Latest / Lamp and Light Bible Reading Plan / June 11, 2026 - Numbers 22 & Psalm 119:73-80

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June 11, 2026 - Numbers 22 & Psalm 119:73-80 · Lamp and Light Bible Reading Plan

• 0:01
  SPEAKER_01: Welcome to the Lamp and Light Bible Reading Plan, where we are seeking to love the Lord our God with help of our heart, soul, mind, and strength with God's word letting the way.
• 0:09
  SPEAKER_01: I'm Josiah Smith, joined by Tyler Sanborn.
• 0:12
  SPEAKER_01: Today is Thursday, June 11th, 2026.
• 0:25
  SPEAKER_01: Here's a quick summary of Numbers 22.
• 0:29
  SPEAKER_01: Numbers 22 details Balak and Balaam and their interactions, and specifically the request made of Balaam to pronounce a curse on the nation of Israel, and God sovereignly intervening and stopping that, and ultimately even using a donkey and an angel.
• 0:51
  SPEAKER_01: Lots of things going on here.
• 0:53
  SPEAKER_01: But it is a display of God's sovereignty to continue to preserve and protect the nation of Israel, even despite their grumbling and complaining.
• 1:03
  SPEAKER_01: So that's a quick summary of Numbers 22.
• 1:07
  SPEAKER_00: Listen intently to God's written word.
• 1:10
  SPEAKER_00: Psalm 119, verses 73 through 80.
• 1:14
  SPEAKER_00: Your hands have made and fashioned me, give me understanding that I may learn your commandments.
• 1:22
  SPEAKER_00: Those who fear you shall see me and rejoice, because I have hoped in your word.
• 1:28
  SPEAKER_00: I know, O Lord, that your rules are righteous, and that in faithfulness you have afflicted me.
• 1:35
  SPEAKER_00: Let your steadfast love comfort me according to your promise to your servant.
• 1:40
  SPEAKER_00: Let your mercy come to me that I may live, for your law is my delight.
• 1:45
  SPEAKER_00: Let the insolent be put to shame, because they have wronged me with falsehood.
• 1:50
  SPEAKER_00: As for me, I will meditate on your precepts.
• 1:54
  SPEAKER_00: Let those who fear you turn to me, that they may know your testimonies.
• 2:00
  SPEAKER_00: May my heart be blameless in your statutes, that I may not be put to shame.
• 2:06
  SPEAKER_01: Well, we are recording this particular episode in Newport Beach, California.
• 2:14
  SPEAKER_01: Tyler and I and our wives are out here for the National Equipped Conference.
• 2:21
  SPEAKER_01: Now, if you aren't familiar, the National Equipped Conference, which we just refer to as NEC, is put on by the Compass Church Planting Association, of which we are a part of as a church, because we are Compass Bible Church, South Valley.
• 2:38
  SPEAKER_01: And so all of the compasses here in the states, we we have more actually, we have a Compass Bible Church in Guatemala, but all the compasses here in the states come together and we put on a conference that is intended to, as the title suggests, equip the saints for the work of ministry.
• 2:56
  SPEAKER_01: So the conference this year, very fittingly so, is on prayer.
• 3:01
  SPEAKER_01: So specifically, the conference actually starts on Friday and goes into Sunday, but we kind of do a pre-conference where all of the pastors and our wives get together and we just pray together.
• 3:16
  SPEAKER_01: We discuss ministry.
• 3:18
  SPEAKER_01: It's a great time of encouragement.
• 3:20
  SPEAKER_01: So today we flew in to John Wayne in Orange County, and we uh just got to get together with um, you know, some other people from the different compasses, and specifically, there was uh kind of a senior pastor get together that McKinsey and I were at.
• 3:38
  SPEAKER_01: Tyler, tell us about what you have done today and maybe something that you're looking forward to with uh this conference specifically.
• 3:45
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, thanks, PJ.
• 3:46
  SPEAKER_00: Today I was able to reconnect with a handful of the pastors uh and pastors' wives at Compass Bible Church Treasure Valley, speaking uh to the details of upcoming events, how planning for Camp Compass is going, how planning for Ignite is going, and just the different things that are going on in the various ministries there.
• 4:09
  SPEAKER_00: And I just was so encouraged and built up to see that God is still uh providing in a handful of ways that were just really exciting, different um, different ministries that are going well, different uh plans being made, different approaches for ministry, how to better invest and uh and equip the students specifically.
• 4:29
  SPEAKER_00: I was talking to Pastor Johnny Broadworth, uh, and uh he was just encouraging me that um just to to continue to be faithful, continue to pray for uh for the leaders in the ministry, the the families in the ministry, and the students that we get to invest in on uh Sunday evenings and midweek events, things like that.
• 4:49
  SPEAKER_00: But uh the thing that I'm most looking forward to this week is just being encouraged and challenged to pray uh more uh more consistently, uh asking the Lord to work, asking him to uh to follow through and and do what he says he's going to do, and just go with a heart that is full of faith and and petition, make my request be known uh to the Lord uh so that he would uh he would work in his sovereign plan and and save and uh and continue to uh to make disciples as we labor on at as a church plant down in Cuna, Idaho.
• 5:25
  SPEAKER_01: Well, speaking of prayer and God's sovereignty, one of the cool things about this conference is actually a resource that we will be giving out to all of the registered attendees of this conference.
• 5:38
  SPEAKER_01: It is a book that is being published by uh Compass Press that is authored by a variety of different pastors at all of the different Compass Bible churches.
• 5:49
  SPEAKER_01: And I was able to participate and contribute to that book.
• 5:54
  SPEAKER_01: And my chapter was on prayer and the sovereignty of God.
• 5:58
  SPEAKER_01: So I'm really excited for that.
• 5:59
  SPEAKER_01: Hopefully, just to be an encouragement and a resource, we'll we'll have that available in our bookstore in the coming weeks and months.
• 6:06
  SPEAKER_01: And again, there's uh 12 different chapters written by 12 different pastors from uh all of the different Compass Bible churches that cover all kinds of topics related to prayer, uh but specifically my chapter focused on prayer and the sovereignty of God.
• 6:22
  SPEAKER_01: Now, one of the reasons I mentioned that one is because of the conference, but two, because of Numbers 22 and God's clear sovereignty on display when it comes to interacting with Balaam specifically, but how God is sort of disrupting Balak's plans for Balaam.
• 6:43
  SPEAKER_01: He wanted to pronounce a curse on Israel, he actually wanted to kind of defeat them uh in a in a military conquest kind of way, and God has nothing to do with that, right?
• 6:55
  SPEAKER_01: In the sense of he stops it, he intervenes, and Balaam actually comes to this place where he recognizes I can't do anything, I can't say anything apart from what God allows.
• 7:06
  SPEAKER_01: And there's even this incredible story of uh an angel kind of blocking the road and Balaam's donkey seeing the angel, the angel, but Balaam can't see the angel, and so Balaam's striking the donkey on like several different occasions, and then the Lord opens the donkey's mouth, and all of these crazy details that really again just highlight and accent the sovereignty of God.
• 7:30
  SPEAKER_01: Now, specifically the sovereignty of God being wielded providentially for the protection of God's people, Israel.
• 7:38
  SPEAKER_01: Of course, there's these enemies that we're seeing uh even in previous chapters, the king of Sion, the king of was it Og, uh, these different kings that want to defeat Israel, and God is defending them, He is protecting them, and He's even using things like donkeys to sovereignly uh teach, to sovereignly even thwart, to sovereignly protect, and is just a great encouraging chapter of God being true to his promise, that he would persevere, he would preserve rather this nation, uh, that he would continue to protect them.
