July 24, 2026 - Deuteronomy 23 & Psalm 144

We read Deuteronomy 23 and Psalm 144.

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 Today’s Date

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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 Josiah Smith, Lee, Pastor of Compass South Valley. Today is Friday, July 24th, 2026.

Deuteronomy 23 Read Aloud

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Listen intently to God's written word, Deuteronomy 23. No one whose testicles are crushed or whose male organ is cut off shall enter the assembly of the Lord. No one born of a forbidden union may enter the assembly of the Lord, even to the tenth generation, none of his descendants may enter the assembly of the Lord. No Ammonite or Moabite may enter the assembly of the Lord, even to the tenth generation, none of them may enter the assembly of the Lord forever, because they did not meet you with bread and with water on the way when you came out of Egypt, and because they hired against you Balam the son of Baor from Pether of Mesopotamia to curse you. But the Lord your God would not listen to Balam. Instead, the Lord your God turned the curse into a blessing for you, because the Lord your God loved you. You shall not seek their peace or their prosperity all your days forever. You shall not abhor an Edomite, for he is your brother. You shall not abhor an Egyptian, because you are a sojourner in his land. Children born to them in the third generation may enter the assembly of the Lord. When you are encamped against your enemies, then you shall keep yourself from every evil thing. If any man among you becomes unclean because of a nocturnal emission, then you shall go outside the camp. He shall not come inside the camp. But when evening comes he shall bathe himself in the water, and as the sun sets he may come inside the camp. You shall have a place outside the camp, and you shall go out to it, and you shall have a trowel with your tools, and when you sit down outside, you shall dig a hole with it, and turn back and cover up your excrement. Because the Lord your God walks in the midst of your camp, to deliver you, and to give up your enemies before you, therefore your camp must be holy, so that he may not see anything indecent among you and turn away from you. You shall not give up to his master a slave who has escaped from his master to you. He shall dwell with you in your midst, and the place that he shall choose within one of your towns, wherever it suits him. You shall not wrong him. None of the daughters of Israel shall be a cult prostitute, and none of the sons of Israel shall be a cult prostitute. You shall not bring the fee of a prostitute or the wages of a dog into the house of the Lord your God in payment for any vow, for both of these are an abomination to the Lord your God. You shall not charge interest on loans to your brother, interest on money, interest on food, interest on anything that is lent for interest. You may charge a foreigner interest, but you may not charge your brother interest, that the Lord your God may bless you in all that you undertake in the land that you are entering to take possession of. If you make a vow to the Lord your God, you shall not delay fulfilling it, for the Lord your God will surely require it of you, and you will be guilty of sin. But if you refrain from vowing, you will not be guilty of sin. You shall be careful to do what has passed your lips, for you have voluntarily vowed to the Lord your God with what you have promised with your mouth. If you go into your neighbor's vineyard, you may eat your fill of grapes, as many as you wish, but you shall not put any in your bag. If you go into your neighbor's standing grain, you may pluck the ears with your hand, but you shall not put a sickle to your neighbor's standing grain.

Psalm 144 Read Aloud

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Psalm one forty four. Blessed be the Lord, my rock, who trains my hands for war, and my fingers for battle. He is my steadfast love and my fortress, my stronghold and my deliverer, my shield and he in whom I take refuge, who subdues peoples under me. O Lord, what is man that you regard him, or the Son of Man that you think of him? Man is like a breath, his days are like a passing shadow. Bow your heavens, O Lord, and come down. Touch the mountains so that they smoke, flash forth the lightning and scatter them, send out your arrows and rout them, stretch out your hand from on high, rescue me and deliver me from the many waters, from the hand of foreigners, whose mouths speak lies, and whose right hand is a right hand of falsehood. I will sing a new song to you, O God, upon a ten stringed harp I will play to you, who gives victory to kings, who rescues David his servant from the cute the cruel sword, rescue me and deliver me from the hand of foreigners, whose mouths speak lies, and whose right hand is a right hand of falsehood. May our sons and their youth be like plants full grown, our daughters like corner pillars, cut for the structure of a palace. May our granaries be full, providing all kinds of produce, may our sheep bring forth thousands and ten thousands in our fields. May our cattle be heavy with young, suffering no mishap or failure in bearing. May there be no cry of distress in our streets. Blessed are the people to whom such blessings fall. Blessed are the people whose God is the Lord.

Man Is A Breath Yet Known

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Now one verse I want to focus on specifically in Psalm 144 is verse four. Now this comes after the kind of realization of God being mindful of man, regarding man. So in verse three it says, O Lord, what is man that you regard him, or the son of man that you think of him? So there's this sense of pondering the reality that the God of the universe, the one who is our fortress, our stronghold, our shield, as it says in verses one and two. Um, though man is frail, though man is uh just a mere creature, uh God nevertheless regards us. Uh it says, the Son of Man, that you think of him. So verse 4, man is like a breath, his days are like a passing shadow. So there's this sense of the solemn, this David, that he is being uh amazed. He's amazed at the reality uh that God would regard him or would regard mankind. Uh he's reflecting on the reality that our lives are just a flash in the pan. Man is like a breath, his days are like a passing shadow. And even though there's a sense uh on a cosmic scale of uh in in comparison, a level of insignificance that we have uh in the face of a holy God, nevertheless, David is in awe that God would be mindful of him, that God would regard him, uh, that God would think of him. And so this, I think, even is a sense in which we can come to God with confidence, we can come to God uh with hopeful expectation that he will hear us and care for us because of this reality. Because even though our lives are like a breath, our days are like a passing shadow that's here and and gone, and uh, we are our lifespan in the in the face of eternity is a flash in the pan. Nevertheless, God cares for us. I love even how uh Jesus, when he's kind of talking about anxiety, he says, if God knows how to feed the birds of the air and care for them, how much more is he going to care for you? And so, what a great question here in verse three of Psalm 144. What is man that you regard him, or the son of man that you think of him? Man is like a breath, his days are like a passing shadow. And yet the God who is of infinite value, of infinite worth, is mindful of us, he regards us, he thinks of us, uh, and he ultimately cares for us. And that's a sure footing uh for going to the Lord in prayer, which is how this psalm really opens in verse one. Blessed be the Lord my rock, who trains my hands for war and my fingers for battle. He is my steadfast love and my fortress, my stronghold and my deliverer, my shield, and he in whom I take refuge, who subdues people under me. And so there's this confidence that David has because of this reality, because of God's care and uh his noticing uh of

Praying For Sons And Daughters

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him. Now, another verse I want to point out here in Psalm 144 is verse 12. May our sons in their youth be like plants full grown, our daughters like corner pillars, cut for the structure of a palace. What great things for us to desire and pray on behalf of our children. Um, now these seem like somewhat awkward categories. We want our sons to be like plants full grown, we want our daughters to be like corner pillars. Uh, but think about what's being said here plants full grown. There's a sense of um fruitfulness, there's a sense of vibrancy and vitality, there's growth that's uh indicated by this. And of course, daughters like corner pillars, a corner pillar is uh pivotal and sort of a structural foundation. So there's these roles of strength and health and vitality that uh David is praying on behalf of the youth. May our sons and their youth, may our daughters in their youth uh be these very vibrant, uh healthy uh people who ultimately are fearing the Lord and just great categories for us to think through on behalf of our own kids and to pray for. God, would you make our sons like plants full grown? Would you make our daughters like corner pillars cut for the structure of a palace? That's a royal uh place. And even uh, if you think of uh if you think back all the way to Psalm 128, um, verse 3 says, Your wife will be like a fruitful vine within your house. So this is in the context of children kind of being a blessing to the Lord, a heritage to the Lord. Uh Psalm 127, 28, kind of twin psalms there. And it says, Your wife will be like a fruitful vine within your house, your children will be like olive shoots around your table. And so all of this language is about blessing and uh again, vibrancy, health, vitality. And so these are things that we should desire, of course, for ourselves, but also for our children. May our sons in their youth be like plants full grown, and our daughters like corner pillars. So there's some just some great encouragements. Of course, we see uh many things said of the Lord. He is our rock, he's our steadfast love and our fortress. Uh, so many great things to reflect on here today in our psalm.

Reading Hard Texts And Closing

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Now, in our reading in Deuteronomy, as we continue on there, uh, just some more laws. So we have laws about those who are excluded from the assembly, those who are, of course, unclean in the camp, and uh, you know, other miscellaneous laws about eating grapes if you go into your neighbor's vineyard and such things like that. So uh it can be difficult to kind of wade through some of these things, but but recognize that all scripture is breathed out by God and is profitable. Uh, so take some time just to kind of wrestle through what you're seeing there in Deuteronomy 23 and even give thanks to the Lord for being your rock and your fortress in Psalm 144 and just praising him that even though man is like a breath and our days are like a passing shadow, that the Lord cares for us and the Lord regards us. Well, thank you so much for joining us today on the Lamp and Light Bible Reading Podcast. For more information about Compass Bible Church South Valley, visit compass Bible SV.org. Keep reading, keep growing. God's word is a lamp to your feet and a light to your path.