April 11, 2026 - Exodus 37 & Psalm 79

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. 

Transcript

Exodus 37 Tabernacle Craftsmanship

SPEAKER_00 0:01

Welcome to the Lamp and Light Bible 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 Saturday, April 11th, 2026. Listen intently to God's written word. Exodus 37. Bezalel made the ark of acacia wood, two cubits and a half was its length, a cubit and a half its breadth, and a cubit and a half its height. And he overlaid it with pure gold inside and outside, and made a moulding of gold around it. And he cast for it four rings of gold for its four feet, two rings on its one side, and two rings on its other side. And he made poles of acacia wood and overlaid them with gold. And he put the poles into the rings on the sides of the ark to carry the ark, and he made a mercy seat of pure gold, two cubits and a half was its length, and a cubit and a half its breadth. And he made two cherubim of gold. He made them of hammered work on the two ends of the mercy seat, one cherub on the one end, and one cherub on the other end. Of one piece with the mercy seat he made the cherubim on its two ends. The cherubim spread out their wings above, overshadowing the mercy seat with their wings, with their faces one to another, toward the mercy seat were the faces of the cherubim. He also made the table of acacia wood. Two cubits was its length, a cubit its breadth, and a cubit and a half its height. And he overlaid it with pure gold, and made a moulding of gold around it, and he made a rim around it a hand breadth wide, and made a moulding of gold around the rim. He cast for it four rings of gold, and fastened the rings to the four corners at its four legs. Close to the frame were the rings, as holders for the poles to carry the table. He made the poles of acacia wood to carry the table, and overlaid them with gold. And he made the vessels of pure gold that were to be on the table, its plates and dishes for incense, and its bowls and flagons with which to pour drink offerings. He also made the lampstand of pure gold. He made the lampstand of hammered work, its base, its stem, its cup, its calyxes, and its flowers were of one piece with it. And there were six branches going out of its sides, three branches of the lampstand out of one side of it, and three branches of the lampstand out of the other side of it. Three cups made like almond blossoms, each with calix and flower on one branch, and three cups made like almond blossoms, each with calix and flower on the other branch. So for the six branches going out of the lampstand. And on the lampstand itself were four cups made like almond blossoms, with their calyxes and flowers, and a calyx of one piece with it under each pair of the six branches going out of it. Their calyxes and their branches were of one piece with it. The whole of it was a single piece of hammered work of pure gold. And he made it seven lamps and its tongues and its trays of pure gold. He made it and all its utensils out of a talent of pure gold. He made the altar of incense of acacia wood, its length was a cubit, and its breadth was a cubit. It was square, and two cubits was its height. Its horns were of one piece with it. He overlaid it with pure gold, its top and around its sides and its horns, and he made a moulding of gold around it, and he made two rings of gold on it, under its moulding, on two opposite sides of it, as holders for the poles with which to carry it. And he made the poles of acacia wood and overlaid them with gold. He made the holy anointing oil also, and a pure fragrant incense, blended as by their perfumer.

Psalm 79 Lament Over Ruins

SPEAKER_01 3:36

Psalm seventy nine. O God, the nations have come into your inheritance. They have defiled your holy temple, they have laid Jerusalem in ruins. They have given the bodies of your servants to the birds of the heavens for food, the flesh of your faithful to the beasts of the earth. They have poured out their blood like water all around Jerusalem, and there was no one to bury them. We have become a taunt to our neighbors, mocked and derided by those around us. How long, O Lord, will you be angry forever? Will your jealousy burn like fire? Pour out your anger on the nations that do not know you, and on the kingdoms that do not call upon your name, for they have devoured Jacob and laid waste his habitation. Do you not remember against us our former iniquities? Let your compassion come speedily to meet us, for we are brought very low. Help us, O God of our salvation, for the glory of your name deliver us and atone for our sins, for your name's sake. Why should the nation say, Where is there God? Let the avenging of the outpoured blood of your servants be known among the nations before our eyes. Let the groans of the prisoners come before you, according to your great power, preserve those doomed to die. Return sevenfold into the lap of our neighbors, the taunts with which they have taunted you, O Lord. But we, your people, the sheep of your pasture, will give thanks to you forever. From generation to generation, we will recount your praise.

