The Bible in a Year (with Fr. Mike Schmitz) - Day 55: Obedience to God (2022)

Episode Date: February 24, 2022

Fr. Mike underscores the importance of obeying God as he reads from Numbers 4 and Deuteronomy 4. We also read Psalm 88 and learn how it foreshadows the darkness Christ endured on the cross. For the complete reading plan, visit ascensionpress.com/bibleinayear. Please note: The Bible contains adult themes that may not be suitable for children - parental discretion is advised.

Hi, my name is Father Mike Schmitz, and you are listening to the Bible in a Year podcast, where we encounter God's voice and live life through the lens of Scripture. The Bible in a Year podcast is brought to you by Ascension. Using the Great Adventure Bible Timeline, we'll read all the way from Genesis to Revelation, discovering how the story of salvation unfolds and how we fit into that story today. It is day 55, and we'll be reading from Numbers chapter 4, Deuteronomy chapter 4. We'll be praying Psalm 88. Just a quick reminder, the Bible translation that I'm using is the Revised Standard Version, Second Catholic Edition,

and I'm using the Great Adventure Bible from Ascension. You can use and follow along with whatever Bible translation you find most helpful. To download your Bible in a Year reading plan, so you can know what day 54 was and what day 56 is going to be, you can go to ascensionpress.com slash Bible in a Year and download that for free. You also can subscribe in your podcast app to receive daily episodes. Now, let's get a context for the book of Numbers and for Deuteronomy. Remember, Numbers is taking place at the very beginning of the desert wanderings. They have not yet begun the desert wandering yet because they have not yet been challenged to go up to take the promised land yet.

So this is only 13 months. This is only the second year after the people of Israel have been set free from slavery. So that's the beginning of the desert wanderings. While the book of Deuteronomy happens 38 years later after all of the desert wanderings. And so Moses is giving his final speech before he goes off to be with the Lord and he dies. So keep that in mind as we hear from Numbers and the story of more issues about census with the Levites, as well as Deuteronomy. We hear about the rules that Moses is giving the people of Israel after all of their trials and their unfaithfulness and God's faithfulness to them. Today, Numbers chapter 4, Deuteronomy chapter 4, Psalm 88.

The book of Numbers chapter 4, the Kohathites. The Lord said to Moses and Aaron, take a census of the sons of Kohath from among the sons of Levi by their families and their father's house. From 30 years old up to 50 years old, all who can enter the service to do the work in the tent of meeting. This is the service of the sons of Kohath in the tent of meeting, the most holy things. When the camp is to set out, Aaron and his sons shall go in and take down the veil of the screen and cover the ark of the covenant with it. Then they shall put on it a covering of goat skin and spread over that a cloth all of blue and shall put in its poles. And over the table of the bread of the presence, they shall spread a cloth of blue and put upon it the plates, the dishes for incense, the bowls and the flagons

for the drink offerings. The continual bread also shall be on it. Then they shall spread over them a cloth of scarlet, and cover the same with a covering of goatskin, and shall put in its poles. And they shall take a cloth of blue, and cover the lampstand for the light with its lamps, its snuffers, its trays, and all the vessels for oil with which it is supplied. And they shall put it with all its utensils in a covering of goatskin and put it upon the carrying frame. And over the golden altar,

they shall spread a cloth of blue and cover it with a covering of goatskin and shall put in its poles. And they shall take all the vessels of the service, which are used in the sanctuary and put them in a cloth of blue and cover them with a covering of goatskin and put them on the carrying frame.

