14 December 2019

Today's Readings and Stuff -- Saturday, 14 December 2019

Happy Saturday to all.  Nearly halfway through the month.  Most of the way through the year

Wife is napping, another bad night for her.  And in a few hours, we have to make our way through the snow that is falling right now, and probably some awful roads, to be present for the birthday party of the next-door Great Niece, her 7th.  A great time for all has been ordered.
But it meant that I had to "make a run".  Got a call from our across-the-Line pharmacy that I had three prescriptions ready.  They're for me, and while I'm not out of any of them, in a few weeks our insurance is changing and getting refills might be complicated as a result.  So I braved the falling mix of snow and rain, and endured PENNDOT's massive incompetence, and went.  And, being there, was under orders to get a bow for the birthday gift.  So I did.  Retirement stuff hits Tuesday (Lord willing of course)  so the wallet was thin, but I got  the necessary and still have enough to pick up a jug of milk tomorrow.  So we're good.

I've been dwelling on some of the matters in the so-called "minor prophets' that have constituted much of the recent readings and most of the rest of the year's passages as the end of the Old Testament passages approach.  Lots of condemnation and judgment and warning of the elements of those condemnations.  What things are common in those details include some pretty spectacular things.  Invading armies, for one, with mass death and slaughter, including death of babies and preganant women, persons who probably weren't guilty of anything but certainly part of the "collateral damage".  And then there are warnings of no rain, always a concern in that region, so little or no food to be grown, and no grass for the sheep.  Locusts in vast armies devouring what little grass and plant life was left.  No food, no water, disease.  Oh, and earthquakes and the like.  So those "elements of 'ordinary' life" that people, us included, come to regard as just the natural order of things, all taken away.  We forget that such things are, in truth, a gift of God.  When we stop regarding them in that status, He's capable of taking them back.
Some of us, me included, know all too well the feeling of having those things we regarded as fixed in place and expected as foundational, gone.  Illness, job loss, personal disagreements, all of it and more.  Like it or not, and I don't, it sometimes takes such shocks to draw our attention back to the only real and reliable Source. 

Song of the day has been with me all morning.  My Name Is Lazarus
Now, all who claim the name of Christians have a similar story, a testimony.  "When I in chains of death was bound, this Man named Jesus called me out".  For our natural state is as dead in our sin nature as the names we see on tombstones.  Being one of the "called out" is as much a miracle as the parting of the Red Sea or any other.  It's an act of God, not of ourselves.  He gets the praise.  Not us, certainly not me.

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

Today, chapters 1 and 2 of Jonah. 
Do you know anyone whose given name is Jonah?  I don't.  Many people in our world have given names of Biblical origin:  I know an Abel, many Davids, a Timothy or two, several Pauls.  Both of my grandfathers were named Steven.  My own dad had a rather obscure name, Eber (see Genesis 10).  Not many Jezebels.  And very few named Jonah.
There's probably some reason for that.  One of the toughest things in the world to tell the Lord is "here am I.  Send me."  That's handing over a signed blank check (though that is really part of the equation of Salvation).  But here, the Lord called Jonah.  And, in response, he ran the other direction.  He didn't like the assignment.  Sadly, that didn't end with him.  Most of us are, or think we are, willing to go where we would feel comfortable.  Not necessarily where the need is.  Need examples? 
Yet the Lord's purposes were accomplished, in spite of Jonah. 


