Book One / Thoughts Helpful In The Life Of The Soul

     The Eighth Chapter / Shunning Over-Familiarity

     DO NOT open your heart to every man, but discuss your affairs with one who is wise and who fears God. Do not keep company with young people and strangers. Do not fawn upon the rich, and do not be fond of mingling with the great. Associate with the humble and the simple, with the devout and virtuous, and with them speak of edifying things. Be not intimate with any woman, but generally commend all good women to God. Seek only the intimacy of God and of His angels, and avoid the notice of men.

     We ought to have charity for all men but familiarity with all is not expedient. Sometimes it happens that a person enjoys a good reputation among those who do not know him, but at the same time is held in slight regard by those who do. Frequently we think we are pleasing others by our presence and we begin rather to displease them by the faults they find in us.

THE IMITATION OF CHRIST

     The Boys Scouts of America was incorporated this day, February 8, 1910. It was founded two years prior in England by Sir Baden-Powell, a hero of the South African Boer Wars. His troops were besieged two hundred days by an overwhelming army, but due to his resourcefulness, his men survived. The Boy Scouts are now the largest voluntary youth movement in the world, with membership over 25 million. The Scout Oath states: “On my honor, I will do my best: To do my duty to God and my country… To help other people at all times. To keep myself physically strong, mentally awake, and morally straight.”

William J. Federer. American Minute

Whether we like it or not,
asking is the rule of the kingdom.
--- Charles Spurgeon


If you look for truth, you may find comfort in the end;
if you look for comfort you will not get either comfort or truth
only soft soap and wishful thinking to begin,
and in the end, despair.
--- C.S. Lewis

... from here, there and everywhere

22     “ADONAI made me as the beginning of his way,
the first of his ancient works.
23     I was appointed before the world,
before the start, before the earth’s beginnings.
24     When I was brought forth, there were no ocean depths,
no springs brimming with water.
25     I was brought forth before the hills,
before the mountains had settled in place;
26     he had not yet made the earth, the fields,
or even the earth’s first grains of dust.
27     When he established the heavens, I was there.
When he drew the horizon’s circle on the deep,
28     when he set the skies above in place,
when the fountains of the deep poured forth,
29     when he prescribed boundaries for the sea,
so that its water would not transgress his command,
when he marked out the foundations of the earth,
30     I was with him as someone he could trust.
For me, every day was pure delight,
as I played in his presence all the time,
31     playing everywhere on his earth,
and delighting to be with humankind.

Stern, D. H. (1998). Complete Jewish Bible-OE
: An English version of the Tanakh (OT) and
B'rit Hadashah (NT) (1st ed.). Clarksville, Md.: Jewish
New Testament Publications.

                Instantaneous and insistent sanctification

     And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly. --- 1 Thess. 5:23–24.

     When we pray to be sanctified, are we prepared to face the standard of these verses? We take the term sanctification much too lightly. Are we prepared for what sanctification will cost? It will cost an intense narrowing of all our interests on earth, and an immense broadening of all our interests in God. Sanctification means intense concentration on God’s point of view. It means every power of body, soul and spirit chained and kept for God’s purpose only. Are we prepared for God to do in us all that He separated us for? And then after His work is done in us, are we prepared to separate ourselves to God even as Jesus did? “For their sakes I sanctify Myself.” The reason some of us have not entered into the experience of sanctification is that we have not realized the meaning of sanctification from God’s standpoint. Sanctification means being made one with Jesus so that the disposition that ruled Him will rule us. Are we prepared for what that will cost? It will cost everything that is not of God in us.

     Are we prepared to be caught up into the swing of this prayer of the apostle Paul’s? Are we prepared to say—‘Lord make me as holy as You can make a sinner saved by grace’? Jesus has prayed that we might be one with Him as He is one with the Father. The one and only characteristic of the Holy Ghost in a man is a strong family likeness to Jesus Christ, and freedom from everything that is unlike Him. Are we prepared to set ourselves apart for the Holy Spirit’s ministrations in us?

     Tell God you are ready to be offered, and God will prove Himself to be all you ever dreamed He would be.

Chambers, O. (1993). My Utmost for His Highest

Between the closing of an eye
and its opening centuries
of bone cold, a millenium of them.
Beneath all that monumental
ice what art epochs, what religion?
Are those eye-lashes rigid
with tears of possible compassion,
icicles fringing the resigned lids?

