Today's Readings and Stuff -- Thursday, 05 November 2020

As I look around our world, our country, today, it reminds me all too well of the nation to which the prophets, like Isaiah and Jeremiah, were sent.  I know how that turned out.  It can happen again: the history of humankind is filled with great nations and cultures that rose and fell into the dust.  As ours seems to be determined to do.  

I missed the appropriate Song Of The Day yesterday, appropriate for James 4.  "He Giveth More Grace", which is one of my hundred or so favorites.  Sing along, for it is true.

He giveth more grace when the burdens grow greater,

He sendeth more strength when the labors increase;

To added afflictions He addeth His mercy,

To multiplied trials, His multiplied peace.

When we have exhausted our store of endurance,

When our strength has failed ere the day is half done,

When we reach the end of our hoarded resources

Our Father’s full giving is only begun.

Fear not that thy need shall exceed His provision,

Our God ever yearns His resources to share;

Lean hard on the arm everlasting, availing;

The Father both thee and thy load will upbear.

(refrain)

His love has no limits, His grace has no measure,

His power no boundary known unto men;

For out of His infinite riches in Jesus

He giveth, and giveth, and giveth again.

But also, for today, "I See The Lord".  Ezekiel would understand.   (can skip ad in 5 seconds)

And also, "Before The Throne Of God Above".  

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EZEKIEL 9

The Wicked Are Slain

1Then He called out in my hearing with a loud voice, saying, “Let those who have charge over the city draw near, each with a deadly weapon in his hand.” 2And suddenly six men came from the direction of the upper gate, which faces north, each with his battle-ax in his hand. One man among them was clothed with linen and had a writer’s inkhorn at his side. They went in and stood beside the bronze altar.

3Now the glory of the God of Israel had gone up from the cherub, where it had been, to the threshold of the temple. And He called to the man clothed with linen, who had the writer’s inkhorn at his side; 4and the Lord said to him, “Go through the midst of the city, through the midst of Jerusalem, and put a mark on the foreheads of the men who sigh and cry over all the abominations that are done within it.”

5To the others He said in my hearing, “Go after him through the city and kill; do not let your eye spare, nor have any pity. 6Utterly slay old and young men, maidens and little children and women; but do not come near anyone on whom is the mark; and begin at My sanctuary.” So they began with the elders who were before the temple. 7Then He said to them, “Defile the temple, and fill the courts with the slain. Go out!” And they went out and killed in the city.

8So it was, that while they were killing them, I was left alone; and I fell on my face and cried out, and said, “Ah, Lord God! Will You destroy all the remnant of Israel in pouring out Your fury on Jerusalem?”

9Then He said to me, “The iniquity of the house of Israel and Judah is exceedingly great, and the land is full of bloodshed, and the city full of perversity; for they say, ‘The Lord has forsaken the land, and the Lord does not see!’ 10And as for Me also, My eye will neither spare, nor will I have pity, but I will recompense their deeds on their own head.”

11Just then, the man clothed with linen, who had the inkhorn at his side, reported back and said, “I have done as You commanded me.”

EZEKIEL 10

The Glory Departs from the Temple

1And I looked, and there in the firmament that was above the head of the cherubim, there appeared something like a sapphire stone, having the appearance of the likeness of a throne. 2Then He spoke to the man clothed with linen, and said, “Go in among the wheels, under the cherub, fill your hands with coals of fire from among the cherubim, and scatter them over the city.” And he went in as I watched.

3Now the cherubim were standing on the south side of the temple when the man went in, and the cloud filled the inner court. 4Then the glory of the Lord went up from the cherub, and paused over the threshold of the temple; and the house was filled with the cloud, and the court was full of the brightness of the Lord’s glory. 5And the sound of the wings of the cherubim was heard even in the outer court, like the voice of Almighty God when He speaks.

6Then it happened, when He commanded the man clothed in linen, saying, “Take fire from among the wheels, from among the cherubim,” that he went in and stood beside the wheels. 7And the cherub stretched out his hand from among the cherubim to the fire that was among the cherubim, and took some of it and put it into the hands of the man clothed with linen, who took it and went out. 8The cherubim appeared to have the form of a man’s hand under their wings.

9And when I looked, there were four wheels by the cherubim, one wheel by one cherub and another wheel by each other cherub; the wheels appeared to have the color of a beryl stone. 10As for their appearance, all four looked alike—as it were, a wheel in the middle of a wheel. 11When they went, they went toward any of their four directions; they did not turn aside when they went, but followed in the direction the head was facing. They did not turn aside when they went. 12And their whole body, with their back, their hands, their wings, and the wheels that the four had, were full of eyes all around. 13As for the wheels, they were called in my hearing, “Wheel.”