Jonah 1
1Now the word of the Lord came unto Jonah the son of Amittai, saying,
2Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and cry against it; for their wickedness is come up before me.
3But Jonah rose up to flee unto Tarshish from the presence of the Lord, and went down to Joppa; and he found a ship going to Tarshish: so he paid the fare thereof, and went down into it, to go with them unto Tarshish from the presence of the Lord.
4But the Lord sent out a great wind into the sea, and there was a mighty tempest in the sea, so that the ship was like to be broken.
5Then the mariners were afraid, and cried every man unto his god, and cast forth the wares that were in the ship into the sea, to lighten it of them. But Jonah was gone down into the sides of the ship; and he lay, and was fast asleep.
6So the shipmaster came to him, and said unto him, What meanest thou, O sleeper? arise, call upon thy God, if so be that God will think upon us, that we perish not.
7And they said every one to his fellow, Come, and let us cast lots, that we may know for whose cause this evil is upon us. So they cast lots, and the lot fell upon Jonah.
8Then said they unto him, Tell us, we pray thee, for whose cause this evil is upon us; What is thine occupation? and whence comest thou? what is thy country? and of what people art thou?
9And he said unto them, I am an Hebrew; and I fear the Lord, the God of heaven, which hath made the sea and the dry land.
10Then were the men exceedingly afraid, and said unto him, Why hast thou done this? For the men knew that he fled from the presence of the Lord, because he had told them.
11Then said they unto him, What shall we do unto thee, that the sea may be calm unto us? for the sea wrought, and was tempestuous.
12And he said unto them, Take me up, and cast me forth into the sea; so shall the sea be calm unto you: for I know that for my sake this great tempest is upon you.
13Nevertheless the men rowed hard to bring it to the land; but they could not: for the sea wrought, and was tempestuous against them.
14Wherefore they cried unto the Lord, and said, We beseech thee, O Lord, we beseech thee, let us not perish for this man's life, and lay not upon us innocent blood: for thou, O Lord, hast done as it pleased thee.
15So they took up Jonah, and cast him forth into the sea: and the sea ceased from her raging.
16Then the men feared the Lord exceedingly, and offered a sacrifice unto the Lord, and made vows.
17Now the Lord had prepared a great fish to swallow up Jonah. And Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights.



Jonah 2

1Then Jonah prayed unto the Lord his God out of the fish's belly,
2And said, I cried by reason of mine affliction unto the Lord, and he heard me; out of the belly of hell cried I, and thou heardest my voice.
3For thou hadst cast me into the deep, in the midst of the seas; and the floods compassed me about: all thy billows and thy waves passed over me.
4Then I said, I am cast out of thy sight; yet I will look again toward thy holy temple.
5The waters compassed me about, even to the soul: the depth closed me round about, the weeds were wrapped about my head.
6I went down to the bottoms of the mountains; the earth with her bars was about me for ever: yet hast thou brought up my life from corruption, O Lord my God.
7When my soul fainted within me I remembered the Lord: and my prayer came in unto thee, into thine holy temple.
8They that observe lying vanities forsake their own mercy.
9But I will sacrifice unto thee with the voice of thanksgiving; I will pay that that I have vowed. Salvation is of the Lord.
10And the Lord spake unto the fish, and it vomited out Jonah upon the dry land.


13 December 2019

Today's Readings and Stuff -- Friday, 13 December 2019

Friday the 13th has been visiting today.  Our black cat seems to be invigorated by that, somehow. 



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

Today, the 1-chapter book of Obadiah.

1The vision of Obadiah. Thus saith the Lord God concerning Edom; We have heard a rumour from the Lord, and an ambassador is sent among the heathen, Arise ye, and let us rise up against her in battle.
2Behold, I have made thee small among the heathen: thou art greatly despised.
3The pride of thine heart hath deceived thee, thou that dwellest in the clefts of the rock, whose habitation is high; that saith in his heart, Who shall bring me down to the ground?
4Though thou exalt thyself as the eagle, and though thou set thy nest among the stars, thence will I bring thee down, saith the Lord.
5If thieves came to thee, if robbers by night, (how art thou cut off!) would they not have stolen till they had enough? if the grapegatherers came to thee, would they not leave some grapes?
6How are the things of Esau searched out! how are his hidden things sought up!
7All the men of thy confederacy have brought thee even to the border: the men that were at peace with thee have deceived thee, and prevailed against thee; they that eat thy bread have laid a wound under thee: there is none understanding in him.
8Shall I not in that day, saith the Lord, even destroy the wise men out of Edom, and understanding out of the mount of Esau?
9And thy mighty men, O Teman, shall be dismayed, to the end that every one of the mount of Esau may be cut off by slaughter.
10For thy violence against thy brother Jacob shame shall cover thee, and thou shalt be cut off for ever.
11In the day that thou stoodest on the other side, in the day that the strangers carried away captive his forces, and foreigners entered into his gates, and cast lots upon Jerusalem, even thou wast as one of them.
12But thou shouldest not have looked on the day of thy brother in the day that he became a stranger; neither shouldest thou have rejoiced over the children of Judah in the day of their destruction; neither shouldest thou have spoken proudly in the day of distress.
13Thou shouldest not have entered into the gate of my people in the day of their calamity; yea, thou shouldest not have looked on their affliction in the day of their calamity, nor have laid hands on their substance in the day of their calamity;
14Neither shouldest thou have stood in the crossway, to cut off those of his that did escape; neither shouldest thou have delivered up those of his that did remain in the day of distress.
15For the day of the Lord is near upon all the heathen: as thou hast done, it shall be done unto thee: thy reward shall return upon thine own head.
16For as ye have drunk upon my holy mountain, so shall all the heathen drink continually, yea, they shall drink, and they shall swallow down, and they shall be as though they had not been.
17But upon mount Zion shall be deliverance, and there shall be holiness; and the house of Jacob shall possess their possessions.
18And the house of Jacob shall be a fire, and the house of Joseph a flame, and the house of Esau for stubble, and they shall kindle in them, and devour them; and there shall not be any remaining of the house of Esau; for the Lord hath spoken it.
19And they of the south shall possess the mount of Esau; and they of the plain the Philistines: and they shall possess the fields of Ephraim, and the fields of Samaria: and Benjamin shall possess Gilead.
20And the captivity of this host of the children of Israel shall possess that of the Canaanites, even unto Zarephath; and the captivity of Jerusalem, which is in Sepharad, shall possess the cities of the south.
21And saviours shall come up on mount Zion to judge the mount of Esau; and the kingdom shall be the Lord's.





