Today's Readings and Stuff -- Wednesday, 09 January 2019

Trying again.  The Blogger app blew up on me yesterday, wiping out quite a bit.  Hoping it doesn't happen again.

Yesterday was a bit of a long day.
Wife is doing a bit better as the antibiotics are having a good effect.  The "crud" that is "going around" is hitting a whole lot of people, and hitting hard.  Wife's current bout of whatever got going about two weeks after she received a flu shot.  It caused a weird looking swelling on the injection site that lasted several days.  A week after that, this crud hit.  Cause-effect I do not know, but I've heard of problems experienced by others, none of whom suffer her underlying problems.  Didn't seem to cause anything too terrible for me.  Niece next door, and both  the great-niece and great-nephew have been going through some bouts as well.  The little one had strep throat, the other had infections in both ears.  Niece has had stomach virus, sinus infections, and other junk. 
Niece was feeling a bit better yesterday, so we were asked to come "watch" the great-nephew as mom was at work and dad was doing a projected hour-long repair on a friend's truck.  Only he ran into a real mess, and we ended up watching the Little Guy from about 10:30 until after dark when Niece got home and dad was just finishing up the repair.     But last night, Niece became VERY ill.  Not ER rush ill, but, as we put it, throwing up stuff she hadn't eaten yet.  Sick all night, and called off work today.  Fun, fun, fun.
I have, Thank You Lord, been spared so far.  Not sure what would happen if I did get that bad off:  Wife isn't up to taking care of me.  Guess I'd have to tough it out.








======================================
=====================================
Yes, this went on a long time ago, and very far away by every measure.  And it affects our world to this very day.  Incidentally, the other son of Abraham, Ishmael?  Ishmael is counted as the father of all the Arabs and the ancestor of Muhammad.  Yes, the war between those descendants of the two sons of Abraham continues to this very day, and will until the End.  The things we do today may well have results centuries later and thousands of miles distant.  This is just one of the many examples of that.

Genesis 17

Covenant Circumcision

1When Abram was 99 years old, the Lord appeared to him, saying, “I am God Almighty.  Live in My presence and be blameless.  2I will establish My covenant between Me and you, and I will multiply you greatly.”

3Then Abram fell facedown and God spoke with him: 4“As for Me, My covenant is with you: you will become the father of many nations.  5Your name will no longer be Abram,  but your name will be Abraham,  for I will make you the father of many nations.  6I will make you extremely fruitful and will make nations and kings come from you. 7I will keep My covenant between Me and you, and your future offspring throughout their generations, as an everlasting covenant  to be your God and the God of your offspring after you.  8And to you and your future offspring  I will give the land where you are residing — all the land of Canaan — as an eternal possession,  and I will be their God.”

9God also said to Abraham, “As for you, you and your offspring after you throughout their generations are to keep My covenant. 10This is My covenant, which you are to keep, between Me and you and your offspring after you: Every one of your males must be circumcised. 11You must circumcise the flesh of your foreskin to serve as a sign of the covenant between Me and you.  12Throughout your generations, every male among you at eight days old is to be circumcised.  This includes a slave born in your house and one purchased with money from any foreigner. The one who is not your offspring, 13a slave born in your house, as well as one purchased with money, must be circumcised. My covenant will be marked in your flesh as an everlasting covenant. 14If any male is not circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin, that man will be cut off from his people; he has broken My covenant.”

15God said to Abraham, “As for your wife Sarai, do not call her Sarai, for Sarah  will be her name. 16I will bless her; indeed, I will give you a son by her.  I will bless her, and she will produce nations; kings of peoples will come from her.”

17Abraham fell facedown. Then he laughed  and said to himself, “Can a child be born to a hundred-year-old man? Can Sarah, a ninety-year-old woman, give birth? ” 18So Abraham said to God, “If only Ishmael were acceptable to You! ”

19But God said, “No. Your wife Sarah will bear you a son, and you will name him Isaac.  I will confirm My covenant with him as an everlasting covenant for his future offspring. 20As for Ishmael, I have heard you. I will certainly bless him; I will make him fruitful and will multiply him greatly. He will father 12 tribal leaders, and I will make him into a great nation. 21But I will confirm My covenant with Isaac, whom Sarah will bear to you at this time next year.”  22When He finished talking with him, God withdrew from Abraham. 