The anthropomorphisms of time!
The lineaments he might have confessed
to are elsewhere. What has ubiquity
to do with form? Ah, planetary truth,
inexorable in teaching everything
     that can be taught
but our mirrors their manners.

The Poems of R.S. Thomas , (Fayettesville: University of Arkansas Press), 1985

     The story of Joseph does more than give us a portrait of a man of great faith and admirable character. It also marks a major turning point in the history of God’s chosen people. Israel moved from the Promised Land to the land of Egypt, where, after a time, Joseph was forgotten and the people enslaved.

     Why was Egypt part of God’s plan for His people? In a Survey of Israel's History Leon Wood summarizes:

     "Egypt was a country in which Jacob’s descendants would have to remain a separate people, for Jacob and his sons were shepherds, and shepherds were an abomination to the Egyptians (Gen. 43:32; 46:34). The fact would remain a natural barrier to intermarriage. In Canaan there had already been some intermarriage with the inhabitants and continued living there would have brought more. This could only have led to serious amalgamation with these Canaanites, rather than distinctiveness as a nation. Further, Egypt afforded excellent living conditions for the necessary rapid growth in numbers. The land of Goshen was fertile and regularly watered by the flooding Nile for adequate food supply."

     We might also point out that Canaan, during the centuries that the Jews were in Egypt, was a highway for the armies of nations to the north and south. The Hebrews could hardly have grown in such numbers as they did in the protected environment of Egypt. In a very real sense, Egypt was a womb in which the seed of Israel grew and multiplied until in God’s own time a nation was born.

     A glimpse of God’s purpose in bringing Israel into Egypt helps us to focus on the primary message of these Genesis chapters. Joseph himself summed it up as he reassured his brothers: “God sent me ahead of you to preserve for you a remnant on earth, and to save your lives by a great deliverance. So then it was not you who sent me here, but God” (45:7–8). What is the message? God is a Person who is in control of circumstances, who works providentially to accomplish His good purposes.

     It’s important that we grasp this truth about God as firmly as Joseph did. In Genesis we’ve seen God act in direct interventions. He created Adam and Eve. He set aside the orderly processes of nature to bring on earth a cataclysmic flood. He spoke to Abraham directly. He acted in a clearly supernatural way to overthrow Sodom and Gomorrah. But there is no record that God spoke directly to Joseph. Joseph had heard stories of the covenant from his father. Joseph had dreamed dreams. But God did not meet with Joseph or confront him.

     There is no record of God acting to set aside natural processes on Joseph’s account. God blessed Joseph’s efforts in Potiphar’s house, in prison, and in his position as a ruler of Egypt. But it was through Joseph’s own honesty and efforts that the Lord worked. In the unfolding of circumstances, Joseph saw the hand of God. But certainly others would have seen only luck—both good and bad.

     But Joseph’s view is the true one.

     As we trace through the rest of the Old Testament, we’ll see that God does sometimes intervene directly. But in most cases God works through the ordering of circumstances: through the natural progress of events whose sequence nonetheless is patterned to shape history according to God’s plan and will.

     It is important for us to see that this same will is active in our own circumstances. Each child of God is as important to Him as Joseph. Not because we have a task as great as Joseph’s, but because we are just as precious to the Lord. Thus we have that great New Testament affirmation of God’s control of circumstance for our benefit: “We know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose” (Rom. 8:28). Even tragedies such as Joseph experienced are meant for good. True, they may not lead us to a place of blessing in some earthly Egypt. But one day we will find our place as kings and priests to reign with the triumphant Christ.

     In that day the pattern of our individual lives will be seen, woven into the great tapestry of the overall plan of our God: a plan that has in sharp focus the preservation of human beings for a life that extends far beyond the short span allotted you and me on earth. A plan that involves, with eternity, the full restoration in our personalities of the purified image of our God.

Richards, L., & Richards, L. O. (1987). The Teacher's Commentary (323). Wheaton, Ill.: Victor Books.

     [Moses] persevered because he saw him who is invisible. --- Hebrews 11:27.

