The Bible in a Year (with Fr. Mike Schmitz) - Day 60: Intercessory Prayer (2024)

Episode Date: February 29, 2024

Fr. Mike makes note of how the tribes of Israel travel with Judah (praise) leading the way, and makes note of how Moses intercedes for the people and acts as a mediator between God and man. Today's readings are Numbers 10, Deuteronomy 9, and Psalm 10. 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're 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. Today is day 60. As I said yesterday, that is two months, not three, it's two months of being able to be formed, being formed by God's word. Congratulations. This is, it is an accomplishment. They say it takes 30 days to make

a habit. And if you've made it here to day 60, you have a double habit today on day 60. We're reading Numbers chapter 10 in Deuteronomy chapter nine. We'll also be praying from Psalm 10. Psalm 10 is what we're praying with today. As always, the Bible translation that I am using is the revised standard version, the second Catholic edition. I'm using the Great Adventure Bible from Ascension. If you want to download your own Bible in a year reading plan, you can visit ascensionpress.com slash Bible in a Year reading plan, you can visit ascensionpress.com slash Bible in a Year. And also, if you have not yet subscribed to this podcast, I invite you to

take a little moment and click on subscribe, and then you'll be subscribed, and your job will be done as we read from Numbers chapter 10, Deuteronomy chapter 9, in Psalm 10. The book of Numbers chapter 10, the heads of the tribes of Israel, shall gather themselves to you. When you blow an alarm, the camps that are on the east side shall set out. And when you blow an alarm the second time, the camps that are on the south side shall set out. An alarm is to be blown whenever they are to set out. But when the assembly is to be gathered together, you shall blow, but you shall not sound an alarm. And the sons of Aaron, the priests, shall blow the trumpets. The trumpets shall be to you for a perpetual statute throughout your generations. And when you go to war in your land against the adversary who oppresses you, then you shall sound an alarm with the trumpets, that you may be

remembered before the Lord your God, and you shall be saved from your enemies. On the day of your gladness also, and at your appointed feasts, and at the beginnings of your months, you shall blow the trumpets over your burnt offerings and over the sacrifices of your peace offerings. They shall serve you for remembrance before your God. I am the Lord your God. Departure from Sinai. In the second year, in the second month, on the twentieth day of the month, the cloud was taken up from over the tabernacle of the covenant, and the sons of Israel set out by stages from the wilderness of Sinai, and the cloud settled down in the wilderness of Paran. They set out for the first time at the command of the Lord by Moses, the standard of the camp of the men of Judah set out first by their companies. And over their host was Nashon, the son of Amminadab. And over the host of the

tribe of the men of Issachar was Nethanel, the son of Zuar. And over the host of the tribe of the men of Zebulun was Eliab, the son of Halon. And when the tabernacle was taken down, the sons of Gershon and the sons of Merari, who carried the tabernacle, set out. And the standard of the camp of Reuben set out by their companies, and over their host was Eleazar, the son of Shadur. And over the host of the tribe of the men of Simeon was Shalumiel, the son of Zerushadai. And over the host of the tribe of the men of Gad was Eliasaph, the son of Deul. Then the Kohathites set out, carrying the holy things, and the tabernacle was set up before their arrival. And the standard of the camp of the men of Ephraim set out by their companies,

and over their host was Elishema, the son of Amihud. And over the host of the tribe of the men of Manasseh was Gamaliel, the son of Petejur. And over the host of the tribe of the men of Benjamin was Abidon, the son of Petejur. And over the host of the tribe of the men of Benjamin was Abedan, the son of Gideonai. Then the standard of the camp of the men of Dan, acting as the rear guard of all the camps, set out by their companies. And over their host was Ahiezar, the son of Amishadai. And over the host of the tribe of the men of Asher was Pagiel, the son of Okron. And over the host of the tribe of the men of Naphtali was Ahira, the son of Inan. This was the order of march of the sons of Israel, according to their hosts when they set out. And Moses said to Hobab, the son of Reul, the Midianite, Moses' father-in-law,

we are setting out for the place of which the Lord said, I will give it to you. Come with us and we will do you good for the Lord has promised good to Israel. But he said to him, I will not go. I will depart to my own land and to my kindred. And he said, do not leave us. I beg you for, you know how we are to encamp in the wilderness and you will serve as eyes for us. And if you go with us, whatever good the Lord

will do to us, the same will we do to you. So they set out from the mount of the Lord three days journey. And the ark of the covenant of the Lord went before them three days journey to seek out a resting place for them. And the cloud of the Lord was over them by day, whenever they set out from the camp. And whenever the ark set out, Moses said, Arise, O Lord, and let your enemies be scattered, and let them who hate you flee before you. And when it rested, he said, Return, O Lord, to the ten thousand thousands of Israel. The book of Deuteronomy chapter 9. Consequences of Rebelling Against God.

