Today's Readings and Stuff -- Monday, 13 January 2014

Monday morning here.  Dear Wife has gone next door to "watch" beloved Grand-Niece.  Actually is above freezing, not always the way to bet in this part of the country at this time of the year.  She had a rough weekend, temperature and barometric swings aren't the best conditions for someone with some of her medical issues, especially the advanced levels of rheumatoid arthritis.  Some of her meds, taken for many many years have also led to brittle bones, making fractures virtually certain over time, leading to "sites" for the RA to become more aggressive, leading to .....  well,  you get the idea.  She had to hit the Prednisone yesterday to deal with some problems, which it did.  But it also leaves her more open to some of the infections that are barely kept at bay under the best of times.  Which this isn't.  I am persuaded that some day we may, should we wish, look back on this time that seemed so hard and desperate and laugh at how foolish we were.  But that day is not today.  It is hard, very hard, to see those you love in pain and need and to be powerless to make it right.  Again, we shall get through.  Somehow.
Had a cat fight last night as we were dozing off finally.  Wife has cats.  I am not a "pet person" and never have been one and probably never will be.  In our sojourns, we found ourselves with not one but THREE cats, all male.  One has been neutered.  The others, not yet (see previous comments re money and the lack thereof) which had not been a problem.  Up until quite recently.  Now it is, and I awoke from near-sleep by horrible screeches and yowls to find a moving bundle of fur in the kitchen, said bundle composed of two cats intertwined and clawing and biting at each other and to some effect.  Had I been suitably armored (and it would take that) they would have both sailed out the back door, NEVER to return.  My loud growls caused them to separate and to take up separate hiding places.  That will be a temporary state - they'll have a return match for certain.

The reading in the Old Testament is chapters 31 and 32 of the Genesis.  Jacob, the son of Isaac, the son of Abraham, has been off with the kinfolk.  Went to find a wife, got two.  Did well in material matters too, which did not really sit well with some of the in-laws.  Some things never do change, do they?  Things got tense,a nd he decided to light out of town.  That didn't go over too well with some of them either, but the Lord had this one in hand, and a Good Thing Too.  And Jacob had that made clear to him.  By the way, don't make the mistake that some have made.  Do not, not, presume from this and similar accounts that the Lord approves of multiple wives, or additional relationships less formal.  You will see that it hardly ever turns out well for anyone involved.  And to marry sisters!?!?  are you nuts?
You know it had to b bad, if the only option was to return to his brother that he'd cheated several times and had to leave town in a hurry lest his brother kill him.  And the attitudes probably gotten no better in the intervening years.  Death and trouble behind and before and on all sides.  Tough time.