     To endure is to accept the uncontrollable. (George H. Morrison, “The Springs of Endurance,” in Highways of the Heart) ) It is to pass through difficult hours free from any embittering of spirit, for to grow bitter is always to be beaten. We say what can’t be cured must be endured, but that is hardly the endurance of the Scriptures. Paul and Silas in the prison at Philippi did not accept things in a joyless way. They were happy; they sang loudly. That is the endurance of the Scripture: acceptance with a note of triumph. Of that gracious and beautiful endurance the New Testament indicates three sources.

     The first is faith. The apostle tells us to “take up the shield of faith” (Eph. 6:16). If we are to be guarded amid the blows and buffetings of life, there must be faith in the heart. If our darker hours have no meaning, if they are devoid of plan or purpose, if life is nothing but accident or chance, the highest a person can achieve is resignation. But if God is love, and if everything that comes to us arrives in the perfect ordering of the Father, then another frame of mind becomes possible. The person who believes that God is in the hard part is empowered to endure the hard part. Faith finds goodness in things evil.

     Then, too, there is love, for love “always perseveres” (1 Cor. 13:7). Wherever there is love in the heart, there is the power to endure. God is patient, says Saint Augustine, because he is eternal. But there is a deeper source of his patience than eternity. He is patient because he loves. And our Lord empowers his children to endure by the new love he kindles in their hearts. He shows them that God is eminently lovable. He reveals the lovable element in people. He sends into their hearts his Spirit, and the fruit of the Spirit is love.

     Lastly there is vision. Moses “persevered because he saw him who is invisible.” To see the invisible when skies are dark is to have power to win. Never was there endurance like the Master’s. It was radiant with peace and joy. It did not falter even in Gethsemane. It was equal to the agony of Calvary. And inspiring, animating, and sustaining it was the vision of his Father’s face. We too can practice that same presence. We can do it when life is very difficult. We can do it when the way is dark. We can do it when we cannot understand. And, doing it, we come to be so sure that underneath are the everlasting arms that endurance passes into joy.
--- George H. Morrison

Wallis, D. (2001). Take Heart: Daily Devotions with the Church's Great Preachers

     Just when the apostle Paul intended a Spain-ward thrust of the gospel to evangelize Western Europe, he was detained in Jerusalem, then imprisoned two years in Caesarea. Finally appealing to the imperial court, he was hustled aboard ship for Rome. But a typhoon besieged the vessel; it sunk and Paul swam ashore — only to be bitten by a viper. Thus he found himself stranded on the island of Malta for three months.

     But careful readers of Acts 27 and 28 are always impressed with Paul’s self-possession. He kept his head above water even when his ship was going down. He knew how to remain even-tempered, though all the elements of frustration were at hand. Paul’s missionary dreams were thwarted. He was imprisoned when he craved freedom and forced into inactivity when he desired action. He was eager to reach Rome, but the winds blew against him. He was a man of progress, making no headway. Wanting to redeem the time, he was beached on an obscure island.

     He was stalled.

     In due time the sea lanes reopened for the spring, and on February 8, 60, Paul boarded ship for the remainder of the trip to Rome. (The Book of Acts (New International Commentary on the New Testament) ) As for being frustrated, there’s no sign of it. Paul’s life and ministry were so entrusted to the Lord that he took everything that befell him, both squalls and stalls, as from God. Experience had taught him to trust in the Lord’s providence and to lean on the Lord’s promises. During the height of the earlier tempest, he had summarized his philosophy for the terrified sailors: I belong to God, and I worship him. … Cheer up! I am sure that God will do exactly what he promised (Acts 27:23-25).

     It was not in due time — but in divine time — that Paul reached Rome. His nerves held steady in the storm. His spirit remained patient in delay.

     He knew how to wait on his God.

     Three months later we sailed in a ship that had been docked at Malta for the winter. … We arrived in Syracuse and stayed for three days. From there we sailed to Rhegium. The next day a south wind began to blow, and two days later we arrived in Puteoli. There we found some of the Lord’s followers, who begged us to stay with them. A week later we left for the city of Rome.
--- Acts 28:11-14.

