July 14, 2026 - Deuteronomy 14 & Psalm 135

We read Deuteronomy 14 and Psalm 135, then connect God’s commands about food and giving to a bigger call to holiness, joy, and trust. We also contrast Yahweh with powerless idols and end with a practical prayer focus for our student ministry week.

For more information about Compass Bible Church South Valley, visit compassbiblesv.org. Keep reading. Keep growing. God’s Word is a lamp to your feet, and a light to your path. 

Transcript

Welcome And Plan Setup

SPEAKER_00 0:01

Welcome to the Lamp and Light Bible Reading Plan, where we are seeking to love the Lord our God with all of our heart, soul, mind, and strength with God's word lighting the way. I'm Tyler Sanborn, Student Ministry Director at Compass Bible Church South Valley. Today is Tuesday, July 14, 2026.

Deuteronomy 14 Read Aloud

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Listen intently to God's written word, Deuteronomy fourteen. You are the sons of the Lord your God. You shall not cut yourselves or make any baldness on your foreheads for the dead, for you are a people holy to the Lord your God, and the Lord has chosen you to be a people for his treasured possession, out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth. You shall not eat any abomination, these are the animals you may eat, the ox, the sheep, the goat, the deer, the gazelle, the robuck, the wild goat, the ibex, the antelope, and the mountain sheep. Every animal that parts the hoof and has the hoof cloven into and chews the cud, among the animals you may eat. Yet of those that chew the cud or have the hoof cloven, you shall not eat these, the camel, the hare, and the rock badger, because they chew the cud but do not part the hoof, are unclean for you. And the pig, because it parts the hoof, but does not chew the cud is unclean for you. Their flesh you shall not eat, and their carcasses you shall not touch. Of all that are in the waters, you may eat these. Whatever has fins and scales you may eat, and whatever does not have fins and scales you shall not eat. It is unclean for you. You may eat all clean birds, but these are the ones that you shall not eat, the eagle, the bearded vulture, the black vulture, the kite, the falcon of any kind, every raven of any kind, the ostrich, the nighthawk, the seagull, the hawk of any kind, the little owl and the short eared owl, the barn owl and the tawny owl, the carrion vulture and the cormorant, the stork, the heron of any kind, the hoopo and the bat, and all winged insects are unclean for you, they shall not be eaten. All clean winged things you may eat. You shall not eat anything that has died naturally, you may give it to the sojourner who is within your towns, that he may eat it, or you may sell it to a foreigner, for you are a people holy to the Lord your God. You shall not boil a young goat in its mother's milk. You shall tithe all the yield of your seed that comes from the field year by year, and before the Lord your God in the place that he will choose, to make his name dwell there, you shall eat the tithe of your grain, of your wine, and of your oil, and the firstborn of your herd and flock, that you may learn to fear the Lord your God always, and if the way is too long for you, so that you are not able to carry the tithe, when the Lord your God blesses you, because the place is too far from you, which the Lord your God chooses, to set his name there, then you shall turn it into money, and bind up the money in your hand and go to the place that the Lord your God chooses, and spend the money for whatever you desire, oxen or sheep, or wine or strong drink, whatever your appetite craves, and you shall eat there before the Lord your God and rejoice, you and your household, and you shall not neglect the Levite who is within your towns, for he has no portion or inheritance with you. At the end of every three years you shall bring out all the tithe of your produce in the same year and lay it up within your towns, and the Levite, because he has no portion or inheritance with you, and the sojourner, the fatherless and the widow, who are within your towns, shall come and eat and be filled, that the Lord your God may bless you in all the work of your hands that you do.

Psalm 135 Read Aloud

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Psalm one thirty five. O servants of the Lord who stand in the house of the Lord, in the courts of the house of our God. Praise the Lord, for the Lord is good, sing to his name, for it is pleasant. For the Lord has chosen Jacob for himself, Israel as his own possession, for I know that the Lord is great, and that all our Lord is above all gods. Whatever the Lord pleases, he does in heaven and on earth, in the seas and all deeps. He it is who makes the clouds rise at the end of the earth, who makes lightnings for the rain, and brings forth the wind from his storehouses, he it is who struck down the firstborn of Egypt, both of man and of beast, who in your midst, O Egypt, sent signs and wonders against Pharaoh and all his servants, who struck down many nations and killed mighty kings, Sion the king of the Amorites, and Og, king of Boshan, and all the kingdoms of Canaan, and gave their land as a heritage, a heritage to his people, Israel. Your name, O Lord, endures forever, your renown, O Lord, throughout the ages, for the Lord will vindicate his people and have compassion on his servants. The idols of the nations are silver and gold, the work of human hands, they have mouths but do not speak, they have eyes but do not see, they have ears but do not hear, nor is there any breath in their mouths. Those who make them become like them, so do all who trust in them. O house of Israel, bless the Lord, O house of Aaron, bless the Lord, O house of Levi, bless the Lord, you who fear the Lord, bless the Lord. Blessed be the Lord from Zion, he who dwells in Jerusalem, praise the Lord.

