Today's Readings and Stuff-- Monday, 24 August 2020

.Happy Monday to all and sundry.  Trying, really I am, to get things set in order and organized and all of that.  Trying.  Success seems to be elusive, but we shall put forth more effort.

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Job 29

1Moreover Job continued his parable, and said,

2Oh that I were as in months past, as in the days when God preserved me;

3When his candle shined upon my head, and when by his light I walked through darkness;

4As I was in the days of my youth, when the secret of God was upon my tabernacle;

5When the Almighty was yet with me, when my children were about me;

6When I washed my steps with butter, and the rock poured me out rivers of oil;

7When I went out to the gate through the city, when I prepared my seat in the street!

8The young men saw me, and hid themselves: and the aged arose, and stood up.

9The princes refrained talking, and laid their hand on their mouth.

10The nobles held their peace, and their tongue cleaved to the roof of their mouth.

11When the ear heard me, then it blessed me; and when the eye saw me, it gave witness to me:

12Because I delivered the poor that cried, and the fatherless, and him that had none to help him.

13The blessing of him that was ready to perish came upon me: and I caused the widow's heart to sing for joy.

14I put on righteousness, and it clothed me: my judgment was as a robe and a diadem.

15I was eyes to the blind, and feet was I to the lame.

16I was a father to the poor: and the cause which I knew not I searched out.

17And I brake the jaws of the wicked, and plucked the spoil out of his teeth.

18Then I said, I shall die in my nest, and I shall multiply my days as the sand.

19My root was spread out by the waters, and the dew lay all night upon my branch.

20My glory was fresh in me, and my bow was renewed in my hand.

21Unto me men gave ear, and waited, and kept silence at my counsel.

22After my words they spake not again; and my speech dropped upon them.

23And they waited for me as for the rain; and they opened their mouth wide as for the latter rain.

24If I laughed on them, they believed it not; and the light of my countenance they cast not down.

25I chose out their way, and sat chief, and dwelt as a king in the army, as one that comforteth the mourners.

Job 30

1But now they that are younger than I have me in derision, whose fathers I would have disdained to have set with the dogs of my flock.

2Yea, whereto might the strength of their hands profit me, in whom old age was perished?

3For want and famine they were solitary; fleeing into the wilderness in former time desolate and waste.

4Who cut up mallows by the bushes, and juniper roots for their meat.

5They were driven forth from among men, (they cried after them as after a thief;)

6To dwell in the cliffs of the valleys, in caves of the earth, and in the rocks.

7Among the bushes they brayed; under the nettles they were gathered together.

8They were children of fools, yea, children of base men: they were viler than the earth.

9And now am I their song, yea, I am their byword.

10They abhor me, they flee far from me, and spare not to spit in my face.

11Because he hath loosed my cord, and afflicted me, they have also let loose the bridle before me.

12Upon my right hand rise the youth; they push away my feet, and they raise up against me the ways of their destruction.

13They mar my path, they set forward my calamity, they have no helper.

14They came upon me as a wide breaking in of waters: in the desolation they rolled themselves upon me.

15Terrors are turned upon me: they pursue my soul as the wind: and my welfare passeth away as a cloud.

16And now my soul is poured out upon me; the days of affliction have taken hold upon me.

17My bones are pierced in me in the night season: and my sinews take no rest.

18By the great force of my disease is my garment changed: it bindeth me about as the collar of my coat.

19He hath cast me into the mire, and I am become like dust and ashes.

20I cry unto thee, and thou dost not hear me: I stand up, and thou regardest me not.

21Thou art become cruel to me: with thy strong hand thou opposest thyself against me.

22Thou liftest me up to the wind; thou causest me to ride upon it, and dissolvest my substance.

23For I know that thou wilt bring me to death, and to the house appointed for all living.

24Howbeit he will not stretch out his hand to the grave, though they cry in his destruction.

25Did not I weep for him that was in trouble? was not my soul grieved for the poor?

26When I looked for good, then evil came unto me: and when I waited for light, there came darkness.

27My bowels boiled, and rested not: the days of affliction prevented me.

28I went mourning without the sun: I stood up, and I cried in the congregation.

29I am a brother to dragons, and a companion to owls.

30My skin is black upon me, and my bones are burned with heat.

31My harp also is turned to mourning, and my organ into the voice of them that weep.

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I beg of you, read this one out loud.  Preferably outside, and let your voice be strong and your focus upon the Lord.  Please.

 Psalm 148

1Praise ye the Lord. Praise ye the Lord from the heavens: praise him in the heights.

2Praise ye him, all his angels: praise ye him, all his hosts.

3Praise ye him, sun and moon: praise him, all ye stars of light.

4Praise him, ye heavens of heavens, and ye waters that be above the heavens.

5Let them praise the name of the Lord: for he commanded, and they were created.

6He hath also stablished them for ever and ever: he hath made a decree which shall not pass.

7Praise the Lord from the earth, ye dragons, and all deeps:

8Fire, and hail; snow, and vapour; stormy wind fulfilling his word:

9Mountains, and all hills; fruitful trees, and all cedars:

10Beasts, and all cattle; creeping things, and flying fowl:

11Kings of the earth, and all people; princes, and all judges of the earth:

12Both young men, and maidens; old men, and children:

13Let them praise the name of the Lord: for his name alone is excellent; his glory is above the earth and heaven.

14He also exalteth the horn of his people, the praise of all his saints; even of the children of Israel, a people near unto him. Praise ye the Lord.

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Ephesians 1

EPHESIANS 1

1Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, to the saints which are at Ephesus, and to the faithful in Christ Jesus:

2Grace be to you, and peace, from God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ.

3Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ:

4According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love:

5Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will,

6To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved.

7In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace;

8Wherein he hath abounded toward us in all wisdom and prudence;

9Having made known unto us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure which he hath purposed in himself:

10That in the dispensation of the fulness of times he might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth; even in him:

11In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will:

12That we should be to the praise of his glory, who first trusted in Christ.

13In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise,

14Which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory.

15Wherefore I also, after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus, and love unto all the saints,

16Cease not to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers;

17That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him:

18The eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints,

19And what is the exceeding greatness of his power to us-ward who believe, according to the working of his mighty power,

20Which he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead, and set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places,

21Far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come:

22And hath put all things under his feet, and gave him to be the head over all things to the church,

23Which is his body, the fulness of him that filleth all in all.