Moses continued, Hear, O Israel, you are to pass over the Jordan this day, to go in to dispossess nations greater and mightier than yourselves, cities great and fortified up to heaven, a people great and tall, the sons of the Anakim, whom you know, and of whom you have heard it said, who can stand before the sons of Anak? Know therefore this day that he who goes over before you as a devouring fire is the Lord your God. He will destroy them and subdue them before you.

So you shall drive them out and make them perish quickly as the Lord has promised you. Do not say in your heart after the Lord your God has thrust them out and make them perish quickly as the Lord has promised you. Do not say in your heart, after the Lord your God has thrust them out before you, it is because of my righteousness that the Lord has brought me in to possess this land. Whereas it is because of the wickedness of these nations that the Lord is driving them out before you. Not because of your righteousness or the uprightness of your heart are you going in to possess their land, but because of the wickedness of these nations, the Lord your God is driving them out before you, and that he may confirm the word which the Lord swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob. Know therefore that the Lord your God is not giving you this good land to possess

because of your righteousness, for you are a stubborn people. Remember and do not forget how you provoked the Lord your God to wrath in the wilderness. From the day you came out of the land of Egypt until you came to this place, you have been rebellious against the Lord. Even at Horeb you provoked the Lord to wrath, and the Lord was so angry with you that he was ready to destroy you. When I went up the mountain to receive the tables of stone, the tables of the covenant which the Lord made with you, I remained on the mountain forty days and forty nights. I neither ate bread nor drank water, and the Lord God gave me two tables of stone written with the finger of God, and on them were all the words

which the Lord had spoken with you on the mountain out of the midst of the fire on the day of the assembly. And at the end of forty days and forty nights, the Lord gave me the two tables of stone, the tables of the covenant. Then the Lord said to me, Arise, go down quickly from here, for your people whom you have brought from Egypt have acted corruptly. They have turned aside quickly out of the way which I commanded them. They have made themselves a molten image. way which I commanded them. They have made themselves a molten image. Furthermore, the Lord said to me, I have seen this people and behold,

it is a stubborn people. Let me alone that I may destroy them and blot out their name from under heaven. And I will make of you a nation mightier and greater than they. So I turned and came down from the mountain and the mountain was burning with fire and the two tables of the covenant were in my two hands. And I looked and behold, you had sinned against the Lord, your God. You had made yourselves a molten calf. You had turned aside quickly from the way which the Lord had commanded you. So I took hold of the two tables and cast them out of my two hands and broke them before your eyes. Then I lay prostrate before the Lord as before. Forty days and forty nights I

neither ate bread nor drank water because of all this in which you had committed in doing what was evil in the sight of the Lord to provoke him to anger. For I was afraid of the anger and hot displeasure which the Lord bore against you, so that he was ready to destroy you. But the Lord listened to me that time also. And the Lord was so angry with Aaron that he was ready to destroy him, and I prayed for Aaron also at the same time. Then I took the sinful thing, the calf which you had made, and burned it with fire and crushed it, grinding it very small until it was as fine as dust. And I threw the dust of it into the brook that descended out of the mountain.

At Tabor also, and at Massa, the Kibroth Hatova, you provoked the Lord to wrath. And when the Lord sent you up from Kadesh Barnea saying, go up and take possession of the land, which I have given you, then you rebelled against the commandment of the Lord your God and did not believe him or obey his voice. You have been rebellious against the Lord from the day that I knew you. So I lay prostrate before the Lord for these forty days and forty nights, because the Lord had said he would destroy you. And I prayed to the Lord, O Lord God, do not destroy your people and your heritage, whom you have redeemed through your greatness, And I prayed because the Lord was not able to bring them into the land which he promised them. And because he hated them, he has brought them out to slay

them in the wilderness. For they are your people and your heritage, whom you brought out by your great power and by your outstretched arm. Psalm 10, prayer for Deliverance from Enemies For the wicked boasts of the desires of his heart, and the man greedy for gain curses and renounces the Lord. In the pride of his countenance, 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 thinks in his heart, I shall not be moved.

Throughout all generations, I shall not be moved. Throughout all generations, 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 secret like a lion in his den. He lurks that he may seize the poor. He seizes the poor when he draws him into his net. The hapless is crushed, sinks down, and falls by his might. And he thinks 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 poor. Why does the wicked renounce God and say in his heart, you will not call to account?