Morgan, R. J. On This Day 365 Amazing And Inspiring Stories About Saints, Martyrs And Heroes

WEDNESDAY OF THE FIFTH WEEK AFTER EPIPHANY
YEAR 2

Psalms (Morning) Psalm 119:97–120
Psalms (Evening) Psalm 81, 82
Old Testament Genesis 27:1–29
New Testament Romans 12:1–8
Gospel John 8:12–20

Index of Readings

PSALMS (MORNING)
Psalm 119:97–120

97 Oh, how I love your law!
It is my meditation all day long.
98 Your commandment makes me wiser than my enemies,
for it is always with me.
99 I have more understanding than all my teachers,
for your decrees are my meditation.
100 I understand more than the aged,
for I keep your precepts.
101 I hold back my feet from every evil way,
in order to keep your word.
102 I do not turn away from your ordinances,
for you have taught me.
103 How sweet are your words to my taste,
sweeter than honey to my mouth!
104 Through your precepts I get understanding;
therefore I hate every false way.

105 Your word is a lamp to my feet
and a light to my path.
106 I have sworn an oath and confirmed it,
to observe your righteous ordinances.
107 I am severely afflicted;
give me life, O LORD, according to your word.
108 Accept my offerings of praise, O LORD,
and teach me your ordinances.
109 I hold my life in my hand continually,
but I do not forget your law.
110 The wicked have laid a snare for me,
but I do not stray from your precepts.
111 Your decrees are my heritage forever;
they are the joy of my heart.
112 I incline my heart to perform your statutes
forever, to the end.

113 I hate the double-minded,
but I love your law.
114 You are my hiding place and my shield;
I hope in your word.
115 Go away from me, you evildoers,
that I may keep the commandments of my God.
116 Uphold me according to your promise, that I may live,
and let me not be put to shame in my hope.
117 Hold me up, that I may be safe
and have regard for your statutes continually.
118 You spurn all who go astray from your statutes;
for their cunning is in vain.
119 All the wicked of the earth you count as dross;
therefore I love your decrees.
120 My flesh trembles for fear of you,
and I am afraid of your judgments.

PSALMS (EVENING)
Psalm 81, 82

To the leader: according to The Gittith. Of Asaph.
1 Sing aloud to God our strength;
shout for joy to the God of Jacob.
2 Raise a song, sound the tambourine,
the sweet lyre with the harp.
3 Blow the trumpet at the new moon,
at the full moon, on our festal day.
4 For it is a statute for Israel,
an ordinance of the God of Jacob.
5 He made it a decree in Joseph,
when he went out over the land of Egypt.

I hear a voice I had not known:
6 “I relieved your shoulder of the burden;
your hands were freed from the basket.
7 In distress you called, and I rescued you;
I answered you in the secret place of thunder;
I tested you at the waters of Meribah. Selah
8 Hear, O my people, while I admonish you;
O Israel, if you would but listen to me!
9 There shall be no strange god among you;
you shall not bow down to a foreign god.
10 I am the LORD your God,
who brought you up out of the land of Egypt.
Open your mouth wide and I will fill it.

11 “But my people did not listen to my voice;
Israel would not submit to me.
12 So I gave them over to their stubborn hearts,
to follow their own counsels.
13 O that my people would listen to me,
that Israel would walk in my ways!
14 Then I would quickly subdue their enemies,
and turn my hand against their foes.
15 Those who hate the LORD would cringe before him,
and their doom would last forever.
16 I would feed you with the finest of the wheat,
and with honey from the rock I would satisfy you.”

A Psalm of Asaph.

1 God has taken his place in the divine council;
in the midst of the gods he holds judgment:
2 “How long will you judge unjustly
and show partiality to the wicked? Selah
3 Give justice to the weak and the orphan;
maintain the right of the lowly and the destitute.
4 Rescue the weak and the needy;
deliver them from the hand of the wicked.”

5 They have neither knowledge nor understanding,
they walk around in darkness;
all the foundations of the earth are shaken.

6 I say, “You are gods,
children of the Most High, all of you;
7 nevertheless, you shall die like mortals,
and fall like any prince.”

8 Rise up, O God, judge the earth;
for all the nations belong to you!

OLD TESTAMENT
Genesis 27:1–29

27 When Isaac was old and his eyes were dim so that he could not see, he called his elder son Esau and said to him, “My son”; and he answered, “Here I am.” 2 He said, “See, I am old; I do not know the day of my death. 3 Now then, take your weapons, your quiver and your bow, and go out to the field, and hunt game for me. 4 Then prepare for me savory food, such as I like, and bring it to me to eat, so that I may bless you before I die.”

