Lamp and Light Bible Reading Plan

February 11, 2026 - Genesis 36 & Psalm 32

• Josiah Smith - Compass Bible Church South Valley

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We trace the tension in Genesis 36 between Esau’s visible growth and Jacob’s promised line, then move into Psalm 32 to show why real blessedness is forgiveness.

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.

Why Genesis 36 Matters

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. God's word lighting the way. I'm Josiah Smith, joined by Tyler Sanborn. Today is Wednesday, February 11th, 2026. Here's a quick summary of Genesis 36. Genesis 36 details the descendants of Esau. So it's going to give the lineage, the heritage. It's going to talk about his descendants, and it's going to detail his clans, some of their territory. Um, and even there at the end in verse 40, it says, These are the names of the chiefs of Esau according to their clans and their dwelling places by their names. Now we'll get into in just a second why it's important that this chapter be read and considered in the context of Genesis, but just know it is a chapter about largely the genealogy of Esau.

SPEAKER_00

Listen intently to God's written word. Psalm thirty two. Blessed is the one whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Blessed is the man against whom the Lord counts no iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no deceit. For when I kept silent my bones wasted away, through my groaning all day long. For day and night your hand was heavy upon me, my strength was dried up as by the heat of summer. I acknowledged my sin to you, and I did not cover my iniquity. I said, I will confess my transgressions to the Lord, and you forgave the iniquity of my sin. Therefore, let everyone who is godly offer prayer to you at a time when you may be found. Surely in a rush of great waters they shall not reach him. You are a hiding place for me. You preserve me from trouble, you surround me with shouts of deliverance, I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go. I will counsel you with my eye upon you. Be not like a horse or a mule without understanding, which must be curbed with a bit and bridle, or it will not stay near you. Many are the sorrows of the wicked, but steadfast love surrounds the one who trusts in the Lord. Be glad in the Lord and rejoice, O righteous, and shout for joy, all you upright in heart.

Reading Psalm 32 Aloud

Genealogies And The Tension Of Esau

Blessedness Of Forgiveness Explained

SPEAKER_01

Now Genesis thirty-six is an interesting chapter, and I know it's a lot of names, it's a lot of places, territory, clans, and it can be difficult to wade through chapters like that in the Bible. But remember that genealogies serve a very important literary purpose in different books of the Bible, but they also can serve a unique theological purpose. So here in Genesis 36, we have the details of Esau's descendants. Now, why is that important? Well, because Jacob is the one who received the blessing. He is the one through whom the Abrahamic covenant will continue. It is his descendants that will number the stars in the sky. It is his descendants that will make up the great nation that Abraham is the father of. And yet in Genesis 36, we seem to see the opposite of that, at least with Esau. From our perspective, and certainly it seems like from uh Jacob and Esau's perspective, that Esau was experiencing perhaps more blessing from a descendant standpoint, from an offspring standpoint, all of the clans, all of the tribes, all of the territory. It seems like he has grown and expanded and had offspring to the nth degree when compared to Jacob. And so I think the point of this within the narrative of Genesis is to create some tension. And you could even connect it to what is often talked about in the Psalms of why, O Lord, do the wicked prosper? Why are those who are far from you, why does it seem like their life is filled with blessing when the righteous suffer? And I think this is intentionally put where it is in the narrative of Genesis to kind of create that tension. Jacob is the one through whom the blessing was received, and through the the inheritance will be uh given by God. And even later on in the New Testament, Jacob I loved, Esau I hated. We see those very specific and intentional theological statements made by God and reiterated by Paul. But here we see again, it seems to be that Jacob is the one that's kind of suffering, and Esau is the one that's actually being blessed. It seems that way. Now, of course, that's not actually what's going on, but I think the tension is meant to kind of resurface in our hearts. Uh, I'm asserting, I'm assuming as much as it did in Jacob's of God, will you be true to your promises? And it's another call from a literary perspective by Moses, the author, to trust in the promises of God. So again, it's it's a lot of names, it's some genealogies, the descendants of Esau. But again, I think it's supposed to be a hook that pulls our heart and that and really intentionally elevates our faith. So I want you to see Genesis 36 as that. Now, as we transition, really to focus primarily today on Psalm 32. Tyler, what do you got cooking up over there for Psalm 32? You you've got uh quite the intensive, reflective face that I know our audience can see through the audio.

SPEAKER_00

We have notes, we have some things to share. Uh, and I love how this psalm kicks off uh drawing our attention to forgiveness and covering and forgiveness of sins. And uh I'm I'm just reflecting on personal experiences, and I'm sure many of the listeners of this podcast can reflect and relate also. There's a weightiness and a pressure and a tension that lingers, it does not go away. It hangs around when we go about our lives without confessing our sin, without forgiveness. Um, though we are forgiven in Christ, ultimately there there are sins that go uh and and put us at odds uh with other people around us that that really grieve us in ways when we're sinning against the Lord and ultimately the Lord there there's a a pressure, there's an internal um weight that that is described in verse three, uh a wasting away of bones, um and grow internal groanings all the day long. Now the this is um this is experience, but also the relief and the the joy that comes from forgiveness, truly being forgiven of something that you've done wrong to someone else and to the Lord. We we have this feeling of uh of joy, and we can be glad because we have forgiveness if we're found in Christ. And I think the the blessed man, as described in verse two, can be us when we go to the Lord and say, I've offended you, I've wronged you, I've sinned against you and you alone, God, please forgive me. Um there's something real about that.