14Each one had four faces: the first face was the face of a cherub, the second face the face of a man, the third the face of a lion, and the fourth the face of an eagle. 15And the cherubim were lifted up. This was the living creature I saw by the River Chebar. 16When the cherubim went, the wheels went beside them; and when the cherubim lifted their wings to mount up from the earth, the same wheels also did not turn from beside them. 17When the cherubim stood still, the wheels stood still, and when one was lifted up, the other lifted itself up, for the spirit of the living creature was in them.

18Then the glory of the Lord departed from the threshold of the temple and stood over the cherubim. 19And the cherubim lifted their wings and mounted up from the earth in my sight. When they went out, the wheels were beside them; and they stood at the door of the east gate of the Lord’s house, and the glory of the God of Israel was above them.

20This is the living creature I saw under the God of Israel by the River Chebar, and I knew they were cherubim. 21Each one had four faces and each one four wings, and the likeness of the hands of a man was under their wings. 22And the likeness of their faces was the same as the faces which I had seen by the River Chebar, their appearance and their persons. They each went straight forward.

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SONG OF SOLOMON 8

1Oh, that you were like my brother,

Who nursed at my mother’s breasts!

If I should find you outside,

I would kiss you;

I would not be despised.

2I would lead you and bring you

Into the house of my mother,

She who used to instruct me.

I would cause you to drink of spiced wine,

Of the juice of my pomegranate.

(To the Daughters of Jerusalem)

3His left hand is under my head,

And his right hand embraces me.

4I charge you, O daughters of Jerusalem,

Do not stir up nor awaken love

Until it pleases.

Love Renewed in Lebanon

A Relative

5Who is this coming up from the wilderness,

Leaning upon her beloved?

I awakened you under the apple tree.

There your mother brought you forth;

There she who bore you brought you forth.

The Shulamite to Her Beloved

6Set me as a seal upon your heart,

As a seal upon your arm;

For love is as strong as death,

Jealousy as cruel as the grave;

Its flames are flames of fire,

A most vehement flame.

7Many waters cannot quench love,

Nor can the floods drown it.

If a man would give for love

All the wealth of his house,

It would be utterly despised.

The Shulamite’s Brothers

8We have a little sister,

And she has no breasts.

What shall we do for our sister

In the day when she is spoken for?

9If she is a wall,

We will build upon her

A battlement of silver;

And if she is a door,

We will enclose her

With boards of cedar.

The Shulamite

10I am a wall,

And my breasts like towers;

Then I became in his eyes

As one who found peace.

11Solomon had a vineyard at Baal Hamon;

He leased the vineyard to keepers;

Everyone was to bring for its fruit

A thousand silver coins.

(To Solomon)

12My own vineyard is before me.

You, O Solomon, may have a thousand,

And those who tend its fruit two hundred.

The Beloved

13You who dwell in the gardens,

The companions listen for your voice—

Let me hear it!

The Shulamite

14Make haste, my beloved,

And be like a gazelle

Or a young stag

On the mountains of spices.

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JAMES 5

Rich Oppressors Will Be Judged

1Come now, you rich, weep and howl for your miseries that are coming upon you! 2Your riches are corrupted, and your garments are moth-eaten. 3Your gold and silver are corroded, and their corrosion will be a witness against you and will eat your flesh like fire. You have heaped up treasure in the last days. 4Indeed the wages of the laborers who mowed your fields, which you kept back by fraud, cry out; and the cries of the reapers have reached the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth. 5You have lived on the earth in pleasure and luxury; you have fattened your hearts as in a day of slaughter. 6You have condemned, you have murdered the just; he does not resist you.

Be Patient and Persevering

7Therefore be patient, brethren, until the coming of the Lord. See how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, waiting patiently for it until it receives the early and latter rain. 8You also be patient. Establish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is at hand.

9Do not grumble against one another, brethren, lest you be condemned. Behold, the Judge is standing at the door! 10My brethren, take the prophets, who spoke in the name of the Lord, as an example of suffering and patience. 11Indeed we count them blessed who endure. You have heard of the perseverance of Job and seen the end intended by the Lord—that the Lord is very compassionate and merciful.

12But above all, my brethren, do not swear, either by heaven or by earth or with any other oath. But let your “Yes” be “Yes,” and your “No,” “No,” lest you fall into judgment.

Meeting Specific Needs

13Is anyone among you suffering? Let him pray. Is anyone cheerful? Let him sing psalms. 14Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. 15And the prayer of faith will save the sick, and the Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven. 16Confess your trespasses to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much. 17Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed earnestly that it would not rain; and it did not rain on the land for three years and six months. 18And he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth produced its fruit.

Bring Back the Erring One

19Brethren, if anyone among you wanders from the truth, and someone turns him back, 20let him know that he who turns a sinner from the error of his way will save a soul from death and cover a multitude of sins.