Reading from Sunday, September 19

Hop. Let's go do the hop. Oh wait - it's Let's go TO the hop, right? I'm really tired.

Reading for September 19
Isaiah 30:12-33:9
Here's another definitive characteristic of God laid out plainly:

¹⁸ Yet the LORD longs to be gracious to you;
       he rises to show you compassion.
       For the LORD is a God of justice.
       Blessed are all who wait for him!

 The word "longs" is one that has some distinct connotation. You long for something that you miss usually. You long to see your wife if she's been away on business. You long to be with friends you haven't seen in a while. I think what we're seeing here is God longing for the days in the garden before sin entered the world. Or! He could be longing for the future date in which Jesus would make God's grace possible and available to everyone.

The other thing that the verb "longs" insinuates is a sense of joy. The thing you long for will bring you gladness and joy when you finally get it. God takes pleasure and joy in being gracious to us. In helping us.

Galatians 5:1-12
This is an interesting aspect of Judaism/Christianity - circumcision. The practice carries so much symbolic value that Paul here infers that if you cut that little piece of skin off your weiner, you are obligated to following the law:

²Mark my words! I, Paul, tell you that if you let yourselves be circumcised, Christ will be of no value to you at all. ³Again I declare to every man who lets himself be circumcised that he is obligated to obey the whole law.

His point here is that by taking that symbolic step, you are entering into the covenant between God and man outlined in the Old Testament which is essentially - follow the rules or who the hell knows what I'll do to you. But as we know, it is impossible to follow the law perfectly - so even really really good people were breaking the covenant and were subject to God's wrath.  So what Paul is saying is that circumcising oneself is to enter into that futile, destructive contract and that Christ's death will not matter to that person.

I still think it's weird that all of that is based on cutting off a piece of your dingler.

Psalm 63:1-11
This one's unique in that it is all positive. No "why have you forgotten me" or anything like that. Here's some choice jams.

⁵ My soul will be satisfied as with the richest of foods;
       with singing lips my mouth will praise you.

 ⁷ Because you are my help,
       I sing in the shadow of your wings.
 ⁸ My soul clings to you;
       your right hand upholds me.

Very nice.

Proverbs 23:22
 ²² Listen to your father, who gave you life,
       and do not despise your mother when she is old.

Blamo. Tired. Sleep.

Prayer Request: Please pray for a friend of mine who is suffering from a condition that makes it hard for her to work. She is very frustrated with her situation. Please pray that she will find a job that can work around her needs, or that she find peace with the state of things.

Thanks.