And they shall take away the ashes from the altar, and spread a purple cloth over it. And they shall put on it all the vessels of the altar, which are used for the service there, the firepans, the forks, the shovels, and the basins, all the utensils of the altar. And they shall spread upon it a covering of goat skin, and shall put in its poles. And when Aaron and his sons have finished covering the sanctuary, and all the furnishings of the sanctuary, as the camp sets out, after that the sons of Kohath shall come to carry these. But they must not touch the holy things, lest they die. These are the things of the tent of meeting, which the sons of Kohath are to carry. And Eleazar, the son of Aaron, the priest, shall have charge of the oil for the light, the fragrant incense, the continual

cereal offering, and the anointing oil, with the oversight of all the tabernacle, and all that is in it, of the sanctuary and its vessels. The Lord said to Moses and Aaron, Let not the tribe of the families of the Kohathites be destroyed from among the Levites, but deal thus with them, that they may live and not die when they come near to the most holy things. Aaron and his sons shall go in and appoint them each to his task and to his burden, but they shall not go in to look upon the holy things even for a moment, lest they die. The Gershonites and the Merorites. The Lord said to Moses, take a census of the sons of Gershon also by their families and their father's houses from 30 years old up to 50 years old. You shall number them all who can enter for service to do the work in the tent of meeting.

This is the service of the families of the Gershonites in serving and bearing burdens. They shall carry the curtains of the tabernacle and the tent of meeting with its covering and In serving and bearing burdens. equipment for their service, and they shall do all that needs to be done with regard to them. All the service of the sons of the Gershonites shall be at the command of Aaron and his sons, in all that they are to carry, and in all that they have to do, and you shall assign to their charge all that they are to carry. This is the service of the families of the sons of the Gershonites in the tent of meeting, and their work is to be under the oversight of Ithamar, the son of Aaron the priest. As for the sons of Merari, you shall number them by their families and their father's houses. From thirty years old up to fifty years old you shall number them, every one that can enter the service to do the work of the tent of meeting, and this is what they are charged to

carry as the whole of their service in the tent of meeting. The frames of the tabernacles, with its bars, pillars, and bases, and the pillars of the court round the tent of meeting, the frames of the tabernacles, with its bars, pillars, and bases, and the pillars of the court round about with their bases, pegs, and cords, with all their equipment and all their accessories, and you shall assign by name the objects which they are required to carry. This is the service of the families of the sons of Merari,

the whole of their service in the tent of meeting under the hand of Ithamar, the son of Aaron, the priest. Census of the Levites. And Moses and Aaron and the leaders of the congregation numbered the sons of the Kohathites by their families and their father's houses from 30 years old up to 50 years old, everyone that could enter the service for work in the tent of meeting. And their number by families was 2,750. This was the number of the families of the Kohathites, all who served in the tent of meeting, whom Moses and Aaron numbered according to the commandment of the Lord by Moses.

The number of the sons of Gershon, by their families and their father's houses, from 30 years old up to 50 years old, every one that could enter the service for work in the tent of meeting, their number by their families and their father's houses was 2,630. This was the number of the families of the sons of Gershon, all who served in the tent of meeting, whom Moses and Aaron numbered according to the commandment of the Lord. The number of the families of the sons of Merari, by their families and their father fathers' houses from 30 years old up to 50 years old, everyone that could enter the service for work in the tent of meeting, their number by families was 3,200. These are those who are numbered of the families of the sons of Merari, whom Moses and Aaron numbered according to the commandment of the Lord by Moses.

All those who are numbered of the Levites, whom Moses and Aaron and the leaders of Israel numbered by their families and their fathers' houses from 30 years old up to 50 years old, everyone that could enter to do the work of service and the work of bearing burdens in the tent of meeting, those who were numbered of them were 8,580. According to the commandment of the Lord, through Moses they were appointed each to his task of serving or carrying. Thus they were The book of Deuteronomy, chapter 4. Moses commands obedience to God. Moses continued, And now, O Israel, give heed to the statutes and the ordinances which I teach you, and do them, that you may live, and go in and take possession of the land which the Lord, the God of your

fathers, gives you. You shall not add to the word which I command you, nor take from it, that you may keep the commandments of the Lord your God which I command you. Your eyes have seen what the Lord did at Baal Peor. For the Lord your God destroyed from among you all the men who followed the Baal of Peor. But you who held fast to the Lord your God are all alive this day. Behold, I have taught you statutes and ordinances as the Lord my God commanded me, that you should do them in the land which you are entering to take possession of it. Keep them and do them, for that will be your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the peoples

