Lamp and Light Bible Reading Plan

January 23, 2026 - Genesis 20 & Psalm 18:25-42

• Josiah Smith - Compass Bible Church South Valley

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We read Genesis 20 and Psalm 18:25–42 and trace how spiritual stubbornness turns fear into excuses while humility opens the door to grace. Abraham’s repeat deception harms many, and Abimelech’s swift repentance shows what real correction looks like under God’s light.

• spiritual stubbornness exposed in Abraham’s repeated deceit
• ripple effects of sin on families and communities
• excusing versus confessing sin, and the cost of “technical truth”
• Abimelech’s humility and restitution as a model of repentance
• Psalm 18’s theme of God as light, shield and refuge
• choosing God’s proven word over fear-driven tactics
• practical steps for confession, repair and walking in the light

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.

Genesis 20 Read Aloud

Psalm 18:25–42 Read Aloud

SPEAKER_01

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, joined by Tyler Sanborn. Today is Thursday, January 23rd, 2026. Listen intently to God's written word. Genesis 20. From there Abraham journeyed toward the territory of the Negeb and lived between Kadesh and Shore, and he sojourned in Gerar. And Abraham said of Sarah his wife, She is my sister, and Abimelech, king of Gerar, sent and took Sarah. But God came to Abimelech in a dream by night and said to him, Behold, you are a dead man because of the woman whom you have taken, for she is a man's wife. Now Abimelech had not approached her, so he said, Lord, will you kill an innocent people? Did he not himself say to me, She is my sister? And she herself said, He is my brother. In the integrity of my heart and the innocence of my hands I have done this. Then God said to him in the dream, Yes, I know that you have done this in the integrity of your heart, and it was I who kept you from sinning against me. Therefore I did not let you touch her. Now then, return the man's wife, for he is a prophet, so that he will pray for you and you shall live. But if you do not return her, know that you shall surely die, you and all who are yours. So Abimelech rose early in the morning and called all his servants and told them all these things, and the men were very much afraid. Then Abimelech called Abraham and said to him, What have you done to us? And how have I sinned against you that you have brought on me and my kingdom a great sin? You have done to me things that ought not to be done. And Abimelech said to Abraham, What did you see that you did this thing? Abraham said, I did it because I thought there is no fear of God at all in this place, and it will kill me because of my wife. Besides, she is indeed my sister, the daughter of my father, though not the daughter of my mother, and she became my wife. And when God caused me to wander from my father's house, I said to her, This is the kindness you must do me. At every place which we come, say of me, he is my brother. Then Abimelech took sheep and oxen and male servants and female servants, and gave them to Abraham, and returned Sarah his wife to him. And Abimelech said, Behold, my land is before you, dwell where it pleases you. To Sarah he said, Behold, I have given your brother a thousand pieces of silver, it is a sign of your innocence in the eyes of all who are with you, and before everyone you are vindicated. Then Abraham prayed to God, and God healed Abimelech, and also healed his wife and female slaves so that they bore children. For the Lord had closed all the wombs of the house of Abimelech because of Sarah, Abraham's wife.

SPEAKER_00

Psalm eighteen, verses twenty-five through forty-two. With the merciful you show yourself merciful, with the blameless man you show yourself blameless, with the purified you show yourself pure, and with the crooked, you make yourself seem tortuous. For you save a humble people, but the haughty eyes you bring down. For it is you who light my lamp. The Lord my God lightens my darkness. For by you I can run against a troop, and by my God I can leap over a wall. This God, his way, is perfect. The word of the Lord proves true. He is a shield for all those who take refuge in him. For who is God but the Lord, and who is a rock except our God, the God who equipped me with strength and made my way blameless. He made my feet like the feet of a deer, and he set me secure on the heights. He trains my hand for war, so that my arms can bend a bow of bronze. You have given me the shield of your salvation, and your right hand supported me, and your gentleness made me great. You gave a wide place for my steps under me, and my feet did not slip. I pursued my enemies and overtook them, and did not turn back till they were consumed. I thrust them through, so that they were not able to rise. They fell under my feet, for you equipped me with a strength for the battle. You made those who rise against me sink under me. You made the enemies turn their backs to me, and those who hated me I destroyed. They cried for help, but there was none to save. They cried to the Lord, but he did not answer them. I beat them fine as dust before the wind. I cast them out like the mire of the streets.

SPEAKER_01

Tyler, Genesis 20 has me thinking about stubbornness. Stubbornness in a very stubborn way. That's profound. Stubbornness upon stubbornness. Stubbornness upon stubbornness. It makes me think of like when I was younger, and I would argue with my brothers and and fight with them, specifically my younger brother. I can remember a few occasions when the rough housing got a little too rough, and my younger brother was was injured in the process, tears were flowing. And I remember because I didn't want to get in trouble, all the things that I did to try to keep him from going to the authorities, aka my parents. Uh specifically, my number one way of doing that was to try to make them laugh. So if he laughed, it was like he he would stop crying and we could move on and forget the wrong that I had done to him. Do you have anything like that in your life, Tyler?

