Today's Readings and Stuff -- Wednesday, 13 January 2021

Late and brief, looking around at a world in chaos and upheaval.  And worse to come, I fear.

So, a song came to mind, one I truly love and recommend to all.  Only Trust Him.  This is in many hymnals, but not all.  It puts our focus where it needs to be.

Come, every soul by sin oppressed;

There's mercy with the Lord,

By trusting in His Word.

And He will surely give you rest

He will save you, He will save you,

Only trust Him, only trust Him, Only trust Him now;

Rich blessings to bestow;

He will save you now. For Jesus shed His precious blood

Only trust Him, only trust Him,

Plunge now into the crimson flood That washes white as snow. Only trust Him now;

Yes, Jesus is the truth, the way,

He will save you, He will save you, He will save you now. That leads you into rest; Believe in Him without delay

He will save you now.

And you are fully blessed. Only trust Him, only trust Him, Only trust Him now; He will save you, He will save you,

He will save you now.

Only trust Him, only trust Him, Only trust Him now;

He will save you, He will save you,

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GENESIS 31

Jacob Separates from Laban

1Now Jacob heard what Laban’s sons were saying: “Jacob has taken all that was our father’s and has built this wealth from what belonged to our father.” 2And Jacob saw from Laban’s face that his attitude toward him was not the same.

3Then the Lord said to him, “Go back to the land of your fathers and to your family, and I will be with you.” 

4Jacob had Rachel and Leah called to the field where his flocks were. 5He said to them, “I can see from your father’s face that his attitude toward me is not the same, but the God of my father has been with me. 6You know that I’ve worked hard  for your father  7and that he has cheated me and changed my wages 10 times. But God has not let him harm me. 8If he said, ‘The spotted sheep will be your wages,’ then all the sheep were born spotted. If he said, ‘The streaked sheep will be your wages,’ then all the sheep were born streaked.  9God has taken away your father’s herds and given them to me.

10“When the flocks were breeding, I saw in a dream that the streaked, spotted, and speckled males were mating with the females. 11In that dream the Angel of God said to me, ‘Jacob! ’ and I said, ‘Here I am.’ 12And He said, ‘Look up and see: all the males that are mating with the flocks are streaked, spotted, and speckled, for I have seen all that Laban has been doing to you.  13I am the God of Bethel, where you poured oil on the stone marker and made a solemn vow to Me.  Get up, leave this land, and return to your native land.’ ”

14Then Rachel and Leah answered him, “Do we have any portion or inheritance in our father’s household? 15Are we not regarded by him as outsiders? For he has sold us  and has certainly spent our money. 16In fact, all the wealth that God has taken away from our father belongs to us and to our children. So do whatever God has said to you.”

17Then Jacob got up and put his children and wives on the camels. 18He took all the livestock and possessions he had acquired in Paddan-aram, and he drove his herds to go to the land of his father Isaac in Canaan. 19When Laban had gone to shear his sheep, Rachel stole her father’s household idols.  20And Jacob deceived  Laban the Aramean, not telling him that he was fleeing. 21He fled with all his possessions, crossed the Euphrates, and headed for  the hill country of Gilead.

Laban Overtakes Jacob

22On the third day Laban was told that Jacob had fled. 23So he took his relatives with him, pursued Jacob for seven days, and overtook him at Mount Gilead. 24But God came to Laban the Aramean in a dream at night. “Watch yourself! ” God warned him. “Don’t say anything to Jacob, either good or bad.” 

25When Laban overtook Jacob, Jacob had pitched his tent in the hill country, and Laban and his brothers also pitched their tents in the hill country of Gilead. 26Then Laban said to Jacob, “What have you done? You have deceived me and taken my daughters away like prisoners of war! 27Why did you secretly flee from me, deceive me, and not tell me? I would have sent you away with joy and singing, with tambourines and lyres, 28but you didn’t even let me kiss my grandchildren and my daughters. You have acted foolishly. 29I could do you great harm, but last night the God of your father said to me: ‘Watch yourself. Don’t say anything to Jacob, either good or bad.’ 30Now you have gone off because you long for your father — but why have you stolen my gods? ” 

31Jacob answered, “I was afraid, for I thought you would take your daughters from me by force. 32If you find your gods with anyone here, he will not live!  Before our relatives, point out anything that is yours and take it.” Jacob did not know that Rachel had stolen the idols.