23Then Abraham took his son Ishmael and all the slaves born in his house or purchased with his money — every male among the members of Abraham’s household — and he circumcised the flesh of their foreskin on that very day, just as God had said to him. 24Abraham was 99 years old when the flesh of his foreskin was circumcised, 25and his son Ishmael was 13 years old when the flesh of his foreskin was circumcised. 26On that same day Abraham and his son Ishmael were circumcised. 27And all the men of his household — both slaves born in his house and those purchased with money from a foreigner — were circumcised with him.

Genesis 18

Abraham’s Three Visitors

1Then the Lord appeared to Abraham at the oaks of Mamre  while he was sitting in the entrance of his tent during the heat of the day. 2He looked up, and he saw three men standing near him.  When he saw them, he ran from the entrance of the tent to meet them and bowed to the ground. 3Then he said, “My lord,  if I have found favor in your sight, please do not go on past your servant. 4Let a little water be brought, that you may wash your feet and rest yourselves under the tree. 5I will bring a bit of bread so that you may strengthen yourselves.  This is why you have passed your servant’s way. Later, you can continue on.”

“Yes,” they replied, “do as you have said.”

6So Abraham hurried into the tent and said to Sarah, “Quick! Knead three measures  of fine flour and make bread.” 7Meanwhile, Abraham ran to the herd and got a tender, choice calf. He gave it to a young man, who hurried to prepare it. 8Then Abraham took curds  and milk, and the calf that he had prepared, and set them before the men. He served  them as they ate under the tree.

Sarah Laughs

9“Where is your wife Sarah? ” they asked him.

“There, in the tent,” he answered.

10The Lord said, “I will certainly come back to you in about a year’s time, and your wife Sarah will have a son! ”  Now Sarah was listening at the entrance of the tent behind him.

11Abraham and Sarah were old and getting on in years. Sarah had passed the age of childbearing.   12So she laughed to herself: “After I have become shriveled up and my lord is old, will I have delight? ” 

13But the Lord asked Abraham, “Why did Sarah laugh, saying, ‘Can I really have a baby when I’m old? ’ 14Is anything impossible for the Lord?  At the appointed time I will come back to you, and in about a year she will have a son.”

15Sarah denied it. “I did not laugh,” she said, because she was afraid.

But He replied, “No, you did laugh.”

Abraham’s Plea for Sodom

16The men got up from there and looked out over Sodom, and Abraham was walking with them to see them off. 17Then the Lordsaid, “Should I hide what I am about to do from Abraham? 18Abraham is to become a great and powerful nation, and all the nations of the earth will be blessed through him.  19For I have chosen  him so that he will command his children and his house after him to keep the way of the Lord by doing what is right and just. This is how the Lord will fulfill to Abraham what He promised him.” 20Then the Lord said, “The outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is immense, and their sin is extremely serious. 21I will go down  to see if what they have done justifies the cry that has come up to Me. If not, I will find out.”

22The men turned from there and went toward Sodom  while Abraham remained standing before the Lord.  23Abraham stepped forward and said, “Will You really sweep away the righteous with the wicked?  24What if there are 50 righteous people in the city? Will You really sweep it away instead of sparing the place for the sake of the 50 righteous people who are in it? 25You could not possibly do such a thing: to kill the righteous with the wicked, treating the righteous and the wicked alike. You could not possibly do that! Won’t the Judge of all the earth do what is just? ” 

26The Lord said, “If I find 50 righteous people in the city of Sodom, I will spare the whole place for their sake.” 

27Then Abraham answered, “Since I have ventured to speak to the Lord — even though I am dust and ashes — 28suppose the 50 righteous lack five. Will you destroy the whole city for lack of five? ”

He replied, “I will not destroy it if I find 45 there.”

29Then he spoke to Him again, “Suppose 40 are found there? ”

He answered, “I will not do it on account of 40.”

30Then he said, “Let the Lord not be angry, and I will speak further. Suppose 30 are found there? ”

He answered, “I will not do it if I find 30 there.”

31Then he said, “Since I have ventured to speak to the Lord, suppose 20 are found there? ”

He replied, “I will not destroy it on account of 20.”

32Then he said, “Let the Lord not be angry, and I will speak one more time.  Suppose 10 are found there? ”

He answered, “I will not destroy it on account of 10.” 33When the Lord had finished speaking with Abraham, He departed, and Abraham returned to his place.

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

Psalm 7

Prayer for Justice

A Shiggaionof David, which he sang to the Lord concerning the words of Cush,a Benjaminite.

1Yahweh my God, I seek refuge in You; 

save me from all my pursuers and rescue me 

2or they  will tear me like a lion,

ripping me apart with no one to rescue me.  

