Today's Readings and Stuff -- Tuesday, 08 September 2020

Yesterday went by with us looking out at hours and hours of torrential rain, here at least.  When we'd awakened, the "experts" at the local TV stations were telling us of chances of occasional light and spotty showers.  Yeah, right.  I looked at a weather radar view around noon that showed a truly large storm system that extended from central Illinois to central Pennsylvania, with an arm of it that extended to north of the PA-NY line.  And with embedded storms throughout, lots of lightning and winds.  So much for "experts".  Color me more than a bit skeptical of those who claim to be all-wise and expect the serfs and proles to bow to their wisdom.
So I'm probably going to be doing some make-up errands and tasks today to make up for it.  Next-door niece and family came back early from their camping trip.  Two adults and two kids in a small camper taking cover from the storms is probably not the experience they'd been planning.  He's got a few days off work yet, so perhaps they'll be doing some closer-to-home stuff.  Or not.
One side effect of the weather is that it's made Wife miserable.  As some people who experience various sorts of arthritis know, the bones and joints can become quite reliable barometers, and that changing weather fronts can be downright painful.  I've been spared that, so far, but she's been dealing with such for years and years, and yesterday was not a good one for her.  Perhaps today will be better

I was going to try to sneak out today or tomorrow for a bit:  our wedding anniversary is Thursday.  Didn't happen as other matters took precedence.  A trip to Vienna or England or Dollywood isn't in the budget, so the festivities will be scaled back somewhat.  Maybe a box of chocolates and a couple flowers.  But we have each other.

We had planned to make a run over to the clinic complex where our main doctor is housed, there to do some "labs" that -- particularly in her case -- are overdue, and mine are due in prep for an appointment next month.  Mine are supposed to be done "fasting" so no late nights snacks for me and wasn't expecting any breakfast either, or coffee for that matter.  But she was awake half the night and didn't wake up until after 09:00, at which time "peopling" was more than she could handle.  So, perhaps, tomorrow morning?  We'll see.

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ISAIAH 17

1The burden of Damascus. Behold, Damascus is taken away from being a city, and it shall be a ruinous heap.

2The cities of Aroer are forsaken: they shall be for flocks, which shall lie down, and none shall make them afraid.

3The fortress also shall cease from Ephraim, and the kingdom from Damascus, and the remnant of Syria: they shall be as the glory of the children of Israel, saith the Lord of hosts.

4And in that day it shall come to pass, that the glory of Jacob shall be made thin, and the fatness of his flesh shall wax lean.

5And it shall be as when the harvestman gathereth the corn, and reapeth the ears with his arm; and it shall be as he that gathereth ears in the valley of Rephaim.

6Yet gleaning grapes shall be left in it, as the shaking of an olive tree, two or three berries in the top of the uppermost bough, four or five in the outmost fruitful branches thereof, saith the Lord God of Israel.

7At that day shall a man look to his Maker, and his eyes shall have respect to the Holy One of Israel.

8And he shall not look to the altars, the work of his hands, neither shall respect that which his fingers have made, either the groves, or the images.

9In that day shall his strong cities be as a forsaken bough, and an uppermost branch, which they left because of the children of Israel: and there shall be desolation.

10Because thou hast forgotten the God of thy salvation, and hast not been mindful of the rock of thy strength, therefore shalt thou plant pleasant plants, and shalt set it with strange slips:

11In the day shalt thou make thy plant to grow, and in the morning shalt thou make thy seed to flourish: but the harvest shall be a heap in the day of grief and of desperate sorrow.

12Woe to the multitude of many people, which make a noise like the noise of the seas; and to the rushing of nations, that make a rushing like the rushing of mighty waters!

13The nations shall rush like the rushing of many waters: but God shall rebuke them, and they shall flee far off, and shall be chased as the chaff of the mountains before the wind, and like a rolling thing before the whirlwind.

14And behold at eveningtide trouble; and before the morning he is not. This is the portion of them that spoil us, and the lot of them that rob us.

ISAIAH 18

1Woe to the land shadowing with wings, which is beyond the rivers of Ethiopia:

2That sendeth ambassadors by the sea, even in vessels of bulrushes upon the waters, saying, Go, ye swift messengers, to a nation scattered and peeled, to a people terrible from their beginning hitherto; a nation meted out and trodden down, whose land the rivers have spoiled!

3All ye inhabitants of the world, and dwellers on the earth, see ye, when he lifteth up an ensign on the mountains; and when he bloweth a trumpet, hear ye.

