Here is the list of readings for this week: 2 chapters to read per day as the main reading plan, and extra chapters for anyone who wants to read the whole Bible in 2025. Reading 3 chapters a day on weekdays and 4 on weekends almost exactly covers the 1,189 chapters of the Bible, so the “extra” readings are about 9 chapters per week.
Follow along (or not) any way you choose!
Monday, September 1: 1 Corinthians 11-12 Tuesday, September 2: 1 Corinthians 13-14 Wednesday, September 3: 1 Corinthians 15-16 Thursday, September 4: Joshua 1-2 Friday, September 5: Joshua 3-4 Saturday, September 6: Joshua 5-6 Sunday, September 7: Joshua 7-8
Extra chapters for those reading the whole Bible this year: Jeremiah 39 – 47
On March 5th, 1776, a sudden change in the weather led to a decisive victory for the American Revolutionary Army and an end to the British occupation of Boston (see my post on that date here). On this date, August 30, in 1776, weather intervened again. The American Revolution could have ended in bitter loss, but for “a peculiar providential occurrence” – Pea-soup fog. “So very dense was the atmosphere,” remembered Benjamin Tallmadge, “that I could scarcely discern a man at six yards’ distance.” For the book “What Ifs? Of American History”, historian David McCullough wrote a chapter describing the significance of these events.[1]
After a humiliating loss in Brooklyn (including more than 1,000 surrendered troops), George Washington found himself and his 9,000-man army cornered at the end of a peninsula by a British force numbering over 30,000, plus a vast navy. Left with few options and overwhelming odds, George Washington quickly ordered the army to evacuate Brooklyn overnight by anything they could find or make that would float, across the East River to Manhattan. The escape depended entirely on the element of surprise and the cover of darkness. The scale and boldness of the escape was enormous – one Connecticut man recalled crossing the river 11 times that night, ferrying troops and equipment across. The evacuation continued well into the morning, when the British might easily have seen what was happening, close in, and utterly destroy Washington’s army.
However, the escape remained concealed under a different kind of darkness, because “a heavy fog settled in over the whole of Brooklyn, concealing everything no less than had the night”[2] By the time the fog cleared, the escape was complete, and the British, expecting a victorious day, were instead astonished by another overnight, weather-assisted, disappearing act by the American army.
McCullough says that without the fog: “Washington and half the Continental Army would have been in the bag, captured, and the American Revolution all but finished. Without Washington there almost certainly would have been no revolution.” Because of the fog, “the entire force, at least nine thousand troops, possibly more, plus baggage, provisions, horses, field guns, everything but five heavy cannon that were too deep in the mud to budge, had been transported over the river in a single night with a makeshift emergency armada assembled in a matter of hours. Not a life was lost.”
This was not the first time, nor would it be the last time, that weather – or Providence – would play a key role in the American struggle to break away from British rule. Therefore, let every people and nation seek the LORD this day, who can wield nature itself in favor of – or against – the very nations.
“Are there any among the false gods of the nations that can bring rain? Or can the heavens give showers? Are you not he, O LORD our God? We set our hope on you, for you do all these things.” – Jeremiah 14:22
[1] From “What the Fog Wrought.” David McCullough and Robert Cowley. What Ifs? Of American History (2003). P. 52-54. [2] McCullough, David. 1776 (2005). P. 191.
Of the millions (or billions? Trillions?) of new things published on the internet every day, a lot of it falls into the category of a “hot take,” defined by Merriam-Webster as “a quickly produced, strongly worded, and often deliberately provocative or sensational opinion or reaction (as in response to current news).” I have to admit I sometimes get jealous when I see the amount of attention this stuff gets (and feel guilty when I click on it and read it).
In many of these hot takes, the writer is stating an opinion about the future, but of course nobody knows the future. Can wisdom be based on knowledge of the future? The author of Ecclesiastes seems to say no:
“A fool multiplies words, though no man knows what is to be, and who can tell him what will be after him?”[1]
Since “no man knows what is to be,” it would seem that “I don’t know the future” is a better starting point for wisdom than “I have a strong opinion about what’s going to happen next.” Talking a lot about something where the starting point is wrong is foolish. Unfortunately, it’s the best way to get attention and make money online in our modern culture. Wisdom is out of style.