3Yahweh my God, if I have done this,

if there is injustice on my hands, 

4if I have done harm to one at peace with me 

or have plundered  my adversary without cause, 

5may an enemy pursue and overtake me;

may he trample me to the ground 

and leave my honor in the dust. Selah

6Rise up, Lord, in Your anger;

lift Yourself up against the fury of my adversaries; 

awake for me;  

You have ordained  a judgment. 

7Let the assembly of peoples gather around You; 

take Your seat  on high over it. 

8The Lord judges the peoples; 

vindicate me, Lord,

according to my righteousness and my integrity.  

9Let the evil of the wicked come to an end, 

but establish the righteous. 

The One who examines the thoughts and emotions 

is a righteous God. 

10My shield is with  God, 

who saves the upright in heart. 

11God is a righteous judge

and a God who shows His wrath every day. 

12If anyone does not repent,

God  will sharpen His sword; 

He has strung  His bow and made it ready. 

13He has prepared His deadly weapons;

He tips His arrows with fire. 

14See, the wicked one is pregnant with evil,

conceives trouble, and gives birth to deceit. 

15He dug a pit and hollowed it out

but fell into the hole he had made. 

16His trouble comes back on his own head,

and his violence falls on the top of his head. 

17I will thank the Lord for His righteousness;

I will sing about the name of Yahweh the Most High. 

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

Gospel of Matthew, chapter 7

I hesitate to get into this passage, as it begins with the most mis-quoted, mis-applied, mis-understood, mis-used, and mis-a bunch of other stuff, in all the Bible.  But I was reading something just this morning, a commentary on all of Matthew 7 by a commentator by the name of Chuck Smith.  Hadn't heard of him before. but his commentary was linked in a Bible reading app on my mobile devices named Blue Letter Bible (highly recommended, by the way) and he had quite a lot to say, pretty sensible, and he didn't shy away from the controversy.  Unfortunately, he passed in 2013.

Matthew 7

(from the Holman Christian Standard Bible)

Do Not Judge

1“Do not judge, so that you won’t be judged.  2For with the judgment you use,  you will be judged, and with the measure you use,  it will be measured to you.  3Why do you look at the speck in your brother’s eye but don’t notice the log in your own eye?  4Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ and look, there’s a log in your eye? 5Hypocrite! First take the log out of your eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye. 6Don’t give what is holy to dogs or toss your pearls before pigs,  or they will trample them with their feet, turn, and tear you to pieces.

Keep Asking, Searching, Knocking

7“Keep asking,   and it will be given to you.  Keep searching,  and you will find. Keep knocking,  and the door will be opened to you. 8For everyone who asks receives, and the one who searches finds,  and to the one who knocks, the door  will be opened. 9What man among you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone? 10Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? 11If you then, who are evil,  know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good things to those who ask Him! 12Therefore, whatever you want others to do for you, do also the same for them — this is the Law and the Prophets.  

Entering the Kingdom

13“Enter through the narrow gate.  For the gate is wide and the road is broad that leads to destruction,  and there are many who go through it. 14How narrow is the gate and difficult the road that leads to life, and few find it.

15“Beware of false prophets  who come to you in sheep’s clothing  but inwardly are ravaging wolves.  16You’ll recognize them by their fruit.  Are grapes gathered from thornbushes or figs from thistles?  17In the same way, every good tree produces good fruit, but a bad tree produces bad fruit. 18A good tree can’t produce bad fruit; neither can a bad tree produce good fruit. 19Every tree that doesn’t produce good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.  20So you’ll recognize them by their fruit. 

21“Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord! ’ will enter the kingdom of heaven,  but only the one who does the will  of My Father in heaven.  22On that day many will say to Me, ‘Lord, Lord, didn’t we prophesy in Your name, drive out demons in Your name, and do many miracles in Your name? ’  23Then I will announce to them, ‘I never knew you! Depart from Me, you lawbreakers!’   

The Two Foundations

24“Therefore,  everyone who hears these words  of Mine and acts on them will be like a sensible man who built his house on the rock. 25The rain fell, the rivers rose, and the winds blew and pounded that house. Yet it didn’t collapse, because its foundation was on the rock. 26But everyone who hears these words of Mine and doesn’t act on them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. 27The rain fell, the rivers rose, the winds blew and pounded that house, and it collapsed. And its collapse was great! ”

28When Jesus had finished this sermon,   the crowds were astonished at His teaching,  29because He was teaching them like one who had authority, and not like their scribes.