Thread by @GPrater85015

#GeraldsDevotional
Judging and Swine

Today’s word is another historical devotional. It was originally given to me one year ago today which I find to be very interesting in light of all that we see going on around us today. It is about the topic of judging. The genesis of this message was from a discussion I had last

year in my bible study at the food bank about a word of wisdom tucked away in the middle of the book of Job. Chapter 21:7-16 has Job struggling to understand if life is fair. He makes an observation here that wicked people seem to go unpunished even when they outright scorn and

reject God. In our bible study discussion, there were some who thought Job was judging others, which is against the teachings of Jesus.

That morning He woke me and told me to read about the pearls and the swine. I located the verse in Matthew 7:6 where Jesus taught near the end

of the Sermon on the Mount. Here He tells us NOT to cast our pearls before swine, because they won’t see the value in them and will turn around and trample us. He shows that the pearls are our heavenly gifts (that which is holy) to share with others. But how does one identify and

distinguish swine? I would offer that when you identify what Jesus calls swine, you are not judging or condemning them, you are simply making an observation (this is what Job was doing in these verses).

It is quite ironic that the words that Jesus says about NOT casting our

pearls before swine comes at a very interesting place in the Sermon on the Mount. It is immediately after He admonishes us NOT to judge others (don’t worry about the speck in your brother’s eye when you have a log in your own eye). I find it interesting that He structured this

point in His sermon with what appears to be an ironic reversal (the point that I immediately saw when I read this in light of our discussion about Job on the previous day). Job was not judging others around him, but was simply observing their actions and attitudes and then

resolving that he himself would not do any of that. Deep inside he knew that his Father was the God of justice but that at that particular moment, the wicked appeared to prosper.

It is the LORD who orders our steps and gives us revelation everyday. We do not navigate based on

our own understanding. He tells us when to speak and when to remain silent. Ultimately, He already knows those who will choose Him from those who will reject Him and He directs us where to cast our pearls. Speaking of those pearls, these were Jesus’ very words in His sermon:

“Do not give what is holy to the dogs; nor cast your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn and tear you in pieces.” - Matthew 7:6

7 “Why do the wicked prosper, growing old and powerful?
8 They live to see their children grow up and settle down,

and they enjoy their grandchildren.
9 Their homes are safe from every fear, and God does not punish them.
10 Their bulls never fail to breed. Their cows bear calves and never miscarry.
11 They let their children frisk about like lambs. Their little ones skip and dance.

12 They sing with tambourine and harp. They celebrate to the sound of the flute.
13 They spend their days in prosperity, then go down to the grave in peace.
14 And yet they say to God, ‘Go away. We want no part of you and your ways.
15 Who is the Almighty, and why should we obey

him? What good will it do us to pray?’
16 (They think their prosperity is of their own doing, but I will have nothing to do with that kind of thinking.) - Job 21:7-16
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