Conviction As A Gift From God

Alignment Analogy And Restoration

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, well, that's how it starts. There is blessing that comes from being forgiven. There is uh a blessing, there's a favor, there is an experience of happiness and joy when transgression and sin is forgiven. Blessed is the one whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. And then he reiterates it again in verse two blessed is the man again whom the Lord counts no iniquity, and whose spirit there is no deceit. Now I have a couple thoughts when it comes to that. One, I think the weightiness of sin that we can often feel in our conscience, especially for Christians who are convicted by the Spirit of God, that weightiness is a gift from the Lord. Because A, it points us to the reality of the wrongfulness of our sin, but B, it sort of is the due north of the compass that God has given us, sort of in our conscience, to point us towards the forgiveness that God offers upon confession of our sin. And so I would say that the feeling of conviction, the feeling of weightiness actually is a great blessing that God gives to his children to help us navigate and help us to basically navigate our way home. If we're thinking about the a compass as an illustration here, the due north of going to the Lord and seeking forgiveness. Now, on the flip side of that, there can be something that I think is frightening if and when a Christian or someone who claims to be a Christian does not experience the weightiness of their sin. If someone is a Christian and they're not experiencing conviction and they're not experiencing what David describes here as our bones wasting away, that language is so illustrative. The whole point is we're literally rotting from the inside out, right? We are uh our soul is in turmoil. And uh, of course, that is a dramatic way of saying it, and we can feel that in any number of ways. It doesn't necessarily have to be uh, you know, sliders to 100 for us to say that we feel conviction. Um, but there should be cause for concern if there is no conviction in the life of someone who claims to be a Christian. Because if we have the Spirit of God, Jesus Himself said he's gonna send the Spirit, uh He along with the Father to convict the world of sin, righteousness, and judgment. And conviction is one of the things uh that is evidence of genuine salvation. And so if there is no conviction, if your heart is hardened, uh that that's grave uh uh cause for concern, uh, both from a salvation uh salvation standpoint, but also just uh from a conscience standpoint of where's your conscience before the Lord? Uh what have you been doing that has hardened your conscience to perhaps the work of the spirit if you genuinely are a Christian? And then there's questions of assurance of salvation, there's questions of genuineness of salvation that can come from that. So I would say that feeling conviction and feeling the weight of your sin, Tyler, actually is a gift from the Lord because it's evidence of the spirit at work in you. And if it's absent, there is that sense of anxiety that you can have. Am I saved? Where is the spirit? Why don't I feel guilty? And oftentimes, if if you're in that state, you're probably not even thinking those things, you're just engaging willfully with your sin. But it's a gift to be able to feel that weightiness and to be able to have the compass of your soul pointed north towards seeking forgiveness from the Lord and trusting the words of the Apostle John in 1 John 1 9 that if you confess your sins, he is faithful and just to forgive you your sins and to cleanse you from all unrighteousness. So I think we need to see that there is truly blessing from being restored. Think of it as basically becoming whole, being a whole person where you're not out of alignment anymore with your creator. Um you ever go to the chiropractor, Tyler? I've been a few times in my life. Yeah? Yeah. I went through a phase where I used to watch chiropractors on YouTube, just confessing. I wasn't planning on saying that, but it was very satisfying to listen to all of the cracks and the uh all that fun stuff. But the whole point of a chiropractor is to get you in alignment, right? Is to make sure that you're in alignment so that your body's functioning uh properly and that you're alleviating pressure from nerves and and yada yada yada. Uh, I think this this text in Psalm 32 is God's prescription for being aligned uh in your soul so that you're not you know walking around with nerve pain and back pain and spiritually speaking and all those things. I think Psalm 32 points us in that direction.

Urgency: Seek God While He’s Near

SPEAKER_00

That's that's a good reminder. Uh and and I too have watched a couple chiropractic videos in my lifetime, so don't feel like you're alone. Um so we're we're about halfway through in in our Bible reading plan, halfway through the book of Genesis. And as we look forward to the next book in the Old Testament, I I'm reminded of of the Exodus uh in verse six. Uh therefore let everyone who is godly offer up prayer to you at a time when you may be found. And the next chunk here is gonna draw our attention to water. Surely in the rush of great waters, they shall not reach him. There's there's gonna be a point in time in the future, Pastor Josiah, when um when when judgment will come.

SPEAKER_01

Forgiveness will not be found.