How much time and effort is put into predicting sports, politics, and many other things with no evaluation of accuracy or value? Imagine if people on the internet were held to the standard Old Testament prophets were supposed to be held to: “But the prophet who presumes to speak a word in my name that I have not commanded him to speak, or who speaks in the name of other gods, that same prophet shall die.’ And if you say in your heart, ‘How may we know the word that the LORD has not spoken?’— when a prophet speaks in the name of the LORD, if the word does not come to pass or come true, that is a word that the LORD has not spoken; the prophet has spoken it presumptuously. You need not be afraid of him.” (Deuteronomy 18:20-22)
Nowadays we hardly keep track of whether people’s opinions and predictions are right or wrong. We just enjoy tossing entertaining opinions around. We prefer provocative and interesting over correct and useful, or wise. Jimmy Wales, the founder of Wikipedia, made a great point when he said: “The news media has decided that the way to arrive at neutrality is to put two opposing voices together and let them yell at each other.” That’s entertainment, I guess.
Anyway, you won’t see many “hot takes” here, and I’ll just have to be satisfied with fewer clicks and follows.
To do otherwise would be foolish according to Ecclesiastes, which was written with the assistance of Someone who does know the future.
Social media is a great place to share short bursts of pontification, whether in memes, quips, quotes, or what have you. Sometimes a little more research may do some good, though. Several times recently I’ve seen the quote below shared by people protesting what they see as people in power playing loose with information to pompously push pernicious policies that are precariously close to imperious:
“Truly, whoever can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities.” – Voltaire
Since this quote was often posted by Christians, they might be appalled by the context of the quote:
“Formerly there were those who said: You believe things that are incomprehensible, inconsistent, impossible because we have commanded you to believe them; go then and do what is unjust because we command it. Such people show admirable reasoning. Truly, whoever can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities. If the God‐given understanding of your mind does not resist a demand to believe what is impossible, then you will not resist a demand to do wrong to that God‐given sense of justice in your heart. As soon as one faculty of your soul has been dominated, other faculties will follow as well. And from this derives all those crimes of religion which have overrun the world.”
On the positive side, “the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.”[1] Being a Christian requires holding on tight to things that seem absurdities to the world, but it also means we have the “God-given sense of justice” that requires we show mercy to those whose absurdities are different from our own.
If I post anything that seems absurd, please let me know, mercifully… ( I think Abraham Lincoln said something similar on his website)
During His life on earth, Jesus called 12 men to special positions as His disciples or apostles. Out of these 12, at least 4 and possibly 7, were fishermen, a common trade at that time. The gospels have many fishing stories, including one in Luke 5 when Jesus is about to call His first disciples.
One morning after Simon Peter and some other fishermen had been working all night without catching anything, Jesus decided to preach from Simon’s boat to the crowd that was following Him. After teaching, Jesus told Simon: “Put out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch.”[1] Simon answered: “Master, we toiled all night and took nothing! But at your word I will let down the nets.”[2]
Simon ended up obeying, but not before objecting: “Master, we toiled all night and took nothing!” Some questions may have gone through Simon’s mind: Did this travelling rabbi just tell me how to do my job? Nighttime was the best time for fishing, and they caught nothing, so why did He tell them to try again? Maybe Jesus, as a non-professional, didn’t know that? Maybe he felt like “I’m the expert here!”
However, Jesus knew what He was doing because when they obeyed, “they enclosed a large number of fish, and their nets were breaking.” There were so many fish that, they “filled both the boats, so that they began to sink.”[3]
One lesson of this story is that Jesus can perform miracles by controlling nature. Another is that Jesus had an unlimited ability to help Simon and the others do their jobs! And if Jesus was better than professional fisherman at fishing, what does that mean for other jobs? Jesus always knows better than we do about any job!
So, whether you’ve had a productive day, or you feel like you’ve “toiled all night and took nothing” don’t hesitate to ask Jesus for career advice! As Simon (later known as Peter) wrote in his own letter, “Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you, casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you.” – 1 Peter 5:6-7
Driving Toward the Morning Sun 