Latest / Lamp and Light Bible Reading Plan / June 23, 2026 - Numbers 32 & Psalm 119:153-160

Transcript

June 23, 2026 - Numbers 32 & Psalm 119:153-160 · Lamp and Light Bible Reading Plan

• 0:01
  SPEAKER_00: Welcome to the Lamp and Light Bybreating Plan, where we are seeking to love the Lord our God with all of our heart, soul, mind, and strength, with God's word letting the way.
• 0:10
  SPEAKER_00: I'm Josiah Smith, Lee Pastor of Compass South Valley.
• 0:12
  SPEAKER_00: Today is Tuesday, June 23rd, 2026.
• 0:26
  SPEAKER_00: Here's a quick summary of Numbers 32.
• 0:29
  SPEAKER_00: Numbers 32 details the request of the tribes of Reuben and Gad to settle on the east side of the Jordan River.
• 0:39
  SPEAKER_00: They basically talk about their livestock.
• 0:42
  SPEAKER_00: They have many livestock, and the east side of the Jordan River, that land that God has just given over to them via conquest is great for livestock.
• 0:52
  SPEAKER_00: That's what it says there in verse one.
• 0:54
  SPEAKER_00: Now the people of Reuben and the people of Gad had a very great number of livestock, and they saw the land of Jazer and the land of Gilead, and behold, the place was a place for livestock.
• 1:04
  SPEAKER_00: So they make this request.
• 1:05
  SPEAKER_00: And initially, Moses confronts them and says that this is reminiscent, or at least it could be reminiscent, of the previous generation or the previous individuals that Moses sent into the land as spies that came back with a bad report that ultimately ended in Israel rebelling, complaining, and being barred from the promised land.
• 1:30
  SPEAKER_00: And so he challenges Reuben and Gad to take up arms with his other fellow Israelites and to cross the Jordan and to see that land conquered as God had promised.
• 1:42
  SPEAKER_00: And if they would do that, then they could inherit the eastern side of the Jordan.
• 1:47
  SPEAKER_00: So they're just about to cross over the Jordan.
• 1:49
  SPEAKER_00: They're about to enter into the promised land.
• 1:51
  SPEAKER_00: There's going to be some military battles are on the horizon.
• 1:54
  SPEAKER_00: And Moses' point is he kind of sticks a finger in their chest and says to Reuben and Gad that you need to follow through with the commitment that you have made before God, the commitment that you share with your other tribes, your other kinsmen, to see this through until the end.
• 2:11
  SPEAKER_00: So that's a quick summary of Numbers 32.
• 2:15
  SPEAKER_00: Listen intently to God's written word.
• 2:18
  SPEAKER_00: Psalm 119, 153 through 160.
• 2:22
  SPEAKER_00: Look on my affliction and deliver me, for I do not forget your law.
• 2:27
  SPEAKER_00: Plead my cause and redeem me.
• 2:30
  SPEAKER_00: Give me life according to your promise.
• 2:32
  SPEAKER_00: Salvation is far from the wicked, for they do not seek your statutes.
• 2:38
  SPEAKER_00: Great is your mercy, O Lord.
• 2:41
  SPEAKER_00: Give me life according to your rules.
• 2:44
  SPEAKER_00: Many are my persecutors and my adversaries, but I do not swerve from your testimonies.
• 2:50
  SPEAKER_00: I look at the faithless with disgust, because they do not keep your commands.
• 2:56
  SPEAKER_00: Consider how I love your precepts.
• 2:58
  SPEAKER_00: Give me life, O Lord, according to your steadfast love.
• 3:02
  SPEAKER_00: The sum of your word is truth, and every one of your righteous rules and doers forever.
• 3:11
  SPEAKER_00: Now the time that you are listening to this is the second day of Camp Compass.
• 3:18
  SPEAKER_00: But the time of recording this is still the first day of Camp Compass.
• 3:22
  SPEAKER_00: So I'm reflecting on today.
• 3:24
  SPEAKER_00: I'm reflecting on the first day of Camp Compass and just really the faithfulness of God, uh, just how well things went, and just uh God's provision through his people and just answering prayers.
• 3:39
  SPEAKER_00: It was such a great and encouraging first day of Camp Compass.
• 3:43
  SPEAKER_00: So one of the things that we talked about, really the Bible time today, focused on Genesis chapter one.
• 3:50
  SPEAKER_00: So I defined really simply to the kids uh God's glory as God's greatness.
• 3:56
  SPEAKER_00: Now, of course, there's more nuanced ways of talking about that, but just for the simplicity of trying to teach these kids about the glory of God, that's our theme this year for Camp Compass, God's glory to infinity and beyond.
• 4:09
  SPEAKER_00: God's glory is God's greatness.
• 4:11
  SPEAKER_00: And we talked specifically about how God's greatness can be seen in and through creation.
• 4:19
  SPEAKER_00: So, of course, we looked at Genesis 1:1.
• 4:21
  SPEAKER_00: In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.
• 4:25
  SPEAKER_00: So that's kind of how we kicked off the week of Camp Compass with Bible time.
• 4:29
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, there was games, there was a craft, of course, there were snacks, there was missions time focusing on David Livingston and his life and his ministry.
• 4:39
  SPEAKER_00: So just a really, really fruitful first day of Compass.
• 4:42
  SPEAKER_00: But again, as you're listening to this, hopefully, it's day two of Camp Compass.
• 4:47
  SPEAKER_00: So I want to just continue to ask that you would pray, continue to pray, that the Lord would be just so faithful, that he would answer our prayers, that he would have everything just go smoothly and ultimately, ultimately that he would be glorified, that he would glorify himself in and through our service, that these kids uh would be taught truth, that young hearts would be um encouraged, that there would be seeds in the gospel that are planted and watered, both now and for years to come, that ultimately would bear the fruit of repentance.
• 5:18
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, just pray, pray for all the volunteers, pray for great energy.
• 5:22
  SPEAKER_00: A lot of people are expending of themselves in some pretty great ways to see this week happen.
• 5:28
  SPEAKER_00: So please just continue to pray and ask the Lord for favor, ask the Lord to establish the work of our hands.
• 5:37
  SPEAKER_00: Now, really briefly, as we look to Numbers 32 specifically, this is an interesting text.
• 5:45
  SPEAKER_00: Uh Reuben and Gad, they have all this livestock, and they want to settle on the already conquered portion of land on the east side of the Jordan River.
• 5:55
  SPEAKER_00: So they're as a nation about to cross the Jordan River to enter into Canaan, the promised land.
• 6:02
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, but before that, they've already had some some military conquest, and as a part of that, Gad and Reuben are wanting to settle there.
• 6:12
  SPEAKER_00: And it seems like a very practical, sort of benign request.
• 6:16
  SPEAKER_00: It says, and they saw the land, uh, and behold, the place was a place for livestock.
• 6:20
  SPEAKER_00: So just practically, it seems like they've got lots of livestock, they need a place for them to go.
• 6:25
  SPEAKER_00: It seems like this is a good place, so they make this request.
• 6:29
  SPEAKER_00: But here's Moses' response in verse six that's really interesting.
• 6:32
  SPEAKER_00: But Moses said to the people of Gad and to the people of Reuben, Shall your brothers go to the war while you sit here?
• 6:40
  SPEAKER_00: Why will you discourage, or why will you discourage the heart of the people of Israel from going over into the land that the Lord has given them?
• 6:48
  SPEAKER_00: Your fathers did this when I sent them from Kadesh Barnea to see the land.
• 6:53
  SPEAKER_00: For when they went up to the valley of Eshko and saw the land, they discouraged the heart of the people of Israel from going into the land that the Lord had given them.
• 7:01
  SPEAKER_00: So, really, Moses' concern is much more spiritual, and it seems like, at least on the surface, that Gad and Reuben's concern is much more practical that we've got lots of livestock.
• 7:13
  SPEAKER_00: This is a great place for livestock.
• 7:15
  SPEAKER_00: Can we stay here?
• 7:16
  SPEAKER_00: And Moses is likening their request, uh, at least in some way, to uh the previous generation, again, to where Moses says, I sent them, they came back and they discouraged the hearts of the people.
• 7:28
  SPEAKER_00: Um, so there's actually no comment, at least explicitly, on whether or not their hearts were in the right place or if they were, in some sense, rejecting God.
• 7:38
  SPEAKER_00: Doesn't say that.
• 7:39
  SPEAKER_00: That doesn't seem to be the implication, but rather Moses' concern is that whether their request or their heart is in the right place, uh, that it would nevertheless discourage the hearts of the rest of Israel, uh, the rest of the tribes, because they've still got some work to do, they've still got some conquering to do that's going to require faith.
• 7:59
  SPEAKER_00: And so Moses calls Reuben and Gad to account and basically says, if you make this commitment to take up arms, to cross the Jordan, to see this thing until the end, then of course you can stay on the east side of the Jordan in this land with your livestock.
• 8:15
  SPEAKER_00: But if you don't, uh then of course you will not inherit this, and there will be um sort of a punishment that's associated with that.
• 8:25
  SPEAKER_00: So just an interesting chapter.
• 8:27
  SPEAKER_00: Uh but Moses' concern continues to be faithfulness to God and just the reality of not even having a sense of being cognizant of how their actions, whether they were good intentioned or otherwise, would potentially bring discouragement onto the rest of Israel, who had some challenges ahead of them.