33So Laban went into Jacob’s tent, then Leah’s tent, and then the tents of the two female slaves, but he found nothing. Then he left Leah’s tent and entered Rachel’s. 34Now Rachel had taken Laban’s household idols, put them in the saddlebag of the camel, and sat on them. Laban searched the whole tent but found nothing.

35She said to her father, “Sir, don’t be angry that I cannot stand up in your presence;  I am having my period.” So Laban searched, but could not find the household idols.

Jacob’s Covenant with Laban

36Then Jacob became incensed and brought charges against Laban. “What is my crime? ” he said to Laban. “What is my sin, that you have pursued me? 37You’ve searched all my possessions! Have you found anything of yours? Put it here before my relatives and yours, and let them decide between the two of us. 38I’ve been with you these 20 years. Your ewes and female goats have not miscarried, and I have not eaten the rams from your flock. 39I did not bring you any of the flock torn by wild beasts; I myself bore the loss. You demanded payment from me for what was stolen by day or by night. 40There I was — the heat consumed me by day and the frost by night, and sleep fled from my eyes. 41For 20 years I have worked in your household — 14 years for your two daughters and six years for your flocks  — and you have changed my wages 10 times! 42If the God of my father, the God of Abraham, the Fear of Isaac, had not been with me, certainly now you would have sent me off empty-handed. But God has seen my affliction and my hard work,  and He issued His verdict last night.”

43Then Laban answered Jacob, “The daughters are my daughters; the sons, my sons; and the flocks, my flocks! Everything you see is mine! But what can I do today for these daughters of mine or for the children they have borne? 44Come now, let’s make a covenant, you and I.  Let it be a witness between the two of us.”

45So Jacob picked out a stone and set it up as a marker.  46Then Jacob said to his relatives, “Gather stones.” And they took stones and made a mound, then ate there by the mound. 47Laban named the mound Jegar-sahadutha, but Jacob named it Galeed. 

48Then Laban said, “This mound is a witness between you and me today.” Therefore the place was called Galeed 49and also Mizpah,   for he said, “May the Lord watch between you and me when we are out of each other’s sight. 50If you mistreat my daughters or take other wives, though no one is with us, understand that God will be a witness between you and me.”  51Laban also said to Jacob, “Look at this mound and the marker I have set up between you and me. 52This mound is a witness and the marker is a witness that I will not pass beyond this mound to you, and you will not pass beyond this mound and this marker to do me harm. 53The God of Abraham, and the gods  of Nahor — the gods of their father  — will judge between us.” And Jacob swore by the Fear of his father Isaac. 54Then Jacob offered a sacrifice on the mountain and invited his relatives to eat a meal. So they ate a meal and spent the night on the mountain. 55 Laban got up early in the morning, kissed his grandchildren and daughters, and blessed them. Then Laban left to return home.

GENESIS 32

Preparing to Meet Esau

1Jacob went on his way, and God’s angels met him.  2When he saw them, Jacob said, “This is God’s camp.” So he called that place Mahanaim.  

3Jacob sent messengers ahead of him to his brother Esau in the land of Seir, the country of Edom. 4He commanded them, “You are to say to my lord Esau, ‘This is what your servant Jacob says. I have been staying with Laban and have been delayed until now. 5I have oxen, donkeys, flocks, male and female slaves. I have sent this message to inform my lord, in order to seek your favor.’ ” 

6When the messengers returned to Jacob, they said, “We went to your brother Esau; he is coming to meet you — and he has 400 men with him.”  7Jacob was greatly afraid and distressed; he divided the people with him into two camps, along with the flocks, cattle, and camels. 8He thought, “If Esau comes to one camp and attacks it, the remaining one can escape.” 