Why The Clean And Unclean List

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Deuteronomy fourteen details the lists of animals that are clean to eat, and those that are unclean, those that the Lord permits his people to consume, and those animals who the Lord forbids. And this chapter is full of the names of these different animals, of animals uh that walk on the earth, and animals that fly in the air, and animals that swim in the seas, in the waters, and uh this list of animals here many of them are animals that you may have been familiar with, whether it's birds of prey, uh, animals uh of the of the field um and fish of the sea. Uh, and but you may be thinking, um, but why? Why is this list uh not all inclusive? Why is this list only naming some animals? Well, part of that reason is because it is detailing the animals of this specific region uh of the world, but also um you might be thinking, well, why why certain animals with uh that that have a certain kind of hoof or a certain animal that that chews the cud or doesn't chew the cud? Um we see time and time again that God's people are to be set apart and he decides, God decides what is good, what is bad, what is pleasing to him, and what is not. And God's people are delivered out of the land of Egypt and are set apart and being delivered into a land that he has promised them. So there are some details there about what animals they might even get into as they enter the promised land that might not be um present with them as they are uh wandering in the wilderness. But we see the list nonetheless there at the beginning of chapter 14.

Tithing With Joy And Rejoicing

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And the second half of Deuteronomy 14 uh speaks to the ways that Israel is commanded to tithe from the field year after year, what is being produced in this agricultural uh landscape, what is going to be done with uh the first fruits, what is done with uh the the uh the yields from the crop. And uh we see the the details here of uh as the people of Israel enter the land of Canaan, uh certain individuals may be further away uh from a place that they would make these tithes, and there's instructions even uh as how to uh exchange these um these yields from the field, uh exchange it for money, and then go and purchase with that money uh certain possessions uh for for their consumption, for their uh for their pleasure. And this is something that uh they should do with with joy and rejoicing, and they should do it as a household, as we see in verse uh 26. Verse 26 details, and you shall eat there before the Lord your God and rejoice, you and your household. And then it goes on to speak to uh the Levites, those who do not have a a portion or inheritance, because theirs is the Lord. So there is provision here every three years. They bring their tithes and who benefits. It's uh God's uh God's servants in around the tabernacle, as well as the fatherless, uh the widow, the sojourner, and those who uh have no portion in these towns, they're gonna come and feast and eat to their fill. And this is uh another reminder that God is continually taking care of those who are in need, the the Levites, as are dependent on the obedience of uh the people of Israel to provide for them, uh, as God would command and instruct them. Ultimately, their provision is from the Lord, like all people. And as we see the the details of the uh individuals who are in need, the fatherless, so the uh those who are without uh a husband, uh a dad, uh those without a husband, the widow, and those who are sojourning, these are the people that are going to uh to benefit um from God's law, God's command here in Deuteronomy chapter 14.

God’s Provision Into The Promised Land

SPEAKER_00 11:32

Now, as we look over to the Psalms, I was looking here, and the the connection uh of God's people being delivered from Egypt and and led into the promised land, it is God and his provision that continues to be on full display. It is God who endures in his name forever. Uh, the different names of the different households, uh, the different tribes of Israel will enter into the promised land, into the land of Canaan, and they will have a portion, a certain um region of this land of Canaan that that they will have according to their number, according to the number of people within their tribes. And it is God that is going to have the victory over the kings that are along the way, and even the kingdoms inside Canaan. And why why do these kings get flushed out and and defeated? It's because the people of Israel were given a promise by God. This land was theirs for the taking, and God is going to deliver it to them firsthand as a heritage to his own people. It's it's the people of Israel that God chose. It wasn't any other nation uh on earth. And the Lord, uh the name of the Lord Yahweh, the great I am, is deserving of praise. And we see this repeated phrase: praise the name of the Lord. He is worthy, he deserves the praise. We see that at the beginning of this psalm in 135 and the conclusion of this psalm as well. That the last three verses are calling out in repeated fashion, bless the Lord, bless the Lord, bless the Lord. Time and time again here in the conclusion. And it's a reminder though, this is not a song of ascent, they're not making their way to Jerusalem for the different feasts and festivals. This is a psalm that draws the attention of the people of Israel to God's great provision, their victories in battle, their land that would be uh provided and given to them.