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

Today, chapter 11 of the Revelation


Revelations 11

1And there was given me a reed like unto a rod: and the angel stood, saying, Rise, and measure the temple of God, and the altar, and them that worship therein.
2But the court which is without the temple leave out, and measure it not; for it is given unto the Gentiles: and the holy city shall they tread under foot forty and two months.
3And I will give power unto my two witnesses, and they shall prophesy a thousand two hundred and threescore days, clothed in sackcloth.
4These are the two olive trees, and the two candlesticks standing before the God of the earth.
5And if any man will hurt them, fire proceedeth out of their mouth, and devoureth their enemies: and if any man will hurt them, he must in this manner be killed.
6These have power to shut heaven, that it rain not in the days of their prophecy: and have power over waters to turn them to blood, and to smite the earth with all plagues, as often as they will.
7And when they shall have finished their testimony, the beast that ascendeth out of the bottomless pit shall make war against them, and shall overcome them, and kill them.
8And their dead bodies shall lie in the street of the great city, which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt, where also our Lord was crucified.
9And they of the people and kindreds and tongues and nations shall see their dead bodies three days and an half, and shall not suffer their dead bodies to be put in graves.
10And they that dwell upon the earth shall rejoice over them, and make merry, and shall send gifts one to another; because these two prophets tormented them that dwelt on the earth.
11And after three days and an half the Spirit of life from God entered into them, and they stood upon their feet; and great fear fell upon them which saw them.
12And they heard a great voice from heaven saying unto them, Come up hither. And they ascended up to heaven in a cloud; and their enemies beheld them.
13And the same hour was there a great earthquake, and the tenth part of the city fell, and in the earthquake were slain of men seven thousand: and the remnant were affrighted, and gave glory to the God of heaven.
14The second woe is past; and, behold, the third woe cometh quickly.
15And the seventh angel sounded; and there were great voices in heaven, saying, The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ; and he shall reign for ever and ever.
16And the four and twenty elders, which sat before God on their seats, fell upon their faces, and worshipped God,
17Saying, We give thee thanks, O Lord God Almighty, which art, and wast, and art to come; because thou hast taken to thee thy great power, and hast reigned.
18And the nations were angry, and thy wrath is come, and the time of the dead, that they should be judged, and that thou shouldest give reward unto thy servants the prophets, and to the saints, and them that fear thy name, small and great; and shouldest destroy them which destroy the earth.
19And the temple of God was opened in heaven, and there was seen in his temple the ark of his testament: and there were lightnings, and voices, and thunderings, and an earthquake, and great hail.


