READING FOR AUGUST 12, 2025: PROVERBS 21, LUKE 6, PSALM 79                               PROVERBS 21 There are very powerful people in the world today: President Trump, President Putin, Elon Musk, Bill Gates etc. We might think there is no way that we could influence them from here in little Yorktown, Indiana. But Solomon says God can control their actions with the slightest effort (vs. 1). Furthermore, we know from Proverbs 15: 29 that “He [the Lord] hears the prayer of the righteous.” So, let’s pray that God moves these leaders to act with wisdom beyond their natural selves. God not only can change their actions, He sees and evaluates the intent of our/their hearts, too. We think we always have good reasons for our behavior, but God knows the truth about us much better than we can know ourselves (vs. 2). Ask Him to reveal our hearts to ourselves. We might be shocked.

Whenever we see the surprising truth of verse 3 in the Bible, we find it difficult to believe. Yes, God commanded His people to offer sacrifices to Him, but He much preferred His people to act justly. He gets rather pointed about it in Isaiah: “I have had enough of burnt offerings of rams and the fat of fattened cattle; and I take no pleasure in the blood of bulls, lambs, or goats” (vs. 1:11). Listen to 1:13:“Do not go on bringing your worthless offerings, incense is an abomination to Me.”  By combining the truths found in this chapter’s first verses, we find that God is much more concerned that we act with justice out of a loving heart than performing religious activities that have no pos- itive impact on attitudes of our hearts or our actions, especially toward the needs of others.

Verses 28-31 sum up the entire thrust of this chapter. Those who are wicked may temporarily put on a bold exterior, while the upright concentrates on pursuing the God’s eternal wisdom. No plan, no thoughts and no knowledge opposing God’s way has any chance, though. On the other hand, no matter what man does, God triumphs in the end. THERE IS “VICTORY IN JESUS.”

LUKE 6 “Judge not, and ye shall not be judged” (Luke 6:37). The Matthew version of this saying by Jesus is certainly among the most quoted verses in the Bible. The following quotation is taken from the from the June 19, 2024 NY Post: “Music legend Billy Joel cautioned outsiders from casting aspersions about Justin Timerblake following the pop star’s arrest for allegedly driving while intoxicated on Long Island this week. ‘Judge not lest ye be judged,’ Joel, 75, told PIX11 News on Tuesday afternoon – just hours after Timberlake, 43, was pulled 

READING FOR AUGUST 12, 2025 CONTINUED: LUKE 6, PSALM 79                                                over in Sag Harbor... Joel – who entered rehab for alcohol abuse in the early 2000s – also crashed his car into a tree in Sag Harbor in 2003.” Billy Joel plays piano well but unfortunately states he doesn’t believe in God. Yet even he likes what Jesus says in this verse. The Luke version is taken from Jesus’s often called “Sermon on the Plain,” which has many similarities to the “Sermon on the Mount” in Matthew. Because this verse is used by so many to mean essentially that nothing can ever be called objectively   wrong (except calling something wrong), let’s focus our limited space on looking at this verse. 

John 3:17 is another frequently quoted verse that says Jesus himself did not come to judge--but read a bit more: “For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.”  Jesus’s mission at his first coming was to die to save us, not judge us, because everyone was/is already in a state of judgment. Our deeds are evil, objectively wrong. Eternal judgment will take place one day as seen in Rev. 20:13,15: “They were judged, each one of them according to their deeds... And if anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.”  BUT, “He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life” (John 3:36).

What might Jesus be saying in Luke? Certainly, it’s never our place to judge if someone is in or out of the book of life! We don’t have a copy. Billy Joel also had a good point. He crashed due to drunken driving and shouldn’t judge Justin Timberlake. But we all know it’s wrong to drink and drive; otherwise, there wouldn’t be laws against it. First, we must remember, as Jesus says, we’re all sinful and need Him. Then we should first examine ourselves before we, in love, assist another: “First take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take out the speck that is in your brother’s eye” (Luke 6:42). Verses 37 and 42 are both true. No Contradiction! 

PSALM 79 From the description of Jerusalem destroyed and the Temple defiled, this seems to refer to the Babylon conquest: “Nebuzaradan burned down the Lord's temple, the king's palace, and every important building in the city, as well as all the houses” (2 Kings 25:9). During this time of total breakdown, notice what Asaph didn’t do. He never hinted that God didn’t exist. He didn’t suggest that God was incapable of deliver- ance. He never suggested that God was unloving. He didn’t complain that Israel didn’t deserve this result. He didn’t seek personal gain. He did ask how long this would last, which God answered through Jeremiah’s pro- phecy: “When seventy years have been completed for Babylon, I will visit you and fulfill My good word to you, to bring you back to this place” (Jer. 29:10).  Asaph’s second request was for God to save Israel for God’s sake: “Forgive our sins for the sake of Your name. Why should the nations say, ‘Where is their God?’”This echoes Moses’s prayer after the golden calf incident: “Why should the Egyptians talk, saying, ‘With evil motives He brought them out to kill them on the mountains and to destroy them from the face of the earth’ God save your people so that other nations won’t ridicule you” (Ex. 32:12).  Let’s pray with Asaph and Moses that God’s reputation will be lifted up by His delivering and blessing Yorktown Methodist Church. “Our Father who art in heaven. HALLOWED BE THY NAME!”