• 8:45
  SPEAKER_00: And Moses, of course, is thinking in the past, as he says here in chapter 32, that he's thinking of what has happened, what has already taken place, the wanderings, all those types of things.
• 8:55
  SPEAKER_00: And he's like, No, we're not doing this again.
• 8:58
  SPEAKER_00: We're not gonna discourage the hearts of the people.
• 9:00
  SPEAKER_00: You're gonna come with us, you're gonna take up arms, and Reuben and Gad ultimately do that.
• 9:07
  SPEAKER_00: Now, as we transition to Psalm 119, really want to focus on just this last verse here in verse 160.
• 9:14
  SPEAKER_00: The sum of your word is truth, and every one of your righteous rules endures forever.
• 9:21
  SPEAKER_00: Now, I couldn't help but think of what we talked about on Sunday from Hebrews chapter 4 as we kind of landed the plane of our true rest series, where uh the author of Hebrews just puts together this pretty complicated argument about the rest that is offered.
• 9:37
  SPEAKER_00: Of course, he's quoting from Psalm 95, which is reflecting on Numbers 14, uh, which just by God's grace, providentially, we've been reading in the book of Numbers as all that's as we've been studying that in the book of Hebrews.
• 9:49
  SPEAKER_00: But we talked about in Hebrews 4 12, the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.
• 10:02
  SPEAKER_00: So there's the sense in which, as we are pressing on, pressing forward, onward, with eyes of faith, running towards Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, the word of God is essential.
• 10:16
  SPEAKER_00: And we likened it to a scalpel that God uses to surgically both diagnose us, but but also there's this sort of procedural work that the word does in us to bring about uh healing, if you want to say it that way, from a spiritual perspective, uh, to help us to conform us ultimately greater into the image of Christ.
• 10:37
  SPEAKER_00: And and part of the reason we can say that with great confidence is because of what we see here in Psalm 119, verse 160.
• 10:44
  SPEAKER_00: The sum of your word is truth.
• 10:47
  SPEAKER_00: Now, if we're gonna stick with this analogy of God being this uh surgeon that we submit ourselves to, and ultimately the scalpel being his word, his tool of choice to help us procedurally, um then we would want that tool, we would want that scalpel to be exactly what it should be.
• 11:08
  SPEAKER_00: We should we would want it to be precise, we'd want it to be sharp, and we see that here in verse 160.
• 11:14
  SPEAKER_00: The sum of your word is truth, and every one of your righteous rules endures forever.
• 11:21
  SPEAKER_00: So, this is one of the reasons why the author of Hebrews is saying what he says in Hebrews 4.12 that the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword.
• 11:30
  SPEAKER_00: It has this kind of uh effect where again it pierces, it discerns, it it exposes, it reveals, it confronts, it encourages, it does all of those things because it the sum of God's word is truth, and every one of his righteous rules endures forever.
• 11:47
  SPEAKER_00: And so that's even part of the motivation for a week like Camp Compass.
• 11:51
  SPEAKER_00: We want to teach these young kids that the sum of God's word is truth, that they can build their lives on the foundation of God's word because it is truth, and every one of his righteous rules will endure forever.
• 12:04
  SPEAKER_00: So that's something just to connect and to continue, hopefully, the the thinking, processing, meditating, even about our study in Hebrews 4.
• 12:12
  SPEAKER_00: And I would ask that you would pray specifically, Psalm 160, that we would be able to communicate this truth to these young hearts and that they would build their lives on a sturdy foundation.
• 12:25
  SPEAKER_00: Think of what Jesus says in Matthew 7 those who hear these words of mine and do them will be like the wise man who builds his house on the rock.
• 12:33
  SPEAKER_00: So that's what we desire for these kids.
• 12:35
  SPEAKER_00: We want their lives to be built on the rock of Christ.
• 12:38
  SPEAKER_00: We want them to understand that God's word is the sum of truth.
• 12:42
  SPEAKER_00: The sum of your word is truth, it says, and every one of your righteous rules endures forever.
• 12:46
  SPEAKER_00: We want to teach that to these kids, even from a young age.
• 12:50
  SPEAKER_00: So please be praying for that both today and the rest of this week as we labor to do that.
• 12:56
  SPEAKER_00: Well, thank you so much for joining us today on the Lamp and Light Bible Reading Podcast.
• 13:00
  SPEAKER_00: For more information about Compass Bible Church, South Valley, visit compassbiblesv.org.
• 13:05
  SPEAKER_00: Keep reading, keep growing.
• 13:07
  SPEAKER_00: God's word is a lamp to your feet and a light to your path.