SPEAKER_00 5:22

Tyler, we did not talk about this before we started a recording, but I have a question for you. You ready? Unrehears. What motivates you?

SPEAKER_01 5:38

What motivates me is the words that I hope to hear one day from the Lord. Well done, good and faithful servant. That's that's ultimately what I want to hear at the end of my life. And um, those are words that I often have to wrestle with because I know that I fail. I know that I don't I don't measure up to God's standard, but uh I consider his grace and and the way that he's molding me more and more uh into the image of of his son. I I know that the work that he has started uh he will complete. And in one day, um by the grace of God, I will hear well done, good and faithful servant.

Praying For God’s Name’s Sake

SPEAKER_00 6:18

Yeah, I mean that that's hopefully I think there's a sense in which all Christians have that sort of desire where we want to please our Father, right? We we want our our Father uh to be pleased with the way that we chose to live our life, the the way that we chose to spend our time, the way that we chose to be generous with the resources that ultimately he provided. Uh and I just asked that question to start because I'm looking at Psalm 79, and of course, the background of this is the Babylonian captivity. So King Nebuchadnezzar II uh has laid waste to Jerusalem, the capital city uh where God's people were dwelling, and specifically what was in the capital city was the temple. Uh so the tabernacle sort of prefigures the temple. The temple built by Solomon was the sort of more fixed, more permanent version of the tabernacle. The tabernacle was mobile, uh, that's why it had all of the poles and they were picking it up and carrying it around. And there was very even specific instructions for them on how they were to carry it and transport all of the items. Uh, but the temple is the more permanent, fixed location where it was laid to rest uh in Jerusalem, and of course, was the center of Jerusalem, the center of their religious life and worship and their devotion ultimately to the Lord. And so King Nebuchadnezzar, when he is ransacking Jerusalem, uh, he goes right for the temple and he destroys the temple. He destroys this very sacred place, this place of worship, this place set aside set aside and set apart, consecrated as to the Lord. And so there's these requests kind of reflecting on that. Um, obviously, there's even in verse one, oh God, the nations have come into your inheritance, they have defiled your holy temple, they have laid Jerusalem in ruins. And so there's this reflecting on these events of the Babylonian captivity, of the destruction specifically of the temple, and there's these requests that are going to be made for vindication. There's even a question in verse 5 of how long, O Lord, will you be angry forever? Will your jealousy burn like fire? And then there's these specific things that are being asked of God. Pour out your anger on the nations that do not know you, for they have devoured Jacob and laid waste his habitation. Even in verse eight, do not remember against us our former iniquities. Let your compassion come speedily to meet us, for we are brought very low. And specifically, this is kind of what I was getting at with the motivation in verse nine. It says, Help us, O God of our salvation, for the glory of your name. Deliver us and atone for our sins for your name's sake. And there is this sense in which Asaph had this perspective of, yeah, rescue us, save us, work on behalf of us, but God, do it for your glory. Do it for your name. And there was a sense in which Asaph was motivated by the glory of God. And if you skip forward to Psalm 115, it kind of starts in a similar way where it says, Not to us, O Lord, not to us, but to your name give glory, to your name give honor. And so I think that's a question that just kind of stood out in my mind and in my heart of man, what motivates me? Even in my prayers, as I'm asking the Lord to do something, perhaps I'm asking him to work on my behalf, similar to Asaph, uh, asking God to work on the behalf of the nation of Israel. Uh, but what's motivating my requests? What's motivating my prayers? And even uh as we started, Tyler, what's motivating our lives? What why do we do what we do? Is it for our name? Is it for our glory? Is it for uh our sake? Uh, or is it for the glory of God's name? Is it for his name's sake? Uh, even in 1 John, it talks about how God has forgiven your sins for his name's sake. So God often works for his glory, he works for the glory of his name, and his people are often motivated by that. And of course, they are benefactors of that. And we've talked about that in other podcasts. How if we, if you and I, Tyler, were to work for the glory of our name, how destructive that would be to the relationships around us. But God, upon working for the glory of his name, it's not destructive, it's actually a blessing. And it brings a great joy and satisfaction, salvation ultimately, even as ASAP is praying here. Uh help us, O God of our salvation, for the glory of your name, deliver us and atone for our sins for your name's sake. And of course, he's talking about that in the context of the nations that have ransacked Jerusalem, mocking God. Where is their God? Mocking Israel. And so they are motivated by the glory of God. They want God's name to be vindicated, they want God's glory to be displayed. I think that's a good thing for us just to think about, Tyler, uh, in connection to our lives, connection to our church, Compass Bible Church, South Valley. And what are we motivated by? What are we seeking to do? Uh are we trying to build a name for ourselves or are we trying to honor God's name and Max Mike's God's glory?