5 Now Rebekah was listening when Isaac spoke to his son Esau. So when Esau went to the field to hunt for game and bring it, 6 Rebekah said to her son Jacob, “I heard your father say to your brother Esau, 7 ‘Bring me game, and prepare for me savory food to eat, that I may bless you before the LORD before I die.’ 8 Now therefore, my son, obey my word as I command you. 9 Go to the flock, and get me two choice kids, so that I may prepare from them savory food for your father, such as he likes; 10 and you shall take it to your father to eat, so that he may bless you before he dies.” 11 But Jacob said to his mother Rebekah, “Look, my brother Esau is a hairy man, and I am a man of smooth skin. 12 Perhaps my father will feel me, and I shall seem to be mocking him, and bring a curse on myself and not a blessing.” 13 His mother said to him, “Let your curse be on me, my son; only obey my word, and go, get them for me.” 14 So he went and got them and brought them to his mother; and his mother prepared savory food, such as his father loved. 15 Then Rebekah took the best garments of her elder son Esau, which were with her in the house, and put them on her younger son Jacob; 16 and she put the skins of the kids on his hands and on the smooth part of his neck. 17 Then she handed the savory food, and the bread that she had prepared, to her son Jacob.

18 So he went in to his father, and said, “My father”; and he said, “Here I am; who are you, my son?” 19 Jacob said to his father, “I am Esau your firstborn. I have done as you told me; now sit up and eat of my game, so that you may bless me.” 20 But Isaac said to his son, “How is it that you have found it so quickly, my son?” He answered, “Because the LORD your God granted me success.” 21 Then Isaac said to Jacob, “Come near, that I may feel you, my son, to know whether you are really my son Esau or not.” 22 So Jacob went up to his father Isaac, who felt him and said, “The voice is Jacob’s voice, but the hands are the hands of Esau.” 23 He did not recognize him, because his hands were hairy like his brother Esau’s hands; so he blessed him. 24 He said, “Are you really my son Esau?” He answered, “I am.” 25 Then he said, “Bring it to me, that I may eat of my son’s game and bless you.” So he brought it to him, and he ate; and he brought him wine, and he drank. 26 Then his father Isaac said to him, “Come near and kiss me, my son.” 27 So he came near and kissed him; and he smelled the smell of his garments, and blessed him, and said,

“Ah, the smell of my son
is like the smell of a field that the LORD has blessed.
28 May God give you of the dew of heaven,
and of the fatness of the earth,
and plenty of grain and wine.
29 Let peoples serve you,
and nations bow down to you.
Be lord over your brothers,
and may your mother’s sons bow down to you.
Cursed be everyone who curses you,
and blessed be everyone who blesses you!”

NEW TESTAMENT
Romans 12:1–8

12 I appeal to you therefore, brothers and sisters, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. 2 Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds, so that you may discern what is the will of God—what is good and acceptable and perfect.

3 For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of yourself more highly than you ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned. 4 For as in one body we have many members, and not all the members have the same function, 5 so we, who are many, are one body in Christ, and individually we are members one of another. 6 We have gifts that differ according to the grace given to us: prophecy, in proportion to faith; 7 ministry, in ministering; the teacher, in teaching; 8 the exhorter, in exhortation; the giver, in generosity; the leader, in diligence; the compassionate, in cheerfulness.

GOSPEL
John 8:12–20

12 Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness but will have the light of life.” 13 Then the Pharisees said to him, “You are testifying on your own behalf; your testimony is not valid.” 14 Jesus answered, “Even if I testify on my own behalf, my testimony is valid because I know where I have come from and where I am going, but you do not know where I come from or where I am going. 15 You judge by human standards; I judge no one. 16 Yet even if I do judge, my judgment is valid; for it is not I alone who judge, but I and the Father who sent me. 17 In your law it is written that the testimony of two witnesses is valid. 18 I testify on my own behalf, and the Father who sent me testifies on my behalf.” 19 Then they said to him, “Where is your Father?” Jesus answered, “You know neither me nor my Father. If you knew me, you would know my Father also.” 20 He spoke these words while he was teaching in the treasury of the temple, but no one arrested him, because his hour had not yet come.

The Episcopal Church. Book of Common Prayer Lectionary