who when they hear all these statutes will say, surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people. For what great nation is there that has a God so near to it as the Lord our God is to us whenever we call upon him? And what great nation is there that has statutes and ordinances so righteous as all this law which I set before you this day? Only take heed and keep

your soul diligently, lest you forget the things which your eyes have seen, and lest they depart from your heart all the days of your life. Make them known to your children and to your children's children. Oh, on the day that you stood before the Lord your God at Horeb, the Lord said to me, Gather the people to me, that I may let them hear my words, so that they may learn to fear me all the days that they live upon the earth, and that they may teach their children so. And you came near and stood at the foot of the mountain,

while the mountain burned with fire to the heart of heaven, wrapped in darkness, cloud, and gloom. Then the Lord spoke to you out of the midst of the fire. You heard the sound of words, but saw no form. There was only a voice. And he declared to you his covenant, which he commanded you to perform, that is the 10 commandments. And he wrote them upon two tables of stone. And the Lord commanded me at that time to teach you statutes and ordinances, that you might do them in the land which you are going over to possess. Therefore take good heed to yourselves. Since you saw no form on the day that the Lord spoke to you at Horeb out of the midst of the fire, beware, lest

you act corruptly by making a graven image for yourselves in the form of any figure, the likeness of male or female, the likeness of any beast that is on the earth, the likeness of any winged bird that flies in the air, the likeness of anything that creeps on the ground, the likeness of any fish that is in the water under the earth. And beware, lest you lift up your eyes to heaven, and when you see the sun and the moon and the stars, all the host of heaven, you see the sun and the moon and the stars, all the host of heaven, you be drawn away and worship them and serve them,

things which the Lord your God has allotted to all the peoples under the whole heaven. But the Lord has taken you and brought you forth out of the iron furnace, out of Egypt, to be a people of his own possession, as at this day. Furthermore, the Lord was angry with me on your account, and he swore that I should not cross the Jordan, and that I should not enter the good land which the Lord your God gives you for an inheritance, for I must die in this land. I must not go over the Jordan, but you shall go over and take possession of that good land. Take heed to yourselves, lest you forget the covenant of the Lord your God, which he made

with you, and make graven image in the form of anything which the Lord your God has forbidden you. For the Lord your God is a devouring fire, a jealous God. When you beget children and children's children and have grown old in the land, if you act corruptly by making a graven image in the form of anything and by doing what is evil in the sight of the Lord your God so as to provoke him to anger, I call heaven and earth to witness against you this day that you will soon utterly perish from the land which you are going over the Jordan to possess. You will not live long upon it, but will be utterly destroyed. And the Lord will scatter you among the peoples, and you will be left few in number among the nations where the Lord will drive you.

And there you will serve gods of wood and stone, the work of men's hands that neither see nor hear nor eat nor smell. But from there you will seek the Lord your God, and you will find him if you search after him with all your heart and with all your soul. When you are in tribulation and all these things come upon you in the later days, you will return to the Lord your God and obey were before you since the day that God created man upon the earth, and ask from one end of heaven to the other whether such a great thing as this has ever happened or was ever heard of. Did any people ever hear the voice of God speaking out of the midst of the fire as you have heard and still live? Or has God ever attempted to go and take a nation for himself

from the midst of another nation by trials, by signs, by wonders, and by war, by a mighty hand and an outstretched arm, and by great terrors according to all that the Lord your God did for you in Egypt before your eyes. To you it was shown that you might know that the Lord is God. There is no other besides him. Out of heaven he let you hear his voice, that he might discipline you. And on earth he let you see his great fire, and you heard his words out of the midst of the