SPEAKER_00

We didn't talk about this before we started reading, but there are with my younger brother, also, there are many instances where I knew I was in the wrong, and I knew that uh I had to do something quick to make sure that that he didn't go and and uh reveal my sin to my parents. Tell all exposed in and uh and and for for that, I mean I I compounded. I I I bribed my brother. I told him not to, I told him not to do things. I I did all kinds of things, and I'm re I'm reminded of the words my father used to tell me. He he I remember this so vividly. He's he's he asked me this question, Tyler, when are you going to learn? When is it gonna sink in?

SPEAKER_01

What a question to think about when it comes to Genesis 20, because here we are in the same scenario, Abraham doing the same thing. We're back for round two of Abraham throwing his wife to the wolves and saying, just tell him, tell him I'm your brother, tell him you're my sister. And here we have King Abimelech, King of Gerar, taking her as his wife. And here we are again with what I'm calling just spiritual stubbornness. We find ourselves in the same place. Abraham finds himself falling into the same sin of deceit, the same sin of dishonoring his wife, the same sin of even tricking uh someone who is in authority over the nation that he is sojourning in and dwelling in. And spiritual stubbornness, I think, is a great way, just as you read Genesis 20, just to think about what we are reading. Uh, because again, Abraham is, it seems like after everything that we've been reading, after we've been reading in Genesis 17 and God reiterating, reiterating the covenant of promise and God giving them the sign of circumcision, and then in Genesis 18, where God tells them very explicitly, in no uncertain terms, Tyler, you will have a son, his name will be Isaac, and by this time next year, I'm gonna return to you and he will be here. I mean, it doesn't get that much more explicit.

SPEAKER_00

No, there God wasn't sharing. You're gonna have a son, but but you're not the father. He didn't tell them that, not at all.

Excusing Sin Versus Confessing It

SPEAKER_01

Abraham, you are the father. Yeah, oh my goodness. What a reference. Uh, but yeah, so he's he had all these promises, he's had all of this reminders of God's faithfulness, and yet what do we see here in Genesis 20? He puts all of that at risk by shoving his wife into the arms of King Abimelech. And what I want to take away from this is several things. One, I want us to realize uh that our sin affects those around us. Now, Abraham, in this situation, of course, it's it's more obvious, maybe more pronounced, maybe more dire uh than some of the circumstances in your life, but I want you to see that Abraham's decisions affect his wife, affect King Abimelech, affect King Abimelech's wife and their wombs, even their ability to conceive. There's all of these ripple effects, these ramifications that come from one man's sin, one man's lack of trust in the promises of God leads to a disaster for an entire household. And and the King Abimelech is afraid, he's he's fearful. And God's literally saying, If if if you don't do this, you're a dead man. I mean, we see that in Genesis 20. So your sin will affect those around you. It's not just a personal thing, it's not a private thing. Your sin has ramifications for your children, for your spouse, for your coworkers, for your church. And you need to recognize that your sin does not happen in ice isolation. And so you will, in in these moments, if you're giving into the flesh, if you're like Tyler and I when we were younger, trying to cover our tracks, cover our tracks, you will want to excuse your sin rather than confess it. Uh, and this is what we see Abraham doing in verse 11. Abraham said, Well, I did it because I thought uh there is no fear of God at all in this place, and they will kill me because of my wife. He's he's just giving an excuse. I I thought, well, they don't worship the one true God, they know nothing of the covenant that God has made, they don't know nothing of the kindness of God, they're just gonna be barbarians, and so I'm gonna I'm gonna acquiesce, quote unquote. To he almost has this perspective of like, I'm doing you a favor, Sarah. Like, this is for you, it's for me, it's for our protection, it's for our good.

SPEAKER_00

He's taking matters into his own hands. In order for God to follow through on his promise, we both need to be alive. If we're dead, we we can't have this Isaac that we've been told we're gonna have.

Redefining Sin As “Kindness”

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, so you're gonna want to excuse your sin rather than confess it. And the great irony of Genesis 20 is that we see a pagan king living out repentance, living out an obedience and a response to God's instructions in a greater way, in a more faithful way than Abraham, Father Abraham, who had many sons, and many sons had Father Abraham. I had one of them, and so are you. Uh, we have that man, Abraham, who is not the positive example in this story. It's King Abimelech. And what Abraham is showing us is our own tendency, uh, even even now, right, to in our flesh to excuse our sin rather than confess it. And that's like what you were talking about, Tyler. And what I was saying with with our siblings is we wrong them, we hurt them, whatever. And what we're we're quickly searching for uh how can we get out of this? What's the excuse that that we can make? And that can be such a temptation for us. And so I want you to read Genesis 20, take this as a as an example, as something uh that uh you you can learn from, and not only will you want to excuse rather than confess your sin, you will also want to redefine your sin altogether rather than repent of it. And again, we see that in verse 12, right? What what does Abraham say in verse 12, Tyler? That he's just like, uh, well, you know, I'm uh I'm we're good.

