Today's Readings and Stuff -- Tuesday, 16 October 2018

Trying to be positive.  Trying.  In vain.  We're now in the last half of October, so November is just over the hill.  We have little more than 3 weeks left of Daylight Savings Time, and 9 weeks until official Winter.  From now until May is my least favored time of year.

Spending some time thinking about the situation yesterday while in a waiting room for "labs" at a local hospital, a time which started approximating a prayer meeting, with testimonies, of persons in that unplanned (by us) gathering in an environment that isn't much like a church house.  Had, for example, one lady there who has survived two separate bouts of cancer.  Several others who've survived one, as well as others who were and are in the midst of some dreadful illnesses, but who have put their hope in the Lord.  A time of ordinary people encouraging one another, people who have "been there".  Somehow, I can't make myself believe that the Lord hadn't arranged this.


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Jeremiah 27

The Yoke of Babylon

1At the beginning of the reign of Zedekiah son of Josiah, king of Judah, this word came to Jeremiah from the Lord: 2This is what the Lord said to me: “Make chains and yoke bars for yourself and put them on your neck. 3Send word to the king of Edom, the king of Moab, the king of the Ammonites, the king of Tyre, and the king of Sidon through messengers who are coming to King Zedekiah of Judah in Jerusalem. 4Command them to go to their masters, saying, ‘This is what the Lord of Armies, the God of Israel, says: Tell this to your masters: 5“By my great strength and outstretched arm, I made the earth, and the people, and animals on the face of the earth. I give it to anyone I please. 6So now I have placed all these lands under the authority of my servant Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon. I have even given him the wild animals to serve him. 7All nations will serve him, his son, and his grandson until the time for his own land comes, and then many nations and great kings will enslave him.

8“‘“As for the nation or kingdom that does not serve King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon and does not place its neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon, that nation I will punish by sword, famine, and plague — this is the Lord’s declaration — until through him I have destroyed it. 9So you should not listen to your prophets, diviners, dreamers, fortune-tellers, or sorcererswho say to you, ‘Don’t serve the king of Babylon!’ 10They are prophesying a lie to you so that you will be removed from your land. I will banish you, and you will perish. 11But as for the nation that will put its neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon and serve him, I will leave it in its own land, and that nation will cultivate it and reside in it. This is the Lord’s declaration.”’”

Warning to Zedekiah

12I spoke to King Zedekiah of Judah in the same way: “Put your necks under the yoke of the king of Babylon, serve him and his people, and live! 13Why should you and your people die by the sword, famine, and plague as the Lord has threatened against any nation that does not serve the king of Babylon? 14Do not listen to the words of the prophets who are telling you, ‘Don’t serve the king of Babylon,’ for they are prophesying a lie to you. 15‘I have not sent them’ — this is the Lord’s declaration — ‘and they are prophesying falsely in my name; therefore, I will banish you, and you will perish — you and the prophets who are prophesying to you.’”

16Then I spoke to the priests and all these people, saying, “This is what the Lord says: ‘Do not listen to the words of your prophets. They are prophesying to you, claiming, “Look, very soon now the articles of the Lord’s temple will be brought back from Babylon.” They are prophesying a lie to you. 17Do not listen to them. Serve the king of Babylon and live! Why should this city become a ruin? 18If they are indeed prophets and if the word of the Lordis with them, let them intercede with the Lord of Armies not to let the articles that remain in the Lord’s temple, in the palace of the king of Judah, and in Jerusalem go to Babylon.’ 19For this is what the Lord of Armies says about the pillars, the basin, the water carts, and the rest of the articles that still remain in this city, 20those King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon did not take when he deported Jeconiah son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, from Jerusalem to Babylon along with all the nobles of Judah and Jerusalem. 21Yes, this is what the Lord of Armies, the God of Israel, says about the articles that remain in the temple of the Lord, in the palace of the king of Judah, and in Jerusalem: 22‘They will be taken to Babylon and will remain there until I attend to them again.’ This is the Lord’s declaration. ‘Then I will bring them up and restore them to this place.’”

Jeremiah 28

Hananiah’s False Prophecy

1In that same year, at the beginning of the reign of King Zedekiah of Judah, in the fifth month of the fourth year, the prophet Hananiah son of Azzur from Gibeon said to me in the temple of the Lord in the presence of the priests and all the people, 2“This is what the Lord of Armies, the God of Israel, says: ‘I have broken the yoke of the king of Babylon. 3Within two years I will restore to this place all the articles of the Lord’s temple that King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon took from here and transported to Babylon. 4And I will restore to this place Jeconiah son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, and all the exiles from Judah who went to Babylon’ — this is the Lord’s declaration — ‘for I will break the yoke of the king of Babylon.’”

Jeremiah’s Response to Hananiah

5The prophet Jeremiah replied to the prophet Hananiah in the presence of the priests and all the people who were standing in the temple of the Lord. 6The prophet Jeremiah said, “Amen! May the Lord do that. May the Lord make the words you have prophesied come true and may he restore the articles of the Lord’s temple and all the exiles from Babylon to this place! 7Only listen to this message I am speaking in your hearing and in the hearing of all the people. 8The prophets who preceded you and me from ancient times prophesied war, disaster, and plague against many lands and great kingdoms. 9As for the prophet who prophesies peace — only when the word of the prophet comes true will the prophet be recognized as one the Lord has truly sent.”

