Today's Readings and Stuff -- Sunday, 08 July 2018

Sunday. 
I made it to church services this morning (but not the evening gathering:  I've been quite remiss on that).    Not my most energetic presence to be sure, but very much worth attending.  I get quite a lot out of these services, it is by no means one of the "ho-hum, time to go" things, and certainly not the dreaded weekend get-togethers that I was dragged to, literally, while a kid and teen.  Frankly, I need these times. 
But I haven't been in good shape this week, and Wife is having a real rough time.  She got some sleep last night, about the first good sleep in over a week, which helped quite a lot.  The plan as of this moment is to be on the phone first thing in the morning, arranging (hopefully) a squeezed-in encounter at the doctor office tomorrow.  Sooner the better.  If that attempt is not successful, then the fallback plan is to run her to the "urgent care" facility about the same distance from here. 
What happens at that point I have no idea.  There was a point, about 10 years ago and living very far from here, that she was coming down with pneumonia three times a year, which did her overall health condition no particular good. 
So, yes, we've been through some "stuff" together.   She's been battling some tough stuff her entire life, the details aren't pertinent right now.  So we've learned the hard way the need to rely on the Lord when the circumstances appeared to be hopeless and doom was in our face.  Been there. It changes a person, believe me.

Next door nephew-in-law, unemployed for the last six weeks, is set to start his new job a week from tomorrow.  He'll start just a wee bit under his former income (which beats no income) but should, within the year be a bit over his previous income, and in better circumstances. 
Last weekend, he and Niece, their two kids, and Wife's other nephew's two kids, spent a couple days at a camp in the national forest on the other side  of The Line.   Nephew, like his wife, like his mom (Wife's sister) is not only not a believer, he's a mocker.  Which has "rubbed off" on the kids.  The little girl, all of six years old and heading off to 1st grade in another month or so, started using some language around Niece, definitely not giving the Lord any praise and glory to say the least.  Anything but.  Niece, who'd grown up with a mom who was very much along  those line, nonetheless called the little one out on it, making it very clear that such irreverent language was not to be used, at least around her kids.  So, perhaps, we are having some effect on things.  Her husband's family are, at least, pretty regular church-goers, attending a Methodist church in the neighborhood.  Not my favorite bunch (and I was in a Methodist church for a while), so he grew up in some level of the faith.  Last year, they let the Great-Niece attend the Vacation  Bible School at that church, to the consternation  of some members of the family.  We were asked then to attend the little program that most of these things have at the end of the session.  That same church has a VBS thing, which begins tomorrow evening.  I've not yet been told whether or not she'll attending.  We hope so.
Part of the thinking in these things, and I've been present in meetings where such things were discussed, is that if  you can get the kids into church, the parents will follow.  That's not the sort of leadership we'd like to see, with the parents taking the role, but it's something.  So, we shall hope and pray that she goes. 

==============================================
===============================================

Today, chapters 5 and 6 of 2nd Chronicles.

2nd Chronicles 5

5:1 Thus all the work that Solomon made for the house of the LORD was finished: and Solomon brought in all the things that David his father had dedicated; and the silver, and the gold, and all the instruments, put he among the treasures of the house of God.

5:2 Then Solomon assembled the elders of Israel, and all the heads of the tribes, the chief of the fathers of the children of Israel, unto Jerusalem, to bring up the ark of the covenant of the LORD out of the city of David, which is Zion.

5:3 Wherefore all the men of Israel assembled themselves unto the king in the feast which was in the seventh month.

5:4 And all the elders of Israel came; and the Levites took up the ark.

5:5 And they brought up the ark, and the tabernacle of the congregation, and all the holy vessels that were in the tabernacle, these did the priests and the Levites bring up.

5:6 Also king Solomon, and all the congregation of Israel that were assembled unto him before the ark, sacrificed sheep and oxen, which could not be told nor numbered for multitude.