Genesis 31

1	Now Jacob heard that the sons of Laban were saying, “Jacob has taken all that was our father’s, and from what was our father’s he has gained all this wealth.”
2	And Jacob saw that Laban did not regard him with favor as before.
3	Then the Lord said to Jacob, “Return to the land of your fathers and to your kindred, and I will be with you.”
4	So Jacob sent and called Rachel and Leah into the field where his flock was
5	and said to them, “I see that your father does not regard me with favor as he did before. But the God of my father has been with me.
6	“You know that I have served your father with all my strength,
7	“yet your father has cheated me and changed my wages ten times. But God did not permit him to harm me.
8	“If he said, ‘The spotted shall be your wages,’ then all the flock bore spotted; and if he said, ‘The striped shall be your wages,’ then all the flock bore striped.
9	“Thus God has taken away the livestock of your father and given them to me.
10	“In the breeding season of the flock I lifted up my eyes and saw in a dream that the goats that mated with the flock were striped, spotted, and mottled.
11	“Then the angel of God said to me in the dream, ‘Jacob,’ and I said, ‘Here I am!’
12	“And he said, ‘Lift up your eyes and see, all the goats that mate with the flock are striped, spotted, and mottled, for I have seen all that Laban is doing to you.
13	“‘I am the God of Bethel, where you anointed a pillar and made a vow to me. Now arise, go out from this land and return to the land of your kindred.’”
14	Then Rachel and Leah answered and said to him, “Is there any portion or inheritance left to us in our father’s house?
15	“Are we not regarded by him as foreigners? For he has sold us, and he has indeed devoured our money.
16	“All the wealth that God has taken away from our father belongs to us and to our children. Now then, whatever God has said to you, do.”
17	So Jacob arose and set his sons and his wives on camels.
18	He drove away all his livestock, all his property that he had gained, the livestock in his possession that he had acquired in Paddan-aram, to go to the land of Canaan to his father Isaac.
19	Laban had gone to shear his sheep, and Rachel stole her father’s household gods.
20	And Jacob tricked Laban the Aramean, by not telling him that he intended to flee.
21	He fled with all that he had and arose and crossed the Euphrates, and set his face toward the hill country of Gilead.
22	When it was told Laban on the third day that Jacob had fled,
23	he took his kinsmen with him and pursued him for seven days and followed close after him into the hill country of Gilead.
24	But God came to Laban the Aramean in a dream by night and said to him, “Be careful not to say anything to Jacob, either good or bad.”
25	And Laban overtook Jacob. Now Jacob had pitched his tent in the hill country, and Laban with his kinsmen pitched tents in the hill country of Gilead.
26	And Laban said to Jacob, “What have you done, that you have tricked me and driven away my daughters like captives of the sword?
27	“Why did you flee secretly and trick me, and did not tell me, so that I might have sent you away with mirth and songs, with tambourine and lyre?
28	“And why did you not permit me to kiss my sons and my daughters farewell? Now you have done foolishly.
29	“It is in my power to do you harm. But the God of your father spoke to me last night, saying, ‘Be careful not to say anything to Jacob, either good or bad.’
30	“And now you have gone away because you longed greatly for your father’s house, but why did you steal my gods?”
31	Jacob answered and said to Laban, “Because I was afraid, for I thought that you would take your daughters from me by force.
32	“Anyone with whom you find your gods shall not live. In the presence of our kinsmen point out what I have that is yours, and take it.” Now Jacob did not know that Rachel had stolen them.
33	So Laban went into Jacob’s tent and into Leah’s tent and into the tent of the two female servants, but he did not find them. And he went out of Leah’s tent and entered Rachel’s.
34	Now Rachel had taken the household gods and put them in the camel’s saddle and sat on them. Laban felt all about the tent, but did not find them.
35	And she said to her father, “Let not my lord be angry that I cannot rise before you, for the way of women is upon me.” So he searched but did not find the household gods.
36	Then Jacob became angry and berated Laban. Jacob said to Laban, “What is my offense? What is my sin, that you have hotly pursued me?
37	“For you have felt through all my goods; what have you found of all your household goods? Set it here before my kinsmen and your kinsmen, that they may decide between us two.
38	“These twenty years I have been with you. Your ewes and your female goats have not miscarried, and I have not eaten the rams of your flocks.
39	“What was torn by wild beasts I did not bring to you. I bore the loss of it myself. From my hand you required it, whether stolen by day or stolen by night.
40	“There I was: by day the heat consumed me, and the cold by night, and my sleep fled from my eyes.
41	“These twenty years I have been in your house. I served you fourteen years for your two daughters, and six years for your flock, and you have changed my wages ten times.
42	“If the God of my father, the God of Abraham and the Fear of Isaac, had not been on my side, surely now you would have sent me away empty-handed. God saw my affliction and the labor of my hands and rebuked you last night.”
43	Then Laban answered and said to Jacob, “The daughters are my daughters, the children are my children, the flocks are my flocks, and all that you see is mine. But what can I do this day for these my daughters or for their children whom they have borne?
44	“Come now, let us make a covenant, you and I. And let it be a witness between you and me.”
45	So Jacob took a stone and set it up as a pillar.
46	And Jacob said to his kinsmen, “Gather stones.” And they took stones and made a heap, and they ate there by the heap.
47	Laban called it Jegar-sahadutha, but Jacob called it Galeed.
48	Laban said, “This heap is a witness between you and me today.” Therefore he named it Galeed,
49	and Mizpah, for he said, “The Lord watch between you and me, when we are out of one another’s sight.
50	“If you oppress my daughters, or if you take wives besides my daughters, although no one is with us, see, God is witness between you and me.”
51	Then Laban said to Jacob, “See this heap and the pillar, which I have set between you and me.
52	“This heap is a witness, and the pillar is a witness, that I will not pass over this heap to you, and you will not pass over this heap and this pillar to me, to do harm.
53	“The God of Abraham and the God of Nahor, the God of their father, judge between us.” So Jacob swore by the Fear of his father Isaac,
54	and Jacob offered a sacrifice in the hill country and called his kinsmen to eat bread. They ate bread and spent the night in the hill country.
55	Early in the morning Laban arose and kissed his grandchildren and his daughters and blessed them. Then Laban departed and returned home.