SPEAKER_00

It's not available. Uh you cannot you cannot call out to the Lord for for mercy for in and repent at a certain point in time, that will be not available. And this this imagery of uh we were talking about it earlier today. There's there's a point in time where the rush of of mighty waters, of great waters, draws our attention to um the exodus of of Israel out of Egypt and this the calamity and the judgment on Pharaoh and his army. And for us, we can think about even even down to the anatomical level of of drowning, like you cannot make a sound, you cannot utter a word out of your mouth when you have water in your lungs. And it could be a graphic image for some of our listeners that may have known someone who has drowned, but there is a time for us to call out to the Lord to ask for forgiveness. And if you're listening to this podcast today and you're and you haven't repented, you haven't turned from your sin and asked the Lord to forgive you, there still is time. There still is time. Judgment has not come yet, and that's a kindness from the Lord, his patience and his mercy are still available to us.

Exodus Imagery And Final Judgment

Two Layers: Daily Repentance And Salvation

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, and I think that the illustration that David is is drawing on from the Exodus of the waters crashing down onto the Egyptian army really kind of shows, again, by way of analogy, the persistence of their sin and their unwillingness to change course, their unwillingness to heed the warnings of God after plague after plague after plague after plague. They they persisted in their sin. And so that's why he says, uh, you know, offer a prayer to you at a time when you may be found. Surely in the rush of great waters, they shall not reach him. Uh and by that point, of course, they had persisted so long that uh what they ended up receiving was instead of forgiveness, judgment. And yeah, to your point, Tyler, there is a there are very real warning here of um forgiveness is offered. There's blessing when forgiveness is received, uh, but forgiveness must be sought and uh confession of sin uh must happen in order for that forgiveness to be received. And so I would just take the Egyptian army as a warning of do not persist, do not run headlong after your sin and into your rebellion, like the Egyptian army army, because it ultimately led to their destruction. And the Proverbs tell us that there is a way that seems right to a man, but its end leads to destruction. And so Psalm 32 points us to the reality that God is a gracious God who is so willing to forgive and in fact blesses the man against whom the Lord counts no iniquity and in whose spirit there is no deceit. But that comes from having a right, restored relationship with God through confessing your sin and seeking the forgiveness that the Lord offers, most especially through his son, Jesus Christ, the gospel, right? Where you can um, you know, in in the in the New Testament, when Paul is asked, What must I do to be saved? He says, believe in your heart, right? And he also talks about confessing with your mouth that Jesus is Lord, God will save you. And uh we we need to confess uh our sin. We need to trust that he is faithful and just to forgive us our sin and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. So there's two layers of kind of application here. One is for the Christian who's already saved. Uh, we we need to deal with our sin appropriately. We need to confess it. We need to be quick to uh go to the Lord or go to those we've wronged and confess our sin and experience the alignment that comes with that. But then there's also the the other sort of layer to this of salvation and uh confessing ultimately Christ, confessing that you are a sinner and that you are in need of ultimate forgiveness from the Lord and being restored by the gospel message.

Mule And Bridle: Submitting To Correction

SPEAKER_00

Yep. Pastor Josiah, something that I was uh kind of keying in on, uh this some of the imagery with with stubbornness, with with a rejection of authority, with a rejection of correction is this this imagery of uh a horse or a mule and and what what devices are used to guide, to direct, to train, to steer these these animals. And um I I think there's just a kindness, like we're saying, a kindness from the Lord to show us our sin, to have for us that are in Christ the spirit to correct us. That's the this the spirit is is drawing our attention and steering our minds to the the correct course. And as a a rider or a trainer of a of an animal, a horse or a mule would do the same. This is not the way to go. I'm gonna steer you to the right course. This is where you should go, this is the best way for you. But in a rebellious and an unsubmissive heart attitude, when we're thinking our way is best, we're not in that mindset of submitting to the Lord and confessing our sin to him. And and as a result, naturally, sorrows come our way. There is a distress, there is a lack of peace that comes into our lives as a result of us not dealing with our sin in a way that um honors the Lord. And and when we do, the conclusion of this psalm, uh, we we have a gladness that comes as a result. We we have a a unity, we have a peace with others, others, and we can rejoice, we can shout for joy, we we have uh a heart posture of being just in a great place with the Lord and with others to where there's no there's no paranoia, there's not a thought that goes into our mind of like, well, what are they thinking? Is this what's going on in the background? I'm just not in a right position with them. But when we clear the air, when we say, I'm wrong, I was specifically doing this against you, please forgive me. There's a peace and a relief that comes through that through a correct relationship.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, because blessed is the one whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. We hope that you experience that. If you're a Christian, you experience the ongoing blessing of forgiveness. And if you're not a Christian, we we hope that you experience that ultimate blessing of being forgiven of the debt that you have of your sin before a holy God and experiencing the life that comes from the forgiveness that is offered in Christ Jesus. 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.