Today's Readings and Stuff -- Wednesday, 10 October 2018

We are now 1/3 (or so) of the way through October.  In just a few weeks, Lord willing, we will see the twice-yearly mess known as the Time Change, the point at which the "Daylight Savings Time" will switch to so-called "Standard Time".  That will be on a Saturday night/Sunday morning, so we can predict that some people will show up for church services an hour early.  Happens every year.

We "got" to play with the Little Guy today.  Niece was off work today, and her husband doesn't work tonight.  Yes, working opposite shifts gets to be tough.  We know:  for a while, Wife and I worked opposite shifts and shared a single car (before her blindness), so we'd meet at the door, swap the car key, and head out.  VERY hard on the marriage, but fortunately the kids were grown and gone so that issue was moot.  Niece and husband, by contrast, have two little ones, a 5-year-old in kindergarten and a 15-month-old Little Guy.  He's working 12-hour shifts, 7 pm -- 7 am plus commute time, etc.  Doesn't leave much together time.  They wanted some time today to build a lean-to attached to the garage, hard to do while trying to corral a VERY active little boy who wants to participate.  So we played with him.  Making memories, we think of it.  We've been the major "sitters" for both those kids, not such a bad assignment.

When he decided to take a 3-hour-long nap, we went out and did some more harvesting in the garden.  Got some onions and some TINY carrots (groundhogs had, several times, eaten most of the above-ground stuff so the roots were stunted.  Got some potatoes too, of various sizes, due to the same issue.  We're leaving the celery until the first frost, which I fully expect within the next 10 days, even though we hit 81° today.

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Jeremiah 15

1Then said the Lord unto me, Though Moses and Samuel stood before me, yet my mind could not be toward this people: cast them out of my sight, and let them go forth.

2And it shall come to pass, if they say unto thee, Whither shall we go forth? then thou shalt tell them, Thus saith the Lord; Such as are for death, to death; and such as are for the sword, to the sword; and such as are for the famine, to the famine; and such as are for the captivity, to the captivity.

3And I will appoint over them four kinds, saith the Lord: the sword to slay, and the dogs to tear, and the fowls of the heaven, and the beasts of the earth, to devour and destroy.

4And I will cause them to be removed into all kingdoms of the earth, because of Manasseh the son of Hezekiah king of Judah, for that which he did in Jerusalem.

5For who shall have pity upon thee, O Jerusalem? or who shall bemoan thee? or who shall go aside to ask how thou doest?

6Thou hast forsaken me, saith the Lord, thou art gone backward: therefore will I stretch out my hand against thee, and destroy thee; I am weary with repenting.

7And I will fan them with a fan in the gates of the land; I will bereave them of children, I will destroy my people, since they return not from their ways.

8Their widows are increased to me above the sand of the seas: I have brought upon them against the mother of the young men a spoiler at noonday: I have caused him to fall upon it suddenly, and terrors upon the city.

9She that hath borne seven languisheth: she hath given up the ghost; her sun is gone down while it was yet day: she hath been ashamed and confounded: and the residue of them will I deliver to the sword before their enemies, saith the Lord.

10Woe is me, my mother, that thou hast borne me a man of strife and a man of contention to the whole earth! I have neither lent on usury, nor men have lent to me on usury; yet every one of them doth curse me.

11The Lord said, Verily it shall be well with thy remnant; verily I will cause the enemy to entreat thee well in the time of evil and in the time of affliction.

12Shall iron break the northern iron and the steel?

13Thy substance and thy treasures will I give to the spoil without price, and that for all thy sins, even in all thy borders.

14And I will make thee to pass with thine enemies into a land which thou knowest not: for a fire is kindled in mine anger, which shall burn upon you.

15O Lord, thou knowest: remember me, and visit me, and revenge me of my persecutors; take me not away in thy longsuffering: know that for thy sake I have suffered rebuke.

16Thy words were found, and I did eat them; and thy word was unto me the joy and rejoicing of mine heart: for I am called by thy name, O Lord God of hosts.