Hananiah Breaks Jeremiah’s Yoke

10The prophet Hananiah then took the yoke bar from the neck of the prophet Jeremiah and broke it. 11In the presence of all the people Hananiah proclaimed, “This is what the Lord says: ‘In this way, within two years I will break the yoke of King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon from the neck of all the nations.’” The prophet Jeremiah then went on his way.

The Lord’s Word against Hananiah

12After the prophet Hananiah had broken the yoke bar from the neck of the prophet Jeremiah, the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah: 13“Go say to Hananiah, ‘This is what the Lord says: You broke a wooden yoke bar, but in its place you will make an iron yoke bar. 14For this is what the Lord of Armies, the God of Israel, says: I have put an iron yoke on the neck of all these nations that they might serve King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon, and they will serve him. I have even put the wild animals under him.’”

15The prophet Jeremiah said to the prophet Hananiah, “Listen, Hananiah! The Lord did not send you, but you have led these people to trust in a lie. 16Therefore, this is what the Lord says: ‘I am about to send you off the face of the earth. You will die this year because you have preached rebellion against the Lord.’”17And the prophet Hananiah died that year in the seventh month.

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Ecclesiastes 5

Caution in God’s Presence

1Guard your steps when you go to the house of God. Better to approach in obedience than to offer the sacrifice as fools do, for they ignorantly do wrong. 2Do not be hasty to speak, and do not be impulsive to make a speech before God. God is in heaven and you are on earth, so let your words be few. 3Just as dreams accompany much labor, so also a fool’s voice comes with many words. 4When you make a vow to God, don’t delay fulfilling it, because he does not delight in fools. Fulfill what you vow. 5Better that you do not vow than that you vow and not fulfill it.6Do not let your mouth bring guilt on you, and do not say in the presence of the messenger that it was a mistake. Why should God be angry with your words and destroy the work of your hands? 7For many dreams bring futility, so do many words. Therefore, fear God.

The Realities of Wealth

8If you see oppression of the poor and perversion of justice and righteousness in the province, don’t be astonished at the situation, because one official protects another official, and higher officials protect them. 9The profit from the land is taken by all; the king is served by the field.

10The one who loves silver is never satisfied with silver, and whoever loves wealth is never satisfied with income. This too is futile. 11When good things increase, the ones who consume them multiply; what, then, is the profit to the owner, except to gaze at them with his eyes? 12The sleep of the worker is sweet, whether he eats little or much, but the abundance of the rich permits him no sleep.

13There is a sickening tragedy I have seen under the sun: wealth kept by its owner to his harm. 14That wealth was lost in a bad venture, so when he fathered a son, he was empty-handed. 15As he came from his mother’s womb, so he will go again, naked as he came; he will take nothing for his efforts that he can carry in his hands. 16This too is a sickening tragedy: exactly as he comes, so he will go. What does the one gain who struggles for the wind? 17What is more, he eats in darkness all his days,with much frustration, sickness, and anger.

18Here is what I have seen to be good: It is appropriate to eat, drink, and experience good in all the labor one does under the sun during the few days of his life God has given him, because that is his reward. 19Furthermore, everyone to whom God has given riches and wealth, he has also allowed him to enjoy them, take his reward, and rejoice in his labor. This is a gift of God,20for he does not often consider the days of his life because God keeps him occupied with the joy of his heart.

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Hebrews 3

1Wherefore, holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling, consider the Apostle and High Priest of our profession, Christ Jesus;

2Who was faithful to him that appointed him, as also Moses was faithful in all his house.

3For this man was counted worthy of more glory than Moses, inasmuch as he who hath builded the house hath more honour than the house.

4For every house is builded by some man; but he that built all things is God.

5And Moses verily was faithful in all his house, as a servant, for a testimony of those things which were to be spoken after;

6But Christ as a son over his own house; whose house are we, if we hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope firm unto the end.

7Wherefore (as the Holy Ghost saith, To day if ye will hear his voice,

8Harden not your hearts, as in the provocation, in the day of temptation in the wilderness:

9When your fathers tempted me, proved me, and saw my works forty years.

10Wherefore I was grieved with that generation, and said, They do alway err in their heart; and they have not known my ways.

11So I sware in my wrath, They shall not enter into my rest.)

12Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief, in departing from the living God.

13But exhort one another daily, while it is called To day; lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin.

14For we are made partakers of Christ, if we hold the beginning of our confidence stedfast unto the end;

15While it is said, To day if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts, as in the provocation.

16For some, when they had heard, did provoke: howbeit not all that came out of Egypt by Moses.

17But with whom was he grieved forty years? was it not with them that had sinned, whose carcases fell in the wilderness?

18And to whom sware he that they should not enter into his rest, but to them that believed not?

19So we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief.