thee, and bury my father, and I will come again.

50:6 And Pharaoh said, Go up, and bury thy father, according as he made thee swear.

50:7 And Joseph went up to bury his father: and with him went up all the servants of Pharaoh, the elders of his house, and all the elders of the land of Egypt,

50:8 And all the house of Joseph, and his brethren, and his father's house: only their little ones, and their flocks, and their herds, they left in the land of Goshen.

50:9 And there went up with him both chariots and horsemen: and it was a very great company.

50:10 And they came to the threshingfloor of Atad, which is beyond Jordan, and there they mourned with a great and very sore lamentation: and he made a mourning for his father seven days.

50:11 And when the inhabitants of the land, the Canaanites, saw the mourning in the floor of Atad, they said, This is a grievous mourning to the Egyptians: wherefore the name of it was called Abelmizraim, which is beyond Jordan.

50:12 And his sons did unto him according as he commanded them:

50:13 For his sons carried him into the land of Canaan, and buried him in the cave of the field of Machpelah, which Abraham bought with the field for a possession of a buryingplace of Ephron the Hittite, before Mamre.

50:14 And Joseph returned into Egypt, he, and his brethren, and all that went up with him to bury his father, after he had buried his father.

50:15 And when Joseph's brethren saw that their father was dead, they said, Joseph will peradventure hate us, and will certainly requite us all the evil which we did unto him.

50:16 And they sent a messenger unto Joseph, saying, Thy father did command before he died, saying,

50:17 So shall ye say unto Joseph, Forgive, I pray thee now, the trespass of thy brethren, and their sin; for they did unto thee evil: and now, we pray thee, forgive the trespass of the servants of the God of thy father. And Joseph wept when they spake unto him.

50:18 And his brethren also went and fell down before his face; and they said, Behold, we be thy servants.

50:19 And Joseph said unto them, Fear not: for am I in the place of God?

50:20 But as for you, ye thought evil against me; but God meant it unto good, to bring to pass, as it is this day, to save much people alive.

50:21 Now therefore fear ye not: I will nourish you, and your little ones. And he comforted them, and spake kindly unto them.

50:22 And Joseph dwelt in Egypt, he, and his father's house: and Joseph lived an hundred and ten years.

50:23 And Joseph saw Ephraim's children of the third generation: the children also of Machir the son of Manasseh were brought up upon Joseph's knees.

50:24 And Joseph said unto his brethren, I die: and God will surely visit you, and bring you out of this land unto the land which he sware to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob.

50:25 And Joseph took an oath of the children of Israel, saying, God will surely visit you, and ye shall carry up my bones from hence.

50:26 So Joseph died, being an hundred and ten years old: and they embalmed him, and he was put in a coffin in Egypt.




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Our reading in the Poetry today is Psalm 19.
If you don't make a practice of reading these out loud, I urge you to try it today, with particular emphasis on the beginning and the end.  This is Good Stuff.  Would that we would live by it!

Psalm 19

19:1 The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament sheweth his handywork.

19:2 Day unto day uttereth speech, and night unto night sheweth knowledge.

19:3 There is no speech nor language, where their voice is not heard.

19:4 Their line is gone out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world. In them hath he set a tabernacle for the sun,

19:5 Which is as a bridegroom coming out of his chamber, and rejoiceth as a strong man to run a race.

19:6 His going forth is from the end of the heaven, and his circuit unto the ends of it: and there is nothing hid from the heat thereof.

19:7 The law of the LORD is perfect, converting the soul: the testimony of the LORD is sure, making wise the simple.

19:8 The statutes of the LORD are right, rejoicing the heart: the commandment of the LORD is pure, enlightening the eyes.

19:9 The fear of the LORD is clean, enduring for ever: the judgments of the LORD are true and righteous altogether.

19:10 More to be desired are they than gold, yea, than much fine gold: sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb.

19:11 Moreover by them is thy servant warned: and in keeping of them there is great reward.

19:12 Who can understand his errors? cleanse thou me from secret faults.

19:13 Keep back thy servant also from presumptuous sins; let them not have dominion over me: then shall I be upright, and I shall be innocent from the great transgression.

19:14 Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart, be acceptable in thy sight, O LORD, my strength, and my redeemer.




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And the New Testament reading and meditation is chapter 19 in the Gospel of Matthew.

Matthew 19

19:1 And it came to pass, that when Jesus had finished these sayings, he departed from Galilee, and came into the coasts of Judaea beyond Jordan;

19:2 And great multitudes followed him; and he healed them there.

19:3 The Pharisees also came unto him, tempting him, and saying unto him, Is it lawful for a man to put away his wife for every cause?

19:4 And he answered and said unto them, Have ye not read, that he which made them at the beginning made them male and female,

19:5 And said, For this cause shall a man leave father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife: and they twain shall be one flesh?

19:6 Wherefore they are no more twain, but one flesh. What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder.

19:7 They say unto him, Why did Moses then command to give a writing of divorcement, and to put her away?

19:8 He saith unto them, Moses because of the hardness of your hearts suffered you to put away your wives: but from the beginning it was not so.

19:9 And I say unto you, Whosoever shall put away his wife, except it be for fornication, and shall marry another, committeth adultery: and whoso marrieth her which is put away doth commit adultery.

19:10 His disciples say unto him, If the case of the man be so with his wife, it is not good to marry.

19:11 But he said unto them, All men cannot receive this saying, save they to whom it is given.

19:12 For there are some eunuchs, which were so born from their mother's womb: and there are some eunuchs, which were made eunuchs of men: and there be eunuchs, which have made themselves eunuchs for the kingdom of heaven's sake. He that is able to receive it, let him receive it.

19:13 Then were there brought unto him little children, that he should put his hands on them, and pray: and the disciples rebuked them.

19:14 But Jesus said, Suffer little children, and forbid them not, to come unto me: for of such is the kingdom of heaven.

19:15 And he laid his hands on them, and departed thence.

19:16 And, behold, one came and said unto him, Good Master, what good thing shall I do, that I may have eternal life?

19:17 And he said unto him, Why callest thou me good? there is none good but one, that is, God: but if thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments.

19:18 He saith unto him, Which? Jesus said, Thou shalt do no murder, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness,

19:19 Honour thy father and thy mother: and, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.

19:20 The young man saith unto him, All these things have I kept from my youth up: what lack I yet?

19:21 Jesus said unto him, If thou wilt be perfect, go and sell that thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come and follow me.

19:22 But when the young man heard that saying, he went away sorrowful: for he had great possessions.

19:23 Then said Jesus unto his disciples, Verily I say unto you, That a rich man shall hardly enter into the kingdom of heaven.

19:24 And again I say unto you, It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God.

19:25 When his disciples heard it, they were exceedingly amazed, saying, Who then can be saved?

19:26 But Jesus beheld them, and said unto them, With men this is impossible; but with God all things are possible.

19:27 Then answered Peter and said unto him, Behold, we have forsaken all, and followed thee; what shall we have therefore?

19:28 And Jesus said unto them, Verily I say unto you, That ye which have followed me, in the regeneration when the Son of man shall sit in the throne of his glory, ye also shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.

19:29 And every one that hath forsaken houses, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for my name's sake, shall receive an hundredfold, and shall inherit everlasting life.

19:30 But many that are first shall be last; and the last shall be first.