12 December 2019

Today's Readings and Stuff -- Thursday, 12 December 2019

Loong day.  Over at the next-door-niece's around sunrise or so.  "Watching" the Great-Nephew while dad sleeps, mom runs over to the school to do the "involved mother of a student" thing and then do the "working from a home office" thing. Got home an hour before sunset, had a real late lunch.  Sounds uninspiring and unimportant, and perhaps it is.  But it gives us contact with the kids and the family, and that in itself is worth a great deal,  Perhaps we're making a difference of some sort.
We're clear of "watching" duty tomorrow, so -- Lord willing --  I will be borrowing their ladder and clambering up to put some silicone type stuff into a leak spot in the roof corner where we have some water getting into that bathroom we've been working on.  Now if we can only get the rest of that complete:  brother-in-law took the drain elbow with him to arrange an adatper-extension for the one leg of it.  Last week.    Hoping he makes it back and we can get this done.
And we were reminded that we have a Commanded Attendance on Saturday evening for the 7th birthday party of next-door great- niece, the one named after Wife.  Fortunately, Wife had found a good deal on something to use as a gift some months ago, so we have something to take.




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

Amos 7

1Thus hath the Lord God shewed unto me; and, behold, he formed grasshoppers in the beginning of the shooting up of the latter growth; and, lo, it was the latter growth after the king's mowings.
2And it came to pass, that when they had made an end of eating the grass of the land, then I said, O Lord God, forgive, I beseech thee: by whom shall Jacob arise? for he is small.
3The Lord repented for this: It shall not be, saith the Lord.
4Thus hath the Lord God shewed unto me: and, behold, the Lord God called to contend by fire, and it devoured the great deep, and did eat up a part.
5Then said I, O Lord God, cease, I beseech thee: by whom shall Jacob arise? for he is small.
6The Lord repented for this: This also shall not be, saith the Lord God.
7Thus he shewed me: and, behold, the Lord stood upon a wall made by a plumbline, with a plumbline in his hand.
8And the Lord said unto me, Amos, what seest thou? And I said, A plumbline. Then said the Lord, Behold, I will set a plumbline in the midst of my people Israel: I will not again pass by them any more:
9And the high places of Isaac shall be desolate, and the sanctuaries of Israel shall be laid waste; and I will rise against the house of Jeroboam with the sword.
10Then Amaziah the priest of Beth–el sent to Jeroboam king of Israel, saying, Amos hath conspired against thee in the midst of the house of Israel: the land is not able to bear all his words.
11For thus Amos saith, Jeroboam shall die by the sword, and Israel shall surely be led away captive out of their own land.
12Also Amaziah said unto Amos, O thou seer, go, flee thee away into the land of Judah, and there eat bread, and prophesy there:
13But prophesy not again any more at Beth–el: for it is the king's chapel, and it is the king's court.
14Then answered Amos, and said to Amaziah, I was no prophet, neither was I a prophet's son; but I was an herdman, and a gatherer of sycomore fruit:
15And the Lord took me as I followed the flock, and the Lord said unto me, Go, prophesy unto my people Israel.
16Now therefore hear thou the word of the Lord: Thou sayest, Prophesy not against Israel, and drop not thy word against the house of Isaac.
17Therefore thus saith the Lord; Thy wife shall be an harlot in the city, and thy sons and thy daughters shall fall by the sword, and thy land shall be divided by line; and thou shalt die in a polluted land: and Israel shall surely go into captivity forth of his land.




Amos 8

1Thus hath the Lord God shewed unto me: and behold a basket of summer fruit.
2And he said, Amos, what seest thou? And I said, A basket of summer fruit. Then said the Lord unto me, The end is come upon my people of Israel; I will not again pass by them any more.
3And the songs of the temple shall be howlings in that day, saith the Lord God: there shall be many dead bodies in every place; they shall cast them forth with silence.
4Hear this, O ye that swallow up the needy, even to make the poor of the land to fail,
5Saying, When will the new moon be gone, that we may sell corn? and the sabbath, that we may set forth wheat, making the ephah small, and the shekel great, and falsifying the balances by deceit?
6That we may buy the poor for silver, and the needy for a pair of shoes; yea, and sell the refuse of the wheat?
7The Lord hath sworn by the excellency of Jacob, Surely I will never forget any of their works.
8Shall not the land tremble for this, and every one mourn that dwelleth therein? and it shall rise up wholly as a flood; and it shall be cast out and drowned, as by the flood of Egypt.
9And it shall come to pass in that day, saith the Lord God, that I will cause the sun to go down at noon, and I will darken the earth in the clear day:
10And I will turn your feasts into mourning, and all your songs into lamentation; and I will bring up sackcloth upon all loins, and baldness upon every head; and I will make it as the mourning of an only son, and the end thereof as a bitter day.
11Behold, the days come, saith the Lord God, that I will send a famine in the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the Lord:
12And they shall wander from sea to sea, and from the north even to the east, they shall run to and fro to seek the word of the Lord, and shall not find it.
13In that day shall the fair virgins and young men faint for thirst.
14They that swear by the sin of Samaria, and say, Thy god, O Dan, liveth; and, The manner of Beer–sheba liveth; even they shall fall, and never rise up again.