4For so the Lord said unto me, I will take my rest, and I will consider in my dwelling place like a clear heat upon herbs, and like a cloud of dew in the heat of harvest.

5For afore the harvest, when the bud is perfect, and the sour grape is ripening in the flower, he shall both cut off the sprigs with pruning hooks, and take away and cut down the branches.

6They shall be left together unto the fowls of the mountains, and to the beasts of the earth: and the fowls shall summer upon them, and all the beasts of the earth shall winter upon them.

7In that time shall the present be brought unto the Lord of hosts of a people scattered and peeled, and from a people terrible from their beginning hitherto; a nation meted out and trodden under foot, whose land the rivers have spoiled, to the place of the name of the Lord of hosts, the mount Zion.

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PROVERBS 9

Wisdom versus Foolishness

1Wisdom has built her house; she has carved out her seven pillars.

2She has prepared her meat;  she has mixed her wine;  she has also set her table. 

3She has sent out her female servants; she calls out from the highest points of the city: 

4“Whoever is inexperienced, enter here! ” To the one who lacks sense,  she says,

5“Come, eat my bread, and drink the wine I have mixed.

6Leave inexperience behind, and you will live; pursue the way of understanding.

7The one who corrects a mocker will bring dishonor on himself; the one who rebukes a wicked man will get hurt. 

8Don’t rebuke a mocker, or he will hate you;  rebuke a wise man, and he will love you. 

9Instruct a wise man, and he will be wiser still; teach a righteous man, and he will learn more. 

10“The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom,  and the knowledge of the Holy One  is understanding.

11For by Wisdom your days will be many, and years will be added to your life.

12If you are wise, you are wise for your own benefit; if you mock, you alone will bear the consequences.”

13The woman Folly is rowdy; she is gullible and knows nothing. 

14She sits by the doorway of her house, on a seat at the highest point of the city,

15calling to those who pass by, who go straight ahead on their paths: 

16“Whoever is inexperienced, enter here! ”  To the one who lacks sense, she says,

17“Stolen water is sweet, and bread eaten secretly is tasty! ” 

18But he doesn’t know that the departed spirits are there, that her guests are in the depths of Sheol. 

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COLOSSIANS 2

1For I want you to know how great a struggle  I have for you, for those in Laodicea,  and for all who have not seen me in person. 
2I want their hearts to be encouraged  and joined together in love, so that they may have all the riches of assured understanding and have the knowledge of God’s mystery  — Christ.   
3All the treasures of wisdom  and knowledge  are hidden in Him.

Christ versus the Colossian Heresy

4I am saying this so that no one will deceive you with persuasive arguments. 5For I may be absent in body, but I am with you in spirit,  rejoicing to see how well ordered you are and the strength of your faith in Christ.

6Therefore, as you have received  Christ Jesus the Lord,  walk in Him, 
7rooted and built up in Him  and established in the faith, just as you were taught,  overflowing with gratitude.

8Be careful that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deceit based on human tradition,  based on the elemental forces of the world, and not based on Christ.  
9For the entire fullness  of God’s nature  dwells bodily  in Christ, 
10and you have been filled by Him, who is the head  over every ruler and authority. 
11You were also circumcised in Him with a circumcision not done with hands, by putting off the body of flesh,  in the circumcision of the Messiah.   
12Having been buried with Him  in baptism, you were also raised with Him  through faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead.  
13And when you were dead in trespasses and in the uncircumcision of your flesh, He made you alive with Him and forgave us all our trespasses. 
14He erased the certificate of debt, with its obligations, that was against us and opposed to us, and has taken it out of the way by nailing it to the cross.  
15He disarmed the rulers and authorities and disgraced them publicly; He triumphed over them by Him.  

16Therefore, don’t let anyone judge  you in regard to food and drink  or in the matter of a festival or a new moon  or a Sabbath day.  
17These are a shadow  of what was to come;  the substance is  the Messiah.  
18Let no one disqualify you,   insisting on ascetic practices  and the worship of angels, claiming access to a visionary realm and inflated  without cause by his unspiritual  mind. 
19He doesn’t hold on to the head, from whom the whole body,  nourished and held together by its ligaments and tendons, develops with growth from God.

20If you died with the Messiah  to the elemental forces of this world, why do you live as if you still belonged to the world? Why do you submit to regulations: 
21“Don’t handle, don’t taste, don’t touch”? 
22All these regulations refer to what is destroyed by being used up; they are commands and doctrines of men. 
23Although these have a reputation of wisdom  by promoting ascetic practices, humility, and severe treatment of the body, they are not of any value in curbing self-indulgence.