SPEAKER_01 11:41

And uh, as I think about just the holy name of God, I I'm I'm taken back to the last year or so when I was in my uh my previous job working for the state of Idaho, and I I had uh some students that I was working with that would blaspheme the name of Christ over and over and over again. And it would go on for weeks and months, and and that was something that uh I think God used in a powerful way to to draw my heart uh even more so towards full-time ministry. And uh I I would I would be I'll be upset. I'd be upset in my classroom and and try to draw um my students' attention to the name that they were using as a curse word, as a profanity, and um and how they were just defiling the name of the Lord. And for me, I was I was challenged to in my own heart, I was challenged to evaluate how how am I how how am I bringing honor? There's clearly this effort to bring dishonor to God in my classroom, but in my life, how am I in in the face of this opposition, this defilement of God's name, how do I help them in a loving way, correct them to see the name of the Lord Jesus Christ is not a is a not a curse word, it's not a it's not a word that you can use to get a response out of your peers, but it's it's a word that um that reigns supreme. That the name of God is above all other names. And this this Jesus that you are using as a curse word, he's a man, and he is God's own son, and he died so that you can know him. And uh, as we think about the the Exodus and why God did all these great works and wonders, it was to bring his name high, it was to elevate the name of the Lord to make his name great and known among the nations. And um, that's a great passion of mine here locally in Cuna and in South Meridian. And um, I I want to see young people, I want to see teens, I want to see uh our children, I want to see the name of Jesus lifted high in their hearts and also in their mouths.

Living For Glory In Daily Work

Closing And How To Connect

SPEAKER_00 13:56

Yeah, and you gotta think that in Exodus 36 or 37, where we are reading today, um, the construction, the continuing construction of the tabernacle. Well, I mean, what's motivating these people? Of course, it's a sense of obedience, but you gotta think that the glory of the Lord uh is motivating umiab and bezalel and these people that have been gifted by the Lord uh to do something of great detail, of great significance. Uh, and even those who are generous in heart and being moved by God, I think there's a sense in which there's a motivating factor behind that, which is the glory of the Lord. And so, of course, in Exodus 37, we continue to see uh the construction of the various elements that God gave specific instructions to Moses on the mountain. Now he's coming down, and those things are being made exactly to the dimensions and the all those things that we read about in earlier chapters of Exodus. And so the construction of the tabernacle, God's dwelling place among his people, is well underway. And again, there's this kind of in the back of their hearts, I would hope, a sense of uh the glory of the Lord that's motivating them, motivating the generosity, motivating the construction. Of course, we see in Psalm 79 this motivation of even vindication or salvation being brought for God's glory for his name's sake. And I think if we think about that from our perspective and the details of our lives, we should have this sense of God, please glorify yourself with our life. Glorify yourself, magnify your name with the circumstances, the details of our life, uh, not for us, O Lord, not for us, not to us, but to your name, give glory. And I think that's just such a great uh encouragement, a great motivator for us that we should be motivated by the glory of the Lord. Even what you started with, Tylia, that sense of well done, good, and faithful servant. What's the wind and the sails that's gonna get you there? What's the glory of the Lord, seeking to live a life that glorifies him, seeking to honor him through your the way that you serve, the way that you lead, and everything in between. So we hope that that's an encouragement for you today. We hope that you are truly motivated by the glory of the Lord in the very details of your life. Well, thank you so much for joining us today on the Lamp and Light Bible Reading Podcast. For more information about Compass Bible Church South Valley, visit compassbiblesv dot org. Keep reading, keep growing. God's word is a lamp to your feet and a light to your path.