Amos 9

1I saw the Lord standing upon the altar: and he said, Smite the lintel of the door, that the posts may shake: and cut them in the head, all of them; and I will slay the last of them with the sword: he that fleeth of them shall not flee away, and he that escapeth of them shall not be delivered.
2Though they dig into hell, thence shall mine hand take them; though they climb up to heaven, thence will I bring them down:
3And though they hide themselves in the top of Carmel, I will search and take them out thence; and though they be hid from my sight in the bottom of the sea, thence will I command the serpent, and he shall bite them:
4And though they go into captivity before their enemies, thence will I command the sword, and it shall slay them: and I will set mine eyes upon them for evil, and not for good.
5And the Lord God of hosts is he that toucheth the land, and it shall melt, and all that dwell therein shall mourn: and it shall rise up wholly like a flood; and shall be drowned, as by the flood of Egypt.
6It is he that buildeth his stories in the heaven, and hath founded his troop in the earth; he that calleth for the waters of the sea, and poureth them out upon the face of the earth: The Lord is his name.
7Are ye not as children of the Ethiopians unto me, O children of Israel? saith the Lord. Have not I brought up Israel out of the land of Egypt? and the Philistines from Caphtor, and the Syrians from Kir?
8Behold, the eyes of the Lord God are upon the sinful kingdom, and I will destroy it from off the face of the earth; saving that I will not utterly destroy the house of Jacob, saith the Lord.
9For, lo, I will command, and I will sift the house of Israel among all nations, like as corn is sifted in a sieve, yet shall not the least grain fall upon the earth.
10All the sinners of my people shall die by the sword, which say, The evil shall not overtake nor prevent us.
11In that day will I raise up the tabernacle of David that is fallen, and close up the breaches thereof; and I will raise up his ruins, and I will build it as in the days of old:
12That they may possess the remnant of Edom, and of all the heathen, which are called by my name, saith the Lord that doeth this.
13Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that the plowman shall overtake the reaper, and the treader of grapes him that soweth seed; and the mountains shall drop sweet wine, and all the hills shall melt.
14And I will bring again the captivity of my people of Israel, and they shall build the waste cities, and inhabit them; and they shall plant vineyards, and drink the wine thereof; they shall also make gardens, and eat the fruit of them.
15And I will plant them upon their land, and they shall no more be pulled up out of their land which I have given them, saith the Lord thy God.






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


Revelations 10

1And I saw another mighty angel come down from heaven, clothed with a cloud: and a rainbow was upon his head, and his face was as it were the sun, and his feet as pillars of fire:
2And he had in his hand a little book open: and he set his right foot upon the sea, and his left foot on the earth,
3And cried with a loud voice, as when a lion roareth: and when he had cried, seven thunders uttered their voices.
4And when the seven thunders had uttered their voices, I was about to write: and I heard a voice from heaven saying unto me, Seal up those things which the seven thunders uttered, and write them not.
5And the angel which I saw stand upon the sea and upon the earth lifted up his hand to heaven,
6And sware by him that liveth for ever and ever, who created heaven, and the things that therein are, and the earth, and the things that therein are, and the sea, and the things which are therein, that there should be time no longer:
7But in the days of the voice of the seventh angel, when he shall begin to sound, the mystery of God should be finished, as he hath declared to his servants the prophets.
8And the voice which I heard from heaven spake unto me again, and said, Go and take the little book which is open in the hand of the angel which standeth upon the sea and upon the earth.
9And I went unto the angel, and said unto him, Give me the little book. And he said unto me, Take it, and eat it up; and it shall make thy belly bitter, but it shall be in thy mouth sweet as honey.
10And I took the little book out of the angel's hand, and ate it up; and it was in my mouth sweet as honey: and as soon as I had eaten it, my belly was bitter.
11And he said unto me, Thou must prophesy again before many peoples, and nations, and tongues, and kings.