Rejecting Idols And False Gods

SPEAKER_00 13:45

Um and and uh also this psalm is is bringing our attention to idols. Uh, yesterday we we looked at uh Deuteronomy and the strong uh warnings and charges that the people of Israel were given for those who would be led away to serve false gods in Deuteronomy 13. And here we see again in verses 15 through 18 to reject uh these idols that were made by human hands to go and serve false gods. There is no God other than Yahweh, as we see at the beginning of this psalm. Praise the name of the Lord, give praise, O servants of the Lord, uh praise the Lord for he is good. In verse 3, sing to his name, and there are no other gods but Yahweh. They are false, they are fake, they are man-made, fictitious gods, and the people who worship them, who serve them, who bow down to them, it is these people who will become like these gods. Um they will be defeated. The the just like the the gods of Egypt, one after another, after another, the plagues are attacking and tearing down these gods, and they're man-made, they're dreamt up and imagined by human beings, and they have no eternal substance. They have an they have a a fictitious and wicked origin, where the god of Israel has no origin, for he is everlasting and uh eternal. Those who make them become like them, so do all who trust in them, as we see verse 18. Uh, there is destruction, there is death that come from these gods, because if you serve any other god, any other uh power that is genuine and real being Yahweh or fictitious and made up, dreamt up by mankind, your your hope and your your eternal uh future is tied into the the God that you serve, the one that you put your hope and your trust in, and the gods of mankind that are dreamt up um are ultimately defeated, one after the other, after the other, after the other. The nations that serve and worship these gods in the the old testament will see many of them experience times of success, but ultimately they are defeated and they have no power. No, no God, no nation has power over the God that is their creator. It this makes no sense. If you are the created, you cannot have power over your maker, and that is the the heart of this uh psalm and this passage here, the section verses uh 15 through 18.

Praise And Our Inheritance In Christ

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So we conclude with praising the Lord. We begin this psalm with praising the Lord, and that should be a great reminder and a prompt to us to praise the Lord, whatever our our hands find to do, uh work hard unto the Lord and praise him through our efforts, praise him through the ways that we uh we speak, we speak about God and worship him, the way that we communicate and interact with our brothers and sisters in Christ and those who are around us in our communities, in our extended families. For God is worthy, he is worthy to be praised. And this is another great reminder for us that our our portion, our inheritance, as we look to verse four, for the Lord has chosen Jacob for himself, Israel for his own possession. If you are purchased by the blood of Christ, you are God's possession. God has purchased you with a price, and your inheritance, your portion is life everlasting with your creator. And we will dwell with him forever as we look forward to Christ's return. We have work to do, but nonetheless, our portion is in him because of the work of Christ and the possession that he has sealed and secured uh for himself as he rose victorious over the grave.

Prayer For Ignite Student Camp

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Now, one thing that I'd like to encourage us all to do as uh as you're listening to this, this is the first day of Ignite. Our middle school and high schoolers will be at NNU. Um and this is the the highlight of our summer for student ministry. So if you would please pray that our students would have a good understanding of the Holy Spirit and the Holy Spirit's role in in salvation and creation uh in sustaining life as we know it. And would you please uh pray along with me that God would be glorified, the name of Christ will be magnified as we focus on uh the Holy Spirit. Empowered is the theme of this camp uh at NNU, and we'd love for you to join along with us in praying that God would do a great work and ultimately that God would save souls through uh the preaching of his word at this camp and through meaningful discussions, meaningful prayer time uh as our students focus in this upcoming week.

Closing Encouragement And Website

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Well, thanks so much for joining us on the Lamp and Light Bible Reading Podcast. For more information about Compass Bible Church South Valley, visit compass bible s v.org. Keep reading, keep growing. God's word is a lamp to your feet and a light to your path.