5:7 And the priests brought in the ark of the covenant of the LORD unto his place, to the oracle of the house, into the most holy place, even under the wings of the cherubim:

5:8 For the cherubim spread forth their wings over the place of the ark, and the cherubim covered the ark and the staves thereof above.

5:9 And they drew out the staves of the ark, that the ends of the staves were seen from the ark before the oracle; but they were not seen without. And there it is unto this day.

5:10 There was nothing in the ark save the two tables which Moses put therein at Horeb, when the LORD made a covenant with the children of Israel, when they came out of Egypt.

5:11 And it came to pass, when the priests were come out of the holy place: (for all the priests that were present were sanctified, and did not then wait by course:

5:12 Also the Levites which were the singers, all of them of Asaph, of Heman, of Jeduthun, with their sons and their brethren, being arrayed in white linen, having cymbals and psalteries and harps, stood at the east end of the altar, and with them an hundred and twenty priests sounding with trumpets:)

5:13 It came even to pass, as the trumpeters and singers were as one, to make one sound to be heard in praising and thanking the LORD; and when they lifted up their voice with the trumpets and cymbals and instruments of music, and praised the LORD, saying, For he is good; for his mercy endureth for ever: that then the house was filled with a cloud, even the house of the LORD;

5:14 So that the priests could not stand to minister by reason of the cloud: for the glory of the LORD had filled the house of God.

2nd Chronicles 6

6:1 Then said Solomon, The LORD hath said that he would dwell in the thick darkness.

6:2 But I have built an house of habitation for thee, and a place for thy dwelling for ever.

6:3 And the king turned his face, and blessed the whole congregation of Israel: and all the congregation of Israel stood.

6:4 And he said, Blessed be the LORD God of Israel, who hath with his hands fulfilled that which he spake with his mouth to my father David, saying,

6:5 Since the day that I brought forth my people out of the land of Egypt I chose no city among all the tribes of Israel to build an house in, that my name might be there; neither chose I any man to be a ruler over my people Israel:

6:6 But I have chosen Jerusalem, that my name might be there; and have chosen David to be over my people Israel.

6:7 Now it was in the heart of David my father to build an house for the name of the LORD God of Israel.

6:8 But the LORD said to David my father, Forasmuch as it was in thine heart to build an house for my name, thou didst well in that it was in thine heart:

6:9 Notwithstanding thou shalt not build the house; but thy son which shall come forth out of thy loins, he shall build the house for my name.

6:10 The LORD therefore hath performed his word that he hath spoken: for I am risen up in the room of David my father, and am set on the throne of Israel, as the LORD promised, and have built the house for the name of the LORD God of Israel.

6:11 And in it have I put the ark, wherein is the covenant of the LORD, that he made with the children of Israel.

6:12 And he stood before the altar of the LORD in the presence of all the congregation of Israel, and spread forth his hands:

6:13 For Solomon had made a brazen scaffold of five cubits long, and five cubits broad, and three cubits high, and had set it in the midst of the court: and upon it he stood, and kneeled down upon his knees before all the congregation of Israel, and spread forth his hands toward heaven.

6:14 And said, O LORD God of Israel, there is no God like thee in the heaven, nor in the earth; which keepest covenant, and showest mercy unto thy servants, that walk before thee with all their hearts:

6:15 Thou which hast kept with thy servant David my father that which thou hast promised him; and spakest with thy mouth, and hast fulfilled it with thine hand, as it is this day.

6:16 Now therefore, O LORD God of Israel, keep with thy servant David my father that which thou hast promised him, saying, There shall not fail thee a man in my sight to sit upon the throne of Israel; yet so that thy children take heed to their way to walk in my law, as thou hast walked before me.

6:17 Now then, O LORD God of Israel, let thy word be verified, which thou hast spoken unto thy servant David.

6:18 But will God in very deed dwell with men on the earth? behold, heaven and the heaven of heavens cannot contain thee; how much less this house which I have built!