fire. And because he loved your fathers and chose their descendants after them and brought you out of Egypt with his own presence by his great power, driving out before you nations greater and mightier than yourselves to bring you in, to give you their land for an inheritance, as at this day. Know therefore this day and lay it to your heart that the Lord is God in heaven above and on the earth beneath. There is no other. Therefore you shall keep his statutes

and his commandments, which I command you this day, that it may go well with you and with your children after you and that you may prolong your days in the land which the Lord your God gives you forever. Cities of Refuge East of the Jordan Then Moses set apart three cities in the east beyond the Jordan, that the manslayer might flee there, who kills his neighbor unintentionally,

without being at enmity with him in time past, and that by fleeing to one of these cities he might save his life. Bezer in the wilderness, on the table land for the Reubenites, and Ramoth in Gilead for the Gadites, and Golan in Bashan for the Manassites. Moses sets forth the law. This is the law which Moses set before the children of Israel. These are the decrees, the statutes, and the ordin law which Moses set before the children of Israel. These are the decrees, the statutes, and the ordinances which Moses spoke to the children of Israel when they came out of Egypt, beyond the Jordan, in the valley opposite Beth Peor, in the land of Sihon, the king of the Amorites, who lived at Heshbon, whom Moses and the children of Israel defeated when they came out of Egypt, and they took possession of his land, in the land of Og, the king of Bashan, the two kings of the Amorites, who lived to the east beyond the Jordan,

from Aroer, which is on the edge of the valley of Arnon, as far as Mount Sirion, that is Hermon, together with all the Ereba on the east side of the Jordan, as far as the sea of the Ereba, under the slopes of Pisgah. Psalm 88 Prayer for help in despondency A song, a psalm of the sons of Korah, to the choir master according to Mahalath Leonath, a mascal of Haman the Ezraite. O Lord my God, I call for help by day. The Maskell of Haman, the Ezraite. I am reckoned among those who go down to the pit. I am a man who has no strength, like one forsaken among the dead, like the slain that lie in the grave, like those whom you remember no more,

for they are cut off from your hand. You have put me in the depths of the pit, in the regions dark and deep. Your wrath lies heavy upon me, and you overwhelm me with all your waves. You have caused my companions to shun me. You have made me a thing of horror to them. I am shut in so that I cannot escape. My eye grows dim through sorrow. Every day I call upon you, O Lord. I spread out my hands to you. Do you work your wonders for the dead? Do the shades rise up to praise you? Is your mercy declared in the grave or your faithfulness in Abaddon?

Are your wonders known in the darkness or your saving help in the land of forgetfulness? But I, O Lord, cry to you. In the morning, my prayer comes before you. O Lord, why do you cast me off? Why do you hide your face from me? Afflicted and close to death from my youth, I suffer your terrors. I am helpless. Your wrath has swept over me.

Your dread assaults destroy me. They surround me like a flood all day long. They close in upon me together. You have caused loved one and friend to shun me. My companions are in darkness. Father, we hear this prayer, we make this prayer of Psalm 88, and we know that you are near us in darkness. You are near us when we are alone and lonely and isolated.

And this is your prayer that you have placed into our mouths. This psalm, this prayer that was prayed, tradition says, by Jesus himself when he was abandoned by his friends in the custody of Caiaphas the high priest before he was handed over to be condemned falsely by Pilate. He spent that night in that prison. And Lord God, we have this tradition that the Son of God, that Jesus himself prayed this prayer. My one companion is darkness. And so we know that when we're in darkness, that you, the darkness is not dark for you. And when we are in darkness, we are not alone because you have made the darkness your home in the abandonment and in the rejection of your son, Jesus.