SPEAKER_00

This is uh let me just push the the glasses up the bridge of my nose, uh, because they've they've slid down. Uh and he just doubles down, he tries to ex explain his himself and explain away uh what he said and why he's doing what he's doing, and he's not taking accountability. Yeah. Well, he says, Well, she is indeed my my sister.

Abimelech’s Model Of Humble Obedience

SPEAKER_01

Well, technically the daughter of my father, though not the daughter of my mother, and she became my wife. So she is my sister, she also is my wife. Uh, don't worry about it, King of him. Like I didn't, you know, I didn't actually lie. I didn't actually, you know. But then he goes on, and you know, in verse 13, he says, and when God uh caused me to wander from my father's house, I said to her, This is the kindness you must do me. At every place to which we come, save me. He is my brother. So he's he's redefining deceit and lies as a kindness. Do this kindness to me. He in order to rationalize, in order to, I don't know, make Sarah feel better about what's going on, he's saying, Hey, just let's let's not call let's not call a spade a spade. Let's let's call this kindness. You're you're doing me a kindness. And by extension, you're doing our family a kindness and the future offspring that we've been promised. You're doing him a kindness. Just if you just lie, if you don't, if you don't tell the truth, don't don't don't think of it as that way. No, don't don't don't think of it as lying. Think of it as you're doing me a kindness, you're doing me a solid. And so we see Abraham redefining rather than repenting. And so there's this doubling down, spiritual amnesia, spiritual stubbornness. He can he quickly forgets the promises and provision of God, and we see uh the disaster that comes as a result of that.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, Pastor Josiah, you're you're making a connection to this this transaction that will happen next in Genesis 20. And and we look back and see at the beginning of this chapter, God preventing King Abimelech from from sending. He he restrains him in a way that he didn't even touch uh Abraham's wife. And we look here and see out of out of the uh the gratitude that he has for the Lord, he he's gonna go forward and and bless Abraham. He's going to talk to talk to Abraham and say, Look, look, this this land before you dwell dwell where it pleases you. And he gives uh he gives to Sarah, he's like, Behold, your brother here, uh, a thousand pieces of silver. So yeah, who's the one trying to make things right here?

SPEAKER_01

It's not Abraham. It's not him. It's not Abraham, it's the king. It's King Abimelech, who by all accounts, he was the one that was wronged. He was the one that was deceived, he was the one that was sinned against, and yet we see Abimelech wanting to make things right. Hey, I'm gonna give you the choice land, I'm gonna give you thousand pieces of silver just to make things right, to know uh that we've done everything that we can. I it reminds me of Romans, where Paul says, like, as much as it depends on you, be at peace with all. And Abimelech is going above and beyond. He's he's obeying the commands of God. God came to him in this dream, and he's taking seriously the warning that God gave him. And so he's he's literally living out. You could even see this as a model of repentance and what that looks like. Hey, I don't want any part of this, I don't want to be even near the sin. I don't want to be uh just I I want to be above reproach, right? I want to distance myself from this. So so here you go. Take the silver, take the lands, take what you need, and and he's he's the one that is ultimately walking out what repentance looks like. And Abraham is just like, well, you know, technically she is my sister. And well, really, Sarah, you're doing me a kindness, and and all of these things. There is there is no sense of uh remorse. There is no sense there you don't even see any like you don't even see worldly godliness here where there's no fake tears, there it just seems to be excuses.

God Brings Hidden Things To Light

SPEAKER_00

King Abimelech is embracing the truth of the matter, yeah, and and Abraham is getting slippery and trying to dodge and and try to avoid this accountability, and um he's he's standing in the light of the truth that God has shared with him. And I'm looking at just to make a connection, maybe you have one more thing to say in Genesis 20, but I want to make a connection to um Psalm chapter 18 uh and verse 28. Um we see the source of light, we see the source of truth and and the source of uh understanding, and it's it's God. David is looking to God and is saying, Any kind of understanding, any kind of any kind of safety, any kind of vision that I have, uh it's from the Lord my God who who lightens his darkness. And sin loves to just hang out in the darkness. Sin loves to to live in the ambiguity. Can we really know what's going on? Can we really know is that is that person trustworthy? Is their reputation trustworthy?