17I sat not in the assembly of the mockers, nor rejoiced; I sat alone because of thy hand: for thou hast filled me with indignation.

18Why is my pain perpetual, and my wound incurable, which refuseth to be healed? wilt thou be altogether unto me as a liar, and as waters that fail?

19Therefore thus saith the Lord, If thou return, then will I bring thee again, and thou shalt stand before me: and if thou take forth the precious from the vile, thou shalt be as my mouth: let them return unto thee; but return not thou unto them.

20And I will make thee unto this people a fenced brasen wall: and they shall fight against thee, but they shall not prevail against thee: for I am with thee to save thee and to deliver thee, saith the Lord.

21And I will deliver thee out of the hand of the wicked, and I will redeem thee out of the hand of the terrible.

Jeremiah 16

1The word of the Lord came also unto me, saying,

2Thou shalt not take thee a wife, neither shalt thou have sons or daughters in this place.

3For thus saith the Lord concerning the sons and concerning the daughters that are born in this place, and concerning their mothers that bare them, and concerning their fathers that begat them in this land;

4They shall die of grievous deaths; they shall not be lamented; neither shall they be buried; but they shall be as dung upon the face of the earth: and they shall be consumed by the sword, and by famine; and their carcases shall be meat for the fowls of heaven, and for the beasts of the earth.

5For thus saith the Lord, Enter not into the house of mourning, neither go to lament nor bemoan them: for I have taken away my peace from this people, saith the Lord, even lovingkindness and mercies.

6Both the great and the small shall die in this land: they shall not be buried, neither shall men lament for them, nor cut themselves, nor make themselves bald for them:

7Neither shall men tear themselves for them in mourning, to comfort them for the dead; neither shall men give them the cup of consolation to drink for their father or for their mother.

8Thou shalt not also go into the house of feasting, to sit with them to eat and to drink.

9For thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel; Behold, I will cause to cease out of this place in your eyes, and in your days, the voice of mirth, and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom, and the voice of the bride.

10And it shall come to pass, when thou shalt shew this people all these words, and they shall say unto thee, Wherefore hath the Lord pronounced all this great evil against us? or what is our iniquity? or what is our sin that we have committed against the Lord our God?

11Then shalt thou say unto them, Because your fathers have forsaken me, saith the Lord, and have walked after other gods, and have served them, and have worshipped them, and have forsaken me, and have not kept my law;

12And ye have done worse than your fathers; for, behold, ye walk every one after the imagination of his evil heart, that they may not hearken unto me:

13Therefore will I cast you out of this land into a land that ye know not, neither ye nor your fathers; and there shall ye serve other gods day and night; where I will not shew you favour.

14Therefore, behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that it shall no more be said, The Lord liveth, that brought up the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt;

15But, The Lord liveth, that brought up the children of Israel from the land of the north, and from all the lands whither he had driven them: and I will bring them again into their land that I gave unto their fathers.

16Behold, I will send for many fishers, saith the Lord, and they shall fish them; and after will I send for many hunters, and they shall hunt them from every mountain, and from every hill, and out of the holes of the rocks.

17For mine eyes are upon all their ways: they are not hid from my face, neither is their iniquity hid from mine eyes.

18And first I will recompense their iniquity and their sin double; because they have defiled my land, they have filled mine inheritance with the carcases of their detestable and abominable things.

19O Lord, my strength, and my fortress, and my refuge in the day of affliction, the Gentiles shall come unto thee from the ends of the earth, and shall say, Surely our fathers have inherited lies, vanity, and things wherein there is no profit.

20Shall a man make gods unto himself, and they are no gods?

21Therefore, behold, I will this once cause them to know, I will cause them to know mine hand and my might; and they shall know that my name is The Lord.

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Today, a new beginning, the Ecclesiastes.
This passage I have shown in the Christian Standard Version.  It avoids the usual confusion around the term "vanity" that is used in the KJV.  Yes, it is in vain, futile as used here, to focus on the things of this earth, our own wants and lusts and whims.  Sound like the world around us?  Remember the bumper sticker that was popular a few years ago:  "The one who dies with the most toys wins" ?  Remember that?  Most of our fellows act as if they believe it, and it's by no means unknown in the church house either.