Lord God, help us in darkness to see your face. Help us in darkness when we can't see to know that you're present. Help us to always have confidence in you. And we make this prayer in the name of the Jesus, the one Jesus who entered into darkness for our sake. We love you. We ask this of you in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

You know, Psalm 88, the one Psalm ends in darkness. Every other Psalm has a line of hope, even in the midst of pain, even in the midst of discouragement and distraction and defeat. Every other Psalm ends with a note of promise, except for Psalm 88, where he says, my one companion is darkness. So just a couple of quick notes, just to be relatively brief. In the book of Numbers, right, we have not only, here's the family of Levi, right, the tribe of Levi. And so in the tribe of Levi, we not only have the sons of Aaron, we also have the Merorites, the Kohathites, and the Gershonites. And they all have their different tasks. And what we heard in chapter four was here is how you're going to carry the articles

for the tabernacle. Here's how you're going to carry the sacred objects. And there's two things to keep in mind. Well, there's many things to keep in mind, but here's two things I'd like to direct your attention to. One is that these objects were so holy that it's very important. The Kohathites, the Gershonites, the Merorites, they were called not to touch them, right? They were called to carry them. The K they were called not to touch them, right? They were called to

carry them. The Kareth called to carry them with poles, right? So there's that sense of, okay, only the tribes or the family of Aaron, sons of Aaron, those who were ordained priests could approach these holy things. And yet the other families had work to do and they had jobs to do. And this is very important because it says very clearly that God appointed each to his task of serving and carrying. According to the commandment of the Lord through Moses, they were appointed each to his task of serving or carrying. And that's so important for us to understand that even St. Paul talks about this. He says, you know, there are many parts, but one body and the eye cannot say to the hand, I don't need you. And the foot cannot say to the ear, I do not need you.

The whole body is necessary. So yes, the tribe of Levi is necessary. It's now the firstborn of the people of Israel in so many ways. And of that, there are the four families. And even though only the family of Aaron, the sons of Aaron were allowed to be priests, those other families had a role that was vitally important. And that's so important for us because according to the Lord, they were appointed each to his task.

God knows your life. He knows you. And he's appointed you to some definite task. In fact, there's this fantastic prayer from St. John Henry Newman, where one of the lines is, Lord, you have created me for some definitive task. And I might not know what that is, but I do know that you have made me on purpose. And because of that, I can lift up my head. Because of that, I direct my attention to you. Because of that, I can live with purpose because your life matters. This is

so important for every one of us who's praying this scriptures, your life matters. And that is what's communicated to us. One of the things communicated to us, relatively boring and not necessarily relevant, chapter four of the book of Numbers. You note that we're about to hear Moses give the law. He's going to give the 10 commandments in chapter five and then go on for greater commandments going on into the future. But the first thing he had to do was say what he said, the Lord God prohibits you from making any graven image because that's what your ancestors did. That's what they did at Mount Sinai. That's what they did at the Baal of Peor, which is a whole nother story we're going to get to in the book of Numbers.

But God, through Moses, is communicating, saying, I know what you want to do. You're going to want to turn your heart to idols, essentially. And you must not do this. This has to be the first thing you remember. Root out idols from your heart because your heart is an idol-making factory. So all of us today are just reminded of the fact that God's word, what it does in so many ways is it purifies us. It reminds us of the truth.

It reminds us of the truth that God is faithful, that he does know our name, that he has assigned a specific task, that we do matter, and that he then also has to be God in our lives, that we may not and cannot turn to any false gods. We'll keep praying for each other because you guys, you've made it through day 55, which is so, so incredible, so good. But we have to keep praying for each other because you guys, you've made it through day 55, which is so, so incredible, so good. But we have to keep praying for each other. I know that the discussion groups are continuing to roll along and people are supporting each other, not just with their prayers, but also with their words. I just want to encourage that so much. If you haven't discovered one of those discussion groups yet, we'll probably try to help you connect to one of those things. And if we can't help you, then I know that God's going to make it happen.

Because, you know, the Bible, even though you're listening to it, maybe by yourselves, it's not meant to be a private book. It is meant to be publicly proclaimed. And that's why we have this podcast. And that's why you get to listen. So you're part of a community. And my invitation is keep praying for the community. And I'm praying

for you. My name is Father Mike. I cannot wait to see you tomorrow. God bless.