Humility As The Turning Point

Trusting God’s Word That Proves True

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, and Sarah and Abraham are like even it's it's sort of like the back room conversation, the the the back room scheme that they made, right? That the sinful, just do this kindness to me, just say you're you're my sister, I'm your brother, don't worry about it. That that's happening in the shadows, and and God is having none of it. God brings it quickly to the light. He tells King Abimelech what is going on, he reveals because it doesn't seem like Abraham's gonna do any confessing. Abraham's not gonna bring it to the light. So, so what what does God do? The God of truth, the God of light, he he pulls Abraham's sin into the light, which is a kindness. There's some pain involved in that, but there's a kindness because God deals with sin in the light, and sin festers in the dark, and what a great just challenge for us. Uh and again, we we can think of ourselves as better than Abraham, but that this is us. If not for the grace of God in our lives, we we want to excuse, we want to redefine, we we want to just uh stiff arm repentance, we want to all of these things that that's us, if not for the spirit of God and the word of God and the grace of God. This this is us, and and so it's a good reminder of what we need. And I would even say, okay, what's what is the distinction between Abraham and King Abimelech in this story? And if I could connect that to Psalm 18, I think the distinction is humility. Abraham lacks humility in this situation, the humility to trust God, the humility to admit his wrongs. But King Abimelech, he showcases humility. And in Psalm 18, verses 25 through 27, David says, With the merciful, you show yourself merciful, with the blameless man, you show yourself blameless, with the purified, you show yourself pure, and with the crooked you make yourself seem torturous, for you save a humble people, but the haughty eyes you bring down. And this this you know coincides with other scripture passages that talk about like a broken and contrite heart you will not despise. God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble. And we see this on display in Genesis 20, where Abraham is prideful in this moment. I need to take matters in my own hands. I ultimately don't trust the very explicit commands, not even commands, the very explicit promises that God gave to him about his offspring, about his protection, about him being a father of many nations. About the he I will bless those who bless you, I will curse those who curse you. Immediately, Abraham seems to just throw that all out the window for fear's sake, and he's not humble before the Lord. And yet King Abimelech, again, a a foreign pagan king, uh showcases humility uh before the hand of God and and walks that out and lives that out. And so that's the distinction. What's required in confessing our sin, Tyler? I mean, think about that with your spouse. What does it require to confess your sin to your spouse? Uh it's going to require humility. To be able to say, I was wrong, what I did was wrong, that requires uh humility. And it saw Psalm 18 tells us uh that God uh He preserves those who are humble. Uh, you save a humble people, it says, but the haughty eyes you bring them down. And so, what a great uh just challenge for us. What a great example that we see between Abimelech and Abraham. And uh, I hope that we can grow in just a humble, simple trust in the Lord uh that is quick to say, you know what, I I blew it. I I didn't do what I I know I was supposed to do. Confess our sin, walk out repentance in the way that we even see King Abimelech just going above and beyond to make things right before the Lord. And um God opposes the proud, but he gives grace to the humble.

False Refuges Fail, God Preserves

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, good. Pastor Josiah, we we see verse 30 of of chapter 18. Uh, this God, his way is perfect. The word of the Lord proves true. He is a shield for all those who take refuge in him. And uh, as we see, the the contrast between David taking refuge in the promises and truths of God and uh Abraham not in this moment, we we can look and re remind ourselves when troubles come, when trials come, if if he's if God says something's gonna happen, we can trust that it will. Um, we don't need to take refuge, we don't need to um go find wisdom and comfort and care and anything else outside of the word of God. His word proves true. And I'd like to just make a connection also in verse 41. Speaking of uh the enemies of King David, uh it says they cried for help, but there was none to save. None to save, no no false gods are are going to be able to swoop down to rescue you. They don't know you, they can't hear you, they can't see you. Um and I know this is a ways out for us in our Bible reading plan, but that that reminds me of Psalm uh 115, and uh we're speaking about idols made of by human hands, made of precious metals. Um, there's this idea that these things that we seek comfort in, that we seek refuge in, that we try to find wisdom in, whether it's the universe, whether it's um human understanding, we try to make sense of this world and try to make understanding to help us find some kind of solid ground in the in the face of troubles and trials and immediate danger, we look no further than the Lord.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, the Lord is true to his promises, and we've been saying that, I feel like every day on the podcast, but that's we need to hear it. That's what we need to hear. And we see just a real life example with Abraham that though we know the promises of God to be true in our hearts when we give in to our fears and our our anxieties, we doubt the promises of God. So though it's simple, we need to just always be reoriented to God is true to his word, God is faithful. Even as we talked about on Sunday, he's always on time, he's never late at the proper time. In Titus, it says God manifested these things, God provided the gospel of Jesus Christ. And so we we need to just continue to grow in our humility before the Lord and ultimately our trust in the promises of God. 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 dot org. Keep reading, keep growing. God's word is a lamp to your feet and a light to your path.