Ecclesiastes 1

Everything Is Futile

1The words of the Teacher, son of David, king in Jerusalem.

2“Absolute futility,” says the Teacher.

“Absolute futility. Everything is futile.”

3What does a person gain for all his efforts

that he labors at under the sun?

4A generation goes and a generation comes,

but the earth remains forever.

5The sun rises and the sun sets;

panting, it returns to the place

where it rises.

6Gusting to the south,

turning to the north,

turning, turning, goes the wind,

and the wind returns in its cycles.

7All the streams flow to the sea,

yet the sea is never full;

to the place where the streams flow,

there they flow again.

8All things are wearisome,

more than anyone can say.

The eye is not satisfied by seeing

or the ear filled with hearing.

9What has been is what will be,

and what has been done is what will be done;

there is nothing new under the sun.

10Can one say about anything,

“Look, this is new”?

It has already existed in the ages before us.

11There is no remembrance of those who came before;

and of those who will come after

there will also be no remembrance

by those who follow them.

The Limitations of Wisdom

12I, the Teacher, have been king over Israel in Jerusalem. 13I applied my mind to examine and explore through wisdom all that is done under heaven. God has given people this miserable task to keep them occupied. 14I have seen all the things that are done under the sun and have found everything to be futile, a pursuit of the wind.

15What is crooked cannot be straightened;

what is lacking cannot be counted.

16I said to myself, “See, I have amassed wisdom far beyond all those who were over Jerusalem before me, and my mind has thoroughly grasped wisdom and knowledge.” 17I applied my mind to know wisdom and knowledge, madness and folly; I learned that this too is a pursuit of the wind.

18For with much wisdom is much sorrow;

as knowledge increases, grief increases.

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Titus 2

1But speak thou the things which become sound doctrine:

2That the aged men be sober, grave, temperate, sound in faith, in charity, in patience.

3The aged women likewise, that they be in behaviour as becometh holiness, not false accusers, not given to much wine, teachers of good things;

4That they may teach the young women to be sober, to love their husbands, to love their children,

5To be discreet, chaste, keepers at home, good, obedient to their own husbands, that the word of God be not blasphemed.

6Young men likewise exhort to be sober minded.

7In all things shewing thyself a pattern of good works: in doctrine shewing uncorruptness, gravity, sincerity,

8Sound speech, that cannot be condemned; that he that is of the contrary part may be ashamed, having no evil thing to say of you.

9Exhort servants to be obedient unto their own masters, and to please them well in all things; not answering again;

10Not purloining, but shewing all good fidelity; that they may adorn the doctrine of God our Saviour in all things.

11For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men,

12Teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world;

13Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ;

14Who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works.

15These things speak, and exhort, and rebuke with all authority. Let no man despise thee.

Titus 3

1Put them in mind to be subject to principalities and powers, to obey magistrates, to be ready to every good work,

2To speak evil of no man, to be no brawlers, but gentle, shewing all meekness unto all men.

3For we ourselves also were sometimes foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving divers lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful, and hating one another.

4But after that the kindness and love of God our Saviour toward man appeared,

5Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost;

6Which he shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Saviour;

7That being justified by his grace, we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life.

8This is a faithful saying, and these things I will that thou affirm constantly, that they which have believed in God might be careful to maintain good works. These things are good and profitable unto men.

9But avoid foolish questions, and genealogies, and contentions, and strivings about the law; for they are unprofitable and vain.

10A man that is an heretic after the first and second admonition reject;

11Knowing that he that is such is subverted, and sinneth, being condemned of himself.

12When I shall send Artemas unto thee, or Tychicus, be diligent to come unto me to Nicopolis: for I have determined there to winter.

13Bring Zenas the lawyer and Apollos on their journey diligently, that nothing be wanting unto them.

14And let ours also learn to maintain good works for necessary uses, that they be not unfruitful.

15All that are with me salute thee. Greet them that love us in the faith. Grace be with you all. Amen.