9Then Jacob said, “God of my father Abraham and God of my father Isaac,  the Lord who said to me, ‘Go back to your land and to your family, and I will cause you to prosper,’  10I am unworthy of all the kindness and faithfulness You have shown Your servant. Indeed, I crossed over this Jordan with my staff, and now I have become two camps. 11Please rescue me from the hand of my brother Esau, for I am afraid of him; otherwise, he may come and attack me, the mothers, and their children. 12You have said, ‘I will cause you to prosper, and I will make your offspring like the sand of the sea, which cannot be counted.’ ” 

13He spent the night there and took part of what he had brought with him as a gift for his brother Esau:  14200 female goats, 20 male goats, 200 ewes, 20 rams, 1530 milk camels with their young, 40 cows, 10 bulls, 20 female donkeys, and 10 male donkeys. 16He entrusted them to his slaves as separate herds and said to them, “Go on ahead of me, and leave some distance between the herds.”

17And he told the first one: “When my brother Esau meets you and asks, ‘Who do you belong to? Where are you going? And whose animals are these ahead of you? ’ 18then tell him, ‘They belong to your servant Jacob. They are a gift sent to my lord Esau. And look, he is behind us.’ ”

19He also told the second one, the third, and everyone who was walking behind the animals, “Say the same thing to Esau when you find him. 20You are also to say, ‘Look, your servant Jacob is right behind us.’ ” For he thought, “I want to appease Esau with the gift that is going ahead of me. After that, I can face him, and perhaps he will forgive me.”

21So the gift was sent on ahead of him while he remained in the camp that night. 22During the night Jacob got up and took his two wives, his two female slaves, and his 11 sons, and crossed the ford of Jabbok.  23He took them and sent them across the stream, along with all his possessions.

Jacob Wrestles with God

24Jacob was left alone, and a man wrestled with him until daybreak.  25When the man saw that He could not defeat him, He struck Jacob’s hip socket as they wrestled and dislocated his hip. 26Then He said to Jacob, “Let Me go, for it is daybreak.”

But Jacob said, “I will not let You go unless You bless me.”

27“What is your name? ” the man asked.

“Jacob,” he replied.

28“Your name will no longer be Jacob,”  He said. “It will be Israel  because you have struggled with God  and with men and have prevailed.”

29Then Jacob asked Him, “Please tell me Your name.”

But He answered, “Why do you ask My name? ”  And He blessed him there.

30Jacob then named the place Peniel,  “For I have seen God face to face,” he said, “and I have been delivered.”  31The sun shone on him as he passed by Penuel   — limping because of his hip. 32That is why, to this day, the Israelites don’t eat the thigh muscle that is at the hip socket: because He struck Jacob’s hip socket at the thigh muscle. 

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MATTHEW 10

24A disciple  is not above his teacher, or a slave above his master.  25It is enough for a disciple to become like his teacher and a slave like his master. If they called the head of the house ‘Beelzebul,’ how much more the members of his household! 

Fear God

26“Therefore,  don’t be afraid of them, since there is nothing covered that won’t be uncovered and nothing hidden that won’t be made known.  27What I tell you in the dark, speak in the light. What you hear in a whisper,  proclaim on the housetops.  28Don’t fear those who kill the body but are not able to kill the soul;  rather, fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.  29Aren’t two sparrows sold for a penny?  Yet not one of them falls to the ground without your Father’s  consent.  30But even the hairs of your head have all been counted.  31So don’t be afraid therefore; you are worth more than many sparrows. 

Acknowledging Christ

32“Therefore, everyone who will acknowledge Me before men, I will also acknowledge him before My Father in heaven.  33But whoever denies Me before men,  I will also deny him before My Father in heaven. 34Don’t assume that I came to bring peace on the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword.  35For I came to turn

a man against his father,

a daughter against her mother,

a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law;

36and a man’s enemies will be

the members of his household.  

37The person who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me;  the person who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me. 38And whoever doesn’t take up his cross and follow  Me is not worthy of Me. 39Anyone finding  his life will lose it,  and anyone losing  his life because of Me will find it. 

A Cup of Cold Water

40“The one who welcomes you welcomes Me,  and the one who welcomes Me welcomes Him who sent Me.  41Anyone who  welcomes a prophet  because he is a prophet  will receive a prophet’s reward. And anyone who  welcomes a righteous person because he’s righteous  will receive a righteous person’s reward. 42And whoever gives  just a cup of cold water to one of these little ones because he is a disciple   — I assure you: He will never lose his reward! ”