Genesis 32

1	Jacob went on his way, and the angels of God met him.
2	And when Jacob saw them he said, “This is God’s camp!” So he called the name of that place Mahanaim.
3	And Jacob sent messengers before him to Esau his brother in the land of Seir, the country of Edom,
4	instructing them, “Thus you shall say to my lord Esau: Thus says your servant Jacob, ‘I have sojourned with Laban and stayed until now.
5	“‘I have oxen, donkeys, flocks, male servants, and female servants. I have sent to tell my lord, in order that I may find favor in your sight.’”
6	And the messengers returned to Jacob, saying, “We came to your brother Esau, and he is coming to meet you, and there are four hundred men with him.”
7	Then Jacob was greatly afraid and distressed. He divided the people who were with him, and the flocks and herds and camels, into two camps,
8	thinking, “If Esau comes to the one camp and attacks it, then the camp that is left will escape.”
9	And Jacob said, “O God of my father Abraham and God of my father Isaac, O Lord who said to me, ‘Return to your country and to your kindred, that I may do you good,’
10	“I am not worthy of the least of all the deeds of steadfast love and all the faithfulness that you have shown to your servant, for with only my staff I crossed this Jordan, and now I have become two camps.
11	“Please deliver me from the hand of my brother, from the hand of Esau, for I fear him, that he may come and attack me, the mothers with the children.
12	“But you said, ‘I will surely do you good, and make your offspring as the sand of the sea, which cannot be numbered for multitude.’”
13	So he stayed there that night, and from what he had with him he took a present for his brother Esau,
14	two hundred female goats and twenty male goats, two hundred ewes and twenty rams,
15	thirty milking camels and their calves, forty cows and ten bulls, twenty female donkeys and ten male donkeys.
16	These he handed over to his servants, every drove by itself, and said to his servants, “Pass on ahead of me and put a space between drove and drove.”
17	He instructed the first, “When Esau my brother meets you and asks you, ‘To whom do you belong? Where are you going? And whose are these ahead of you?’
18	“then you shall say, ‘They belong to your servant Jacob. They are a present sent to my lord Esau. And moreover, he is behind us.’”
19	He likewise instructed the second and the third and all who followed the droves, “You shall say the same thing to Esau when you find him,
20	“and you shall say, ‘Moreover, your servant Jacob is behind us.’” For he thought, “I may appease him with the present that goes ahead of me, and afterward I shall see his face. Perhaps he will accept me.”
21	So the present passed on ahead of him, and he himself stayed that night in the camp.
22	The same night he arose and took his two wives, his two female servants, and his eleven children, and crossed the ford of the Jabbok.
23	He took them and sent them across the stream, and everything else that he had.
24	And Jacob was left alone. And a man wrestled with him until the breaking of the day.
25	When the man saw that he did not prevail against Jacob, he touched his hip socket, and Jacob’s hip was put out of joint as he wrestled with him.
26	Then he said, “Let me go, for the day has broken.” But Jacob said, “I will not let you go unless you bless me.”
27	And he said to him, “What is your name?” And he said, “Jacob.”
28	Then he said, “Your name shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel, for you have striven with God and with men, and have prevailed.”
29	Then Jacob asked him, “Please tell me your name.” But he said, “Why is it that you ask my name?” And there he blessed him.
30	So Jacob called the name of the place Peniel, saying, “For I have seen God face to face, and yet my life has been delivered.”
31	The sun rose upon him as he passed Penuel, limping because of his hip.
32	Therefore to this day the people of Israel do not eat the sinew of the thigh that is on the hip socket, because he touched the socket of Jacob’s hip on the sinew of the thigh.

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The New Testament passage for the day is verses 24-42 from the 10th chapter in the Gospel of Matthew.    Consider this as part of the commissioning of the apostles He sent for the to proclaim the Kingdom.  Applies to us too.  Parts of it are not in line with some of the "prosperity gospel" preachers you might have seen on TV but I think that He knew what He was and is saying.  If you have a separate opinion, take it up with Him.

Matthew 10:24-42

24	“A disciple is not above his teacher, nor a servant above his master.
25	“It is enough for the disciple to be like his teacher, and the servant like his master. If they have called the master of the house Beelzebul, how much more will they malign those of his household.
26	“So have no fear of them, for nothing is covered that will not be revealed, or hidden that will not be known.
27	“What I tell you in the dark, say in the light, and what you hear whispered, proclaim on the housetops.
28	“And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell.
29	“Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? And not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father.
30	“But even the hairs of your head are all numbered.
31	“Fear not, therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows.
32	“So everyone who acknowledges me before men, I also will acknowledge before my Father who is in heaven,
33	“but whoever denies me before men, I also will deny before my Father who is in heaven.
34	“Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I have not come to bring peace, but a sword.
35	“For I have come to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law.
36	“And a person’s enemies will be those of his own household.
37	“Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.
38	“And whoever does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me.
39	“Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.
40	“Whoever receives you receives me, and whoever receives me receives him who sent me.
41	“The one who receives a prophet because he is a prophet will receive a prophet’s reward, and the one who receives a righteous person because he is a righteous person will receive a righteous person’s reward.
42	“And whoever gives one of these little ones even a cup of cold water because he is a disciple, truly, I say to you, he will by no means lose his reward.”