6:19 Have respect therefore to the prayer of thy servant, and to his supplication, O LORD my God, to hearken unto the cry and the prayer which thy servant prayeth before thee:

6:20 That thine eyes may be open upon this house day and night, upon the place whereof thou hast said that thou wouldest put thy name there; to hearken unto the prayer which thy servant prayeth toward this place.

6:21 Hearken therefore unto the supplications of thy servant, and of thy people Israel, which they shall make toward this place: hear thou from thy dwelling place, even from heaven; and when thou hearest, forgive.

6:22 If a man sin against his neighbor, and an oath be laid upon him to make him swear, and the oath come before thine altar in this house;

6:23 Then hear thou from heaven, and do, and judge thy servants, by requiting the wicked, by recompensing his way upon his own head; and by justifying the righteous, by giving him according to his righteousness.

6:24 And if thy people Israel be put to the worse before the enemy, because they have sinned against thee; and shall return and confess thy name, and pray and make supplication before thee in this house;

6:25 Then hear thou from the heavens, and forgive the sin of thy people Israel, and bring them again unto the land which thou gavest to them and to their fathers.

6:26 When the heaven is shut up, and there is no rain, because they have sinned against thee; yet if they pray toward this place, and confess thy name, and turn from their sin, when thou dost afflict them;

6:27 Then hear thou from heaven, and forgive the sin of thy servants, and of thy people Israel, when thou hast taught them the good way, wherein they should walk; and send rain upon thy land, which thou hast given unto thy people for an inheritance.

6:28 If there be dearth in the land, if there be pestilence, if there be blasting, or mildew, locusts, or caterpillars; if their enemies besiege them in the cities of their land; whatsoever sore or whatsoever sickness there be:

6:29 Then what prayer or what supplication soever shall be made of any man, or of all thy people Israel, when every one shall know his own sore and his own grief, and shall spread forth his hands in this house:

6:30 Then hear thou from heaven thy dwelling place, and forgive, and render unto every man according unto all his ways, whose heart thou knowest; (for thou only knowest the hearts of the children of men:)

6:31 That they may fear thee, to walk in thy ways, so long as they live in the land which thou gavest unto our fathers.

6:32 Moreover concerning the stranger, which is not of thy people Israel, but is come from a far country for thy great name's sake, and thy mighty hand, and thy stretched out arm; if they come and pray in this house;

6:33 Then hear thou from the heavens, even from thy dwelling place, and do according to all that the stranger calleth to thee for; that all people of the earth may know thy name, and fear thee, as doth thy people Israel, and may know that this house which I have built is called by thy name.

6:34 If thy people go out to war against their enemies by the way that thou shalt send them, and they pray unto thee toward this city which thou hast chosen, and the house which I have built for thy name;

6:35 Then hear thou from the heavens their prayer and their supplication, and maintain their cause.

6:36 If they sin against thee, (for there is no man which sinneth not,) and thou be angry with them, and deliver them over before their enemies, and they carry them away captives unto a land far off or near;

6:37 Yet if they bethink themselves in the land whither they are carried captive, and turn and pray unto thee in the land of their captivity, saying, We have sinned, we have done amiss, and have dealt wickedly;

6:38 If they return to thee with all their heart and with all their soul in the land of their captivity, whither they have carried them captives, and pray toward their land, which thou gavest unto their fathers, and toward the city which thou hast chosen, and toward the house which I have built for thy name:

6:39 Then hear thou from the heavens, even from thy dwelling place, their prayer and their supplications, and maintain their cause, and forgive thy people which have sinned against thee.

6:40 Now, my God, let, I beseech thee, thine eyes be open, and let thine ears be attent unto the prayer that is made in this place.

6:41 Now therefore arise, O LORD God, into thy resting place, thou, and the ark of thy strength: let thy priests, O LORD God, be clothed with salvation, and let thy saints rejoice in goodness.

6:42 O LORD God, turn not away the face of thine anointed: remember the mercies of David thy servant.