Lamp and Light Bible Reading Plan

January 12, 2026 - Genesis 10 & Psalm 10

• Josiah Smith - Compass Bible Church South Valley

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Genesis 10 & Psalm 10 encourage us not to miss the forest for the trees. Though we can't always make sense of what God is doing in the world, we can lean on God's Word to be a lamp to our feet and a light to our path. 

For more information about Compass Bible Church South Valley, visit compassbiblesv.org. Keep reading. Keep growing. God’s Word is a lamp to your feet, and a light to your path.

SPEAKER_00:

Welcome to the Lamp and Light Bible Reading 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. I'm Josiah Smith, lead pastor of Compass South Valley. Today is Monday, January 12th, 2026. Listen intently to God's written word, Genesis 10. These are the generations of the sons of Noah, Shim, Ham, and Japheth. Sons were born to them after the flood. The sons of Japheth, Gomer, Magog, Madai, Javin, Tubul, Meshach, and Tirus, the sons of Gomer, Ashkenaz, Riphath, and Togrimah, the sons of Javan, Elisha, Tarshush, Katim, and Dodonim. From these the Kosan people spread in their lands, each with his own language, by their clans and their nations, the sons of Ham, Cush, Egypt, Put, and Canaan, the sons of Cush, Saba, Havilah, Sabtah, Ramah, and Sabdica, the sons of Remah, Shaba and Dadon. Cush fathered Nimrod, he was the first on earth to be a mighty man. He was a mighty hunter before the Lord. Therefore it is said, like Nimrod, a mighty hunter before the Lord. The beginning of his kingdom was Babel, Erik, Akad, and Kalnah in the land of Shinar. From that land he went into Assyria and built Nineveh, Rhiabath Eir, Kala, and Rezin between Nineveh and Kala, that is the great city. Egypt fathered Ludim, Anamim, Lehabim, Neftuhim, Pathrusim, Kalsuhim, from whom the Philistines came, and Cafarim. Canaan fathered Sidon, his first firstborn in Heth, and the Jebuzites, the Amorites, the Gergeshites, the Hibites, the Archites, the Sinites, the Arvadites, the Zimarites, and the Hamathites. Afterward the clans of the Canaanites dispersed, and the territory of the Canaanites extended from Sidon in the direction of Garar as far as Gaza, and in the direction of Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, and Zeboim as far as Elasha. These are the sons of Ham, by their clans, their languages, their lands, and their nations. To Shem also, the father of all the children of Eber, the elder brother of Japheth, children were born. The sons of Shim, Elam, Asher, Arpakshad, Lud, and Aram, the sons of Aram, Uz, Hul, Gether, and Mash. Arpakshad fathered Shelah, and Shela fathered Eber. To Eber was born two sons, the name of the one was Peleg, for in his days the earth was divided, and his brother's name was Jochtan. Jochtan fathered Almoldad, Shelef, Hazarm Hazarmavath, Jerah, Hadaram, Uzul, Dikla, Obal, Abimael, Sheba, Ofer, Havilah, and Jobab. All these were the sons of Jokton. The territory in which they live extended from Mesha in the direction of Sephar to the hill country of the east. These are the sons of Shem, by their clans, their languages, their lands, and their nations. These are the clans of the sons of Noah, according to their genealogies and their nations, and from these nations spread abroad and on the earth after the flood. Why, O Lord, do you stand far away? Why do you hide yourself in times of trouble? In arrogance the wicked hotly pursue the poor. Let them be caught in the schemes they have devised. For the wicked boast of the desires of his soul, and the one greedy for gain curses and renounces the Lord. In the pride of his face the wicked does not seek him. All his thoughts are there is no God. His ways prosper at all times. Your judgments are on high, out of his sight. As for all his foes, he puffs at them. He says in his heart, I shall not be moved. Throughout all generations I'll shall I shall not meet adversity. His mouth is filled with cursing and deceit and oppression. Under his tongue are mischief and iniquity. He sits in ambush in the villages, in hiding places he murders the innocent. His eyes stealthily watch for the helpless. He lurks in ambush like a lion in his thicket. He lurks that he may seize the poor. He seizes the poor when he draws him into his net. The helpless are crushed, sink down, and fall by his might. He says in his heart, God has forgotten, he has hidden his face, he will never see it. Arise, O Lord. O God, lift up your hand, forget not the afflicted. Why does the wicked renounce God and say in his heart, You will not call to account, but you do see, for you note mischief and vexation, that you may take into your hands to you the helpless commits himself. You have been the helper of the fatherless. Break the arm of the wicked and evildoer, call his wickedness into account till you find none. The Lord is king for ever and ever. The nations perish from his land. O Lord, you hear the desire of the afflicted, you will strengthen their heart, you will incline your ear to do justice to the fatherless and the oppressed, so that man who is of the earth may strike terror no more. Now there's a lot happening in Genesis 10, and I know even all of the names, and you heard me kind of mess up on some of the names there. There's a lot of names, and they can be difficult to pronounce. And if you don't have the broader picture in mind, for when you read a chapter like Genesis 10, it's really easy to get lost. If you don't have the big picture of what God is doing through all of these names and all of these clans and all of this geography, again, it it's it's not gonna make any sense. And so you might be tempted to skip over a chapter like Genesis 10, but you really need to understand what's going on here. So I want you to think of Genesis 10 as a map that is meant to orient you to the progress of the promises of God. Now, I know that you keep hearing that word, promises of God, specifically as we've been connecting it back to Genesis 3.15, but that is a huge theme in the book of Genesis. And so we want to do justice to that, and we want to understand that Genesis 10 really does serve as a map to orient us to the progress of the promises of God. Because soon there's going to enter this character named Abraham, one of the biggest characters, you could say, and all of the storyline of the Bible. Paul references him often. Uh, the Abrahamic covenant sets the stage for uh future promises and and really ultimately that are messianic and point forward in a greater, perhaps more clearer way to Christ than even Genesis 3.15. So all of that's coming, but Genesis 10 is the background, it's the map. And while it may be a bunch of confusing names, names perhaps you will never name your children, you need to understand that that's exactly what this is meant to do. It's meant to help you to see, okay, where's the progress of the promises of God? How is all of this taking shape? And the promises of God take their shape amidst nations and in even specifically nations that are at war, like Canaan, for example, with God's chosen nation, Israel. So this is going to show where all of these nations ended up. And in one sense, this is a fulfillment of the command, partially, of course, but of the command to be fruitful and multiply, because we see these clans spread across the earth, each with his own language, each with their own tribe. And so there is this setting of the stage, so to speak, to give us clarity for what God is doing with the promise. Now, that does bring me to a question because I just said that there are many clans that speak many languages. And so that's a question that you might have thought of when you read Genesis 10. Uh, because if you read even just one verse ahead in our Bible reading plan to Genesis 11, verse 1, it says, Now the whole earth had one language and the same words. So is there a contradiction between Genesis 10 and Genesis 11? Because in Genesis 10 and verse 5, for example, it says, From these the coastland people spread in their lands, each with his own languages. Or again in verse 20, these are the sons of Ham by their clans, their languages, their lands, and their nations. Or again in verse 31, these are the sons of Shem by their clans, their languages, their lands, and their nations. So there's multiple times throughout Genesis 10 where many nations, many languages are made mention of, but then in the very first verse of chapter 11, it says, Now the whole earth had one language. Well, what's going on here? Is there a contradiction between Genesis 10 and Genesis 11? Well, certainly there is no contradiction here. You can think of Genesis 11 as essentially explaining how Genesis 10 came about. So they're not exactly in chronological order, but Genesis 10 is basically the aftermath of Genesis 11. And Genesis 11 is the Tower of Babel, where there is this dispersement. And we'll read about that tomorrow. But in Genesis 10, this is sort of the aftermath. This is after the nations have been dispersed, after languages have been introduced. And so, no, there is no contradiction between Genesis 10 and Genesis 11. So, again, in that sense, Genesis 10 is a map that is meant to orient you to the progress of the promises of God, because God is preparing the way for the promise of Abram, or better known as Abraham, perhaps to us, to be a blessing to the nations. Because if you notice in Genesis 10, there's all of these talk, there's all this talk about nations, and there's all of this geography that is mentioned, where these nations go, the coastlands, and some go west, like the nation of Canaan, or some go east like the nation of Israel. And that's again showing us this map of how the promise of God is going to play out amongst the nations, specifically the nation of Israel. But these other nations will have a part in that. So in that sense, Genesis 10 clicks into the folder, you could say, of the curse of Ham and shows where different generations and clans end up to set the stage for both blessing and promise, but also curses and conflict. Because in Genesis 9, right there at the end, it says, Cursed be Canaan, a servant of servant shall he be to his brothers. And it also talks about, blessed be the Lord, the God of Shem, and let Canaan be his servant. May God enlarge Japheth and let him dwell in the tents of Shem and let Canaan be his servant. And so Genesis 10 again is sort of showing us how all of the blessing and the promise is going to play out with specific nations and also how the curses and conflict is going to play out in specific nations. And in that sense, their locations, geographically speaking, and their lineages both become a part of their legacies. And I thought about that just from just to make a connection to what's going on in the life of our church, Compass Bible Church South Valley. That the day that I am recording this, I was just commissioned as the lead pastor of Compass Bible Church South Valley in the final services that we were attending Compass Bible Church Treasure Valley. And so I was thinking about lineages and I was thinking about blessings and I was thinking about obedience. And I was just thinking about all that the Lord has done in and through Compass Bible Church in general, from Compass Bible Church in Eliseo Viejo, California to Compass Bible Church here in Meridian or a future Compass Bible Church, South Valley, that is set to have pre-launch services on January 18th is coming January. I feel like we are a part of a lineage of faithfulness to the Word of God that has really shown itself out in terms of blessing, where churches are thriving and they're healthy and they're growing. And so I was just filled with a sense of gratitude. And of course, Genesis 10 is not talking about that in terms of context, but just connecting those dots today after having been commissioned in the services to go and to plant Compass Bible Church South Valley, knowing the lineage that we are a part of, that I am a part of as a part of Compass Bible Church is such an encouragement to me. And I desire for our lineage and our location, even in the Treasure Valley, to become a part of our legacy. I desire for us to uphold the faithfulness of Compass Bible Church, the fidelity to God's word, uh, the seriousness about making disciples. And I I see Genesis 10 as a great encouragement for that because in these nations, in these lineages, become a part of their legacies. I think the same could be said for us in terms of our location and our lineage coming from Compass Bible Church. Now, on to Psalm 10. Uh, we see here in verse one this question why, oh Lord, do you stand far away? Why do you hide yourself in times of trouble? And then it's going to detail all of these very specific things about the wicked and arrogance. The wicked hotly pursues the poor, it says in verse two. Let them be caught in the schemes that they have devised. And there's a lot of things in this psalm that make it seem like, man, the wicked are winning. They're they're prospering. It feels like they're just mocking God and nothing is is happening. And perhaps you've been there when you've been in a season of discouragement or you're looking around at the world and you're saying to yourself, why does it feel like evil prevails and righteousness loses? Well, sometimes, just like in Psalm 10, it's hard to see the forest for the trees. And just like Genesis 10 becomes a map to help orient and navigate the progress of the promises of God, I think Psalm 10 is encouraging us to use God's word as a map that orients us to the work of God in our lives. Even in the midst of feeling like, what in the world is going on? Why does it feel like evil is winning and righteousness is is losing? You can use God's word as a map to orient you to the work of God in your life. I mean, life. I mean, that's the name of this podcast, right? The lamp and light Bible reading plan. God's word is a lamp to your feet and a light to your path. You know where you're where you are, a lamp to your feet, you know where you're going, a light to your path. And I I think in Psalm 10, if you feel that that same sense of anguish in your soul that we see here in Psalm 10, of why? Lord, why are you allowing this? Why do you hide yourself in times of trouble? We are to lean deeper, not into the headlines, uh not into the rabbit holes. We're to lean deeper into God's word and use it as a map to orient us to the work of God in both the world and in our lives as an individual. So don't get lost. Don't miss the forest for the trees. Really believe that God's word is a lamp to your feet and a light to your path, and be encouraged. If you're a part of Compass Bible Church South Valley, uh, be encouraged of our lineage, of faithful churches, and really be motivated to move forward, trusting in the promises of God, believing that God will provide and supply all of our needs richly in Christ Jesus. And even in Genesis 10, again, it's setting the stage, this grand story is unfolding. Abraham's about to step onto the scene, God's going to make a covenant, and ultimately we know that all culminates in Christ. And the greatest need of the world, every human is Christ and salvation. And through even an obscure chapter like Genesis 10 with all of these names and all of these clans, that is a piece of the puzzle to orient you to the work of God and scripture. And ultimately, the scriptures are to help orient you to the work of God in the world and in your life personally. So I hope that's an encouragement for you. And as we look forward to January 18th, may the scriptures truly be a lamp to your feet and a light to your path. Well, thanks for joining us today on the Lamp and Light Bible Reading Podcast. For more information about Compass Bible Church South Valley, visit compass Bible SV.org. Keep reading, keep growing. God's word is a lamp to your feet and a light to your path.