Latest / Lamp and Light Bible Reading Plan / August 4, 2026 - Deuteronomy 32 & Proverbs 3

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August 4, 2026 - Deuteronomy 32 & Proverbs 3 · Lamp and Light Bible Reading Plan

• 0:01
  SPEAKER_00: Welcome to the Lamp and Light Bible 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.
• 0:09
  SPEAKER_00: I'm Josiah Smith, the pastor of Compass South Valley.
• 0:12
  SPEAKER_00: Today is Tuesday, August 4th, 2026.
• 0:26
  SPEAKER_00: Here's a quick summary of Deuteronomy 32.
• 0:30
  SPEAKER_00: Deuteronomy 32 is an extension of what began at the end of Deuteronomy 31.
• 0:37
  SPEAKER_00: So this is the song of Moses.
• 0:39
  SPEAKER_00: Now remember, this was given to Moses, or God instructed Moses really to create this song or to sing this song, speak this song, kind of forward-looking to the day where Israel would ultimately and somewhat inevitably rebel against him.
• 0:57
  SPEAKER_00: So it's kind of an indictment.
• 0:59
  SPEAKER_00: But there's a lot of things kind of woven together here.
• 1:01
  SPEAKER_00: We've got themes of God's justice, God's steadiness.
• 1:05
  SPEAKER_00: He's likened to a rock in verse 4, the rock, his work is perfect.
• 1:09
  SPEAKER_00: So even though Israel is not steady, not constant, God continues to be faithful and constant.
• 1:15
  SPEAKER_00: And so this is both an indictment on Israel's sin and rebellion, but it's also an indication and a reminder of the faithfulness of God in the midst of judgment and uh even the mercy that He's displays through it.
• 1:32
  SPEAKER_00: Now here's a quick summary of Proverbs three.
• 1:35
  SPEAKER_00: Proverbs three holds the famous verses that perhaps you know well, Proverbs three, five, and six.
• 1:42
  SPEAKER_00: Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding.
• 1:47
  SPEAKER_00: In all your ways, acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.
• 1:53
  SPEAKER_00: So this chapter continues as an extension, of course, of chapter two.
• 1:57
  SPEAKER_00: That's kind of set more positively with the father giving instructions to the son and talking about the benefits, the value of wisdom.
• 2:06
  SPEAKER_00: Now we see here in Proverbs three kind of some of the even the dangers and warnings that are associated with rejecting wisdom that kind of shows itself in a lack of trust in God and ultimately uh a trust in self.
• 2:22
  SPEAKER_00: Now, one of the things that I want you to notice in Proverbs three specifically is all of the do not phrases.
• 2:32
  SPEAKER_00: There's about 11 of them in this chapter.
• 2:34
  SPEAKER_00: And if you're a person that likes to highlight, if you put different colors in your Bible, this would be a good thing to take note of because it kind of gives you the shape of the chapter as a whole.
• 2:44
  SPEAKER_00: So even in verse one, my son, do not forget my teaching.
• 2:50
  SPEAKER_00: Verse five, trust in the Lord with all your heart and do not lean on your own understanding.
• 2:55
  SPEAKER_00: Verse 11, my son, do not despise the Lord's discipline or be weary of his reproof.
• 3:02
  SPEAKER_00: Verse 21, my son, do not lose sight of these, those teachings.
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  SPEAKER_00: Verse 25, do not be afraid of sudden terror or of the ruin of the wicked when it comes, for the Lord will be your confidence and will keep your foot from being caught.
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  SPEAKER_00: Verse 27, do not withhold good from those to whom it is due when it is in your power to do it.
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  SPEAKER_00: Verse 28, do not say to your neighbor, Go and come again.
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  SPEAKER_00: Tomorrow I will give it when you have it with you.
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  SPEAKER_00: Verse 29, do not plan evil against your neighbor who dwells trustingly beside you.
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  SPEAKER_00: Verse 30, do not contend with a man for no reason when he has done you no harm.
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  SPEAKER_00: Verse 31, do not envy a man of violence, and do not chase any of his ways.
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  SPEAKER_00: And so if you kind of key in on these verses, kind of strewn throughout chapter three, it'll kind of help you get the overall thrust of what's being communicated here.
• 3:58
  SPEAKER_00: Lots of warnings of what your life can look like if you lean on your own understanding, really.
• 4:06
  SPEAKER_00: And it's a it's a more positive admonition or encouragement to trust in the Lord.
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  SPEAKER_00: And that trust in the Lord is supposed to work itself out in a very practical way.
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  SPEAKER_00: So a trust in the Lord means you entrust yourself to what he has said, to what he has commanded.
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  SPEAKER_00: And of course, that's going to lead towards a sense of obedience.
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  SPEAKER_00: So when it says do not lose sight of these things, do not be afraid, when it talks about uh do not withhold good, do not say to your neighbor, do not plan evil, all of that really is kind of centered around the you could say central do not verse of verse five.
• 4:42
  SPEAKER_00: Do not lean on your own understanding.
• 4:44
  SPEAKER_00: So this chapter is pushing us, urging us to trust in the Lord with all of our heart, not to lean on our own understanding.
• 4:53
  SPEAKER_00: Of course, that's a rejection of wisdom.
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  SPEAKER_00: Wisdom does not come from within ourselves, wisdom is not produced by experience.
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  SPEAKER_00: Wisdom comes from fearing the Lord.
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  SPEAKER_00: So we trust him, trust in the Lord with all of our hearts, and do not lean on our own understandings in all of our ways.
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  SPEAKER_00: Acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.
• 5:13
  SPEAKER_00: Now, of course, if you were with us a few weeks ago, we worked through Proverbs 3, 5 through 8.
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  SPEAKER_00: So I would just commend that to you on our YouTube channel.
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  SPEAKER_00: Uh, I think it's called Learning to Trust God.
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  SPEAKER_00: Um so would love for you just to hopefully be encouraged by that sermon as kind of a further deep dive here in Proverbs 3.
• 5:34
  SPEAKER_00: But again, just to kind of give you a shape of the chapter, I would just highlight all the do not passages, all the do not verses rather, and kind of drill down there to get to give you a just a clear idea of how trusting in the Lord should work itself out in your life practically.
• 5:52
  SPEAKER_00: Now, here in Deuteronomy 32, we have what's referred to as the song of Moses.
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  SPEAKER_00: Now, I read something that I thought was interesting.
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  SPEAKER_00: Um different commentaries kind of have different, of course, perspectives on this passage in Deuteronomy 32.
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  SPEAKER_00: Uh, but many of them will talk about how it's written as a sort of covenant lawsuit, which I thought was very fascinating.
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  SPEAKER_00: Um, from the perspective of essentially God Yahweh uh is suing Israel, so to speak.
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  SPEAKER_00: Uh, he's again he's indicting them, he's interrogating Israel because of their unfaithfulness, because of their idolatry.
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  SPEAKER_00: So it follows this pattern of kind of a legal lawsuit, if you will, a divine legal lawsuit.
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  SPEAKER_00: And the the chapter opens uh with heaven and earth called as witnesses.
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  SPEAKER_00: You can see that there in verse one.
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  SPEAKER_00: Give ear, O heavens, and I will speak and let the earth hear the words of my mouth.
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  SPEAKER_00: And so there's this declaration of God's character, kind of in verses one through four, who he is.
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  SPEAKER_00: Um, verse four: the rock, his work is perfect, for all his ways are justice, a God of faithfulness and without iniquity or sin.
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  SPEAKER_00: Just and upright is he.
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  SPEAKER_00: And right after we see the witnesses being called, heaven and earth, after we see the character of God affirmed, it moves into interrogation and accusation in there there in verse five and six.
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  SPEAKER_00: They have dealt corruptly with him.
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  SPEAKER_00: Now they, of course, collectively is Israel, they are no longer his children because they are blemished.
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  SPEAKER_00: They are a crooked and twisted generation.
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  SPEAKER_00: Do you thus repay the Lord, you foolish and senseless people?
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  SPEAKER_00: Is this how you're going to treat the Lord?
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  SPEAKER_00: Is not he your father who created you, who made you, and establishes established you?
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  SPEAKER_00: So we have this interrogation and accusation uh against Israel, and then it moves to a kind of a recounting of God's mighty acts on Israel's behalf.
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  SPEAKER_00: So this was done often uh throughout the Old Testament, specifically, it was even done in Leviticus.
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  SPEAKER_00: It was done, it was done really in Exodus and moving on.
• 8:09
  SPEAKER_00: So Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and now Deuteronomy, we see this uh sort of invocation of the events of the Exodus, where God delivers Israel, where he saves them and rescues them.
• 8:23
  SPEAKER_00: And so that's exactly what we see here in verse seven verses seven through fourteen.
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  SPEAKER_00: Remember the days of old, consider the years of many generations, ask your father, and he will show you, your elders, and they will tell you.
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  SPEAKER_00: When the Most High gave to the nations their inheritance, when he divided mankind, he fixed the borders of the people according to the number of the sons of God.
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  SPEAKER_00: But the Lord's portion is his people, Jacob, Jacob, his allotted heritage.
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  SPEAKER_00: He found him in a desert land and in the howling waste of the wilderness.
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  SPEAKER_00: He encircled him, he cared for him.
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  SPEAKER_00: So this is just a kind of recounting of God's mighty acts on Israel's behalf, uh, going all the way back to Jacob, of course, uh, even mentioning the Exodus and how God rescued them and formed them as a nation.
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  SPEAKER_00: Um, and then it delivers a direct sort of indictment of Israel's unfaithfulness.
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  SPEAKER_00: So, verse 15, really through verse 18, uh, but Jeshuron grew fat and kicked.
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  SPEAKER_00: You grew fat, stout, and sleek.
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  SPEAKER_00: Then he forsook God who made him and scoffed at the rock of his salvation.
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  SPEAKER_00: Now remember the context of chapter 31, where Moses, well, God says to Moses, uh basically, that Israel, they're he's gonna take them into the promised land, he's gonna lead some lead them to Canaan, the land filling with milk and honey, and they're gonna feast, they're gonna go fat, and then they're gonna they're going to rebel, they're they're going to uh be idolatrous, they're gonna worship false gods.
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  SPEAKER_00: So that's exactly what we see uh said here in verses 15 through 18.
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  SPEAKER_00: And there's then there's kind of judgment that's pronounced as a result, verse 19.
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  SPEAKER_00: The Lord saw it and spurned them because of the provocation of his sons and daughters.
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  SPEAKER_00: They provoked him, and he and he said, verse 20, I will hide my face from them, I will see what their end will be, for they are a perverse generation, children in whom is no uh faithfulness.
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  SPEAKER_00: Uh but what's interesting is that we see through this indication and this uh indictment, rather, we see through this judgment, uh, there is a kind of a word of hope, um, an assurance ultimately of Israel's deliverance.
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  SPEAKER_00: So, even in the midst of their rebellion, their idolatry, their wickedness, their twisted, wicked generation, as it says, God is still faithful.
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  SPEAKER_00: So, beginning of verse 26, I would have said, I will cut them to pieces, I will wipe them from human memory, had I not feared provocation by the enemy, lest their adversaries should misunderstand, lest they should say, Our hand is triumphant.
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  SPEAKER_00: It was not the Lord who did all this.
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  SPEAKER_00: For they are a nation void of counsel, and there is no understanding in them.
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  SPEAKER_00: If they were wise, they would understand this, they would discern their latter end.
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  SPEAKER_00: How could one have chased a thousand and two have put ten thousand to flight, unless their rock, unless their God had sold them, and the Lord had given them up?
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  SPEAKER_00: For their rock is not as our rock, our enemies are by themselves, for their vine comes from the vine of Sodom and from the fields of Gomorrah.
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  SPEAKER_00: Their grapes are grapes of poison, their clusters are bitter, their wine is the poison of serpents, and the cruel venom of asps.
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  SPEAKER_00: Is not this laid up in store with me, sealed up in my treasures?
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  SPEAKER_00: Vengeance is mine and recompense for the time when their foot shall slip, for the day of their calamity is at hand, and their doom comes swiftly.
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  SPEAKER_00: For the Lord will vindicate his people, hear the grace in this, and have compassion on his servants when he sees that their power is gone, and there is none remaining, a bond or free.
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  SPEAKER_00: And ultimately we see that this kind of concludes with a sort of call to worship in verses 39 and followings.
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  SPEAKER_00: Verse 39 says, See now that I, even I, am He, and there is no God beside me.
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  SPEAKER_00: I kill and I make alive, I wound and I heal, and there is none that can deliver out of my hand.
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  SPEAKER_00: For I lift up my hand to heaven and swear, as I live forever, if I sharpen my flashing sword, and my hand takes hold on judgment, I will take vengeance on my adversaries, and will repay those who hate me.
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  SPEAKER_00: I will make my arrows drunk with blood, and my sword shall devour of flesh.
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  SPEAKER_00: But here's really the call to worship, verse 43.
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  SPEAKER_00: Rejoice with him, O heavens, bow down to him, all gods, for he avenges the blood of his children and takes vengeance on his adversaries.
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  SPEAKER_00: He repays those who hate him and cleanses his people's land.
• 12:47
  SPEAKER_00: So we we see this song.
• 12:49
  SPEAKER_00: There's a lot of things going on here.
• 12:51
  SPEAKER_00: It can be very difficult to wade through, like lots of themes of divine judgment, even themes of mercy, kind of all woven together.
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  SPEAKER_00: But this song develops kind of a contrast again between you could say divine constancy and human inconstancy.
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  SPEAKER_00: So God is constant, he is the same, he is faithful.
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  SPEAKER_00: That's even how it begins.
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  SPEAKER_00: He's the rock.
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  SPEAKER_00: Uh, but humans, Israel specifically, is inconstant.
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  SPEAKER_00: They they are unfaithful.
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  SPEAKER_00: God is presented as the rock, right?
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  SPEAKER_00: Whose work is perfect and whose ways embody justice, faithfulness, and uprightness.
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  SPEAKER_00: While Israel is characterized as historically, you can see we're going to continue to read about this.
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  SPEAKER_00: They're corrupt, they're warped and crooked, and they've abandoned the God who made them and rejected the rock, their savior.
• 13:40
  SPEAKER_00: So this song that we've kind of talked about as a lawsuit, if you will, where God is um condemning and indicting the nation of Israel, it functions kind of as a vehicle for Israel to recall their past when Yahweh chose them and faithfully led them and provided for them.
• 13:58
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, but it also serves a dual purpose.
• 14:00
  SPEAKER_00: It reminds Israel of God's law, with, of course, within the context of deliverance, think Exodus, while simultaneously reminding the people of their sin, their rebellion, and their heart's distance from God.
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  SPEAKER_00: So it's it's drawing them to repentance, it's drawing them back to the Lord, and it's showcasing even through their inconstancy, their unfaithfulness, that God is faithful and that he is constant.
• 14:24
  SPEAKER_00: So I know there's a lot going on here uh in this song, but wade through it and just look at the way that God's character is highlighted.
• 14:32
  SPEAKER_00: Look at the seriousness of the nation of Israel's rebellion against God and their breaking of his covenant.
• 14:38
  SPEAKER_00: And ultimately, see that the mercy that God extends even in the midst of a crooked, wicked generation.
• 14:45
  SPEAKER_00: Well, thank you so much for joining us today on the Lamp and Light Bible Reading Podcast.
• 14:48
  SPEAKER_00: For more information about Compass Bible Church South Valley, visit compass bible sv dot org.
• 14:53
  SPEAKER_00: Keep reading, keep growing.
• 14:55
  SPEAKER_00: God's word is a lamp to your feet and a light to your path.