• 8:13
  SPEAKER_01: And think about that, Tyler, in the context of just what we've been reading about Israel's ungratefulness, Israel's complaining and their grumbling, even though that is the case, and even though there is divine judgment, as we've talked about, with them not entering into the promised land, there is nevertheless divine mercy where God continues to protect them and preserve them in the midst of their wilderness wandering.
• 8:38
  SPEAKER_01: So God's sovereignty is on full display, and it's just a great chapter, a great story that really points us again towards the sovereignty of God.
• 8:46
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, what an encouraging uh account as we see God uh at work, uh even using uh unlikely uh prophets, unlikely people to accomplish his purpose.
• 8:58
  SPEAKER_00: And as we look at the the text today in our psalm, um Psalm 119, I'd like to uh just draw our attention to uh verse 77.
• 9:10
  SPEAKER_00: And PJ, you and I were talking about um just the different individuals in our lives, people that are are hurting, people that are um that are needing God's grace and his mercy, and we are talking about just the the way that God is using his mercy to prevent people from being given over fully to their um to the wickedness and the evil in their hearts.
• 9:33
  SPEAKER_00: And I look to this verse, uh verse 77, and uh God's kindness and mercy, those two things come to mind that I I think about God's delaying his return.
• 9:44
  SPEAKER_00: That the Lord Jesus Christ has not yet returned for his bride, and that is a kindness and a mercy to those who have not yet uh responded who will.
• 9:53
  SPEAKER_00: And my mind is just encouraged and it gives me a little more boldness as I look to this verse and uh to to seek those.
• 10:00
  SPEAKER_00: And it could be anyone, it could be we could be talking to the last person potentially, uh sharing the gospel with someone, and they might be the last person um to respond, and that might be the last person who is in God's family that He has elect.
• 10:15
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm just challenged by this verse as I think about people that have not yet responded, whether it's family, uh whether it's extended family or um people in our community.
• 10:24
  SPEAKER_00: I'm just really challenged by verse 77 today.
• 10:27
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, one of the things that is is kind of a tough verse in this section is verse 75.
• 10:34
  SPEAKER_01: I know, O Lord, that you that your rules are righteous.
• 10:38
  SPEAKER_01: That's something that we would agree with and kind of have a hearty amen to.
• 10:42
  SPEAKER_01: But the second part of the verse, and that in faithfulness you have afflicted me.
• 10:49
  SPEAKER_01: That's a challenging verse, Tyler, because a lot of times people will use this language when things that are difficult or perhaps hurtful or are challenging in our lives.
• 11:00
  SPEAKER_01: We have this phrase that we'll often use, or perhaps you've heard this: God allowed that thing to happen.
• 11:06
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 11:07
  SPEAKER_01: And of course, there's a sense in which that's true, uh, but there's also this category that we see in scripture of not just God potentially allowing things, but God actually being sort of the cause of something.
• 11:21
  SPEAKER_01: Now, of course, we need to be very nuanced uh and we need to be accurate when we say those things according to the scriptures, but we have right here very plainly in verse 75, in faithfulness you have afflicted me.
• 11:34
  SPEAKER_01: Now, the psalmist here is attributing this affliction, whatever it might be, to the faithfulness of God.
• 11:40
  SPEAKER_01: So I think the psalmist is taking this as perhaps discipline, instruction, correction.
• 11:46
  SPEAKER_01: Think of the Proverbs where uh if you spare the rod, you spoil a child, that kind of idea of being formed and fashioned, that affliction that he is tethering to the faithfulness of God.
• 11:58
  SPEAKER_01: And so we need to be comfortable with that kind of language because we see here and again, Psalm 119, 75, that that's exactly what the Bible says, that there are times when in the faithfulness of God, uh, he brings affliction or trial.
• 12:13
  SPEAKER_01: And you even were talking about this not too long ago in the student ministry, right, Tyler, with the book of James that it talks about count it all joy, brothers, when you fall into trials or you experience trials of various kinds.
• 12:27
  SPEAKER_01: Various kinds, right?
• 12:28
  SPEAKER_01: Like that we we have a category of scripture that's very difficult for us to wrap our heads around, to get our hearts around, but we need to see it for what it is here in verse 75.
• 12:38
  SPEAKER_01: Have this perspective, this biblical perspective that in faithfulness there is some level, some way that there's affliction being brought, being caused by God, and that is being attributed to something that is good and is righteous and is proper.
• 12:55
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and so that again, that sometimes can make us bristle.
• 12:58
  SPEAKER_01: We want to distance ourselves from that, or maybe try to create some distance between God and what we might consider an affliction by saying maybe he allowed it, or there was some sort of passive permissiveness.
• 13:10
  SPEAKER_01: But we see here a very direct, very clear in faithfulness you have afflicted me.
• 13:15
  SPEAKER_01: And it reminds me of the story of Joseph that we studied a while ago now in the book of Genesis, where Joseph himself says, What you intended for evil, God intended for good.
• 13:27
  SPEAKER_01: And so there's a divine intention, there's a divine prerogative, you could say, that God has, sometimes even in the midst of heartbreak and difficult circumstances.
• 13:37
  SPEAKER_01: And I think the psalmist here finds great comfort in that and actually tethers God's faithfulness in the midst of that.
• 13:44
  SPEAKER_01: And so we need to again just have a biblical category for being able to say these things as uncomfortable as they make us.
• 13:50
  SPEAKER_01: We need to have a biblical category in our mind of Psalm 119.75, uh, that in faithfulness you have afflicted me.
• 13:56
  SPEAKER_01: Again, we need to make sure that we're not attributing evil to God because God does not do evil, he cannot sin, he is perfectly good.
• 14:04
  SPEAKER_01: But even though that's true, even in this it is true, and we can affirm that and say that with great confidence.
• 14:10
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, uh, we can also say and at the same time that in faithfulness God perhaps does afflict us as He He did the Psalmist, or um, there are times where even Joseph would say God intended something, of course, that was very difficult, that was very damaging to him and uh very hurtful.
• 14:31
  SPEAKER_01: Um, God intended it for good.
• 14:34
  SPEAKER_01: And so there's I just I just say all that because it's a it's a challenging verse, it's one perhaps that we can skip over, it's one that we want to maybe do some mental gymnastics with, and we do need to think critically about it, but just let scripture kind of speak for itself here that in faithfulness there's a category where God afflicts and it it is in a way that is perfectly good and that in no way violates God's moral perfection or his absolute holiness.
• 14:57
  SPEAKER_01: And so we need to make sure that uh there's room in our hearts and in our minds to think uh in those categories and the ways that scripture does.
• 15:05
  SPEAKER_01: Again, here here what I'm saying.
• 15:08
  SPEAKER_01: I'm not saying that God is the author of evil, because he is certainly not.
• 15:13
  SPEAKER_01: Scripture actually says uh the exact opposite that God cannot sin, he does not lie, he does not do evil, uh, evil does not come from God.
• 15:23
  SPEAKER_01: But nevertheless, we see here again in Psalm, let me just read it and just let the text be the text.
• 15:28
  SPEAKER_01: In faithfulness you have afflicted me.
• 15:32
  SPEAKER_01: And so there's a divine category here that we see that sometimes is again difficult for us to understand, but we nevertheless need to wrestle with because it's right there in God's word, and we need to make sure that we are understanding it to the best that we are able to, prayerfully seeking clarity and just trusting God, even in the midst of our affliction or perhaps discipline or correction, and knowing that his faithfulness is on display in the midst of that.
• 15:56
  SPEAKER_01: Well, thank you so much for joining us today on the Lamp and Light Bible Reading Podcast.
• 16:00
  SPEAKER_01: For more information about Compass Bible Church South Valley, visit compass bible sv.org.
• 16:05
  SPEAKER_01: Keep reading, keep growing.
• 16:07
  SPEAKER_01: God's word is a lamp to your feet and a light to your path.