You see. Yes, you note trouble and vexation that you may take it into your hands. The hapless commits himself to you. You have been the helper of the fatherless. Break the arm of the wicked and evildoer. Seek out his wickedness till you find none. The Lord is king forever and ever. The nations shall perish from his land. Oh Lord, you will hear the desire of the meek. 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 earth may strike terror no more. Father in heaven, we thank you and we give you praise just like the psalmist praying this Psalm 10. Lord God, it seems like so often those who do not listen to you and those who do whatever they want, those who hurt other people among us seem to be

the most blessed sometimes. The ones who say, who cares about God? Where's God? Seem to have even happiness. They seem to even have joy. They seem to have maybe even sometimes more love than those who are listening to your word and those who look for you in everything, Lord. Those who follow you sometimes seem to have more problems than those who forget about you,

those who ignore you, even those who outright reject you. Lord God, this is such a mystery to us. This is just like the psalmist. We recognize the truth. The truth is that there are some people who want nothing to do with you, God, that seem to have everything going right for them. And some people who love you with their whole heart and seem to be forgotten. But we know the truth, Lord God, that you are just and you do not forget the cry of the poor. You do not neglect those whom you love. And so we continue to cry out to you. We continue to listen to your word. We continue to place our trust, our hope, and our entire lives in you alone. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. In the name of the Father,

and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. So as we said, we are going through Numbers chapter 10 and Deuteronomy chapter 9. A couple of things just to kind of keep in mind. Numbers, they're going into the wilderness. And so this is the move. This is where they first start moving. This is the narrative book. Remember, Numbers is along the line of the books that are the narrative books of the Bible. this story in numbers is when, okay, here are the people. They're consecrated. They're divided into their tribes, right? Divided into their families. And now the Lord God has said, just like he said in yesterday's readings, when the column of fire, the column of cloud lifts up, you're going to follow it.

And that's what happens. And the standard of the camp, the children of Judah set out first. Remember we said this before, Judah, his name means praise. And so Judah leads the way because we always lead with praise, lead with praising of the Lord, but they begin their journey. And something is important to note. Remember when the people of Israel, the camping in the wilderness, how that was described at the center of everything was the tent of meeting or the tabernacle. And that's where the Levites were. And then around them in those four directions, north, south, east, and west were the remaining families, remaining tribes of Israel. And so now as they're being led, it goes forth, half the tribes of Israel lead, and then comes the tabernacle, tent of meeting

with the Gershonites and the Kohathites and the Merorites, and then the remaining tribes following. So in the center, even as they're traveling, is the presence of the Lord and the sacred objects in the tent of meeting or in the tabernacle. And that's something so powerful. Once again, just to remember, they set out on a journey of three days and they went to the wilderness of Paran. One thing to note is that there are three kind of main locations in the book of Numbers. The first is where we've been for the last, ultimately now about two years. And that is the wilderness of Sinai.

They're at the Mount Sinai. Now they're headed to the wilderness of Paran. They're going to spend most of their time in the wilderness of Paran. And the third place is the wilderness of Moab, right? Moab is right across the Jordan River. And from Moab, you can see Jericho. You can see the promised land. And that's where they're going to cross the Jordan River. I don't want to spoil our alert. They're going to cross the Jordan River and go into the wilderness or sorry, go into the promised land. But keeping this in mind that the children of Israel, the three deserts or three wildernesses,

the wilderness or the desert of Sinai, the wilderness of Paran, that's where they're headed today, and the wilderness of Moab. That's where Moses is giving his speech. He's giving that speech in the wilderness, the plains of Moab, as they look out over the Jordan River, across the Jordan River into the promised land. And one of the things that we hear in today's reading from Deuteronomy, now again, numbers at the beginning of their journey, Deuteronomy's at the end of their journey. What we hear is through Moses, God is saying, I know that you are gonna fail. Here through Moses, God is saying, this is your story.

Part of your story is immediately when I set you free from slavery in Egypt and brought you to this place, immediately you turned away. And I know that's what your hearts are like. And so Moses recounts a number of places where this happened, where it was the golden calf at Sinai. Then he talks about Taberah. At Taberah, we're going to read about that in Numbers chapter 11, which is coming tomorrow. It's the place where the people of Israel immediately complained against God's providing for them. Then he talks about a place called Massah, and we already heard about that in Exodus

chapter 17, where they were tempted. Then we're going to talk about Kibroth Hathavah, which means the graves of craving. And this is also in Numbers chapter 11. It's where we're going to hear about tomorrow that they craved for all those treats they had back in Egypt. And so here is these places of failure. Here's these places where God had brought his people to provide for them, and they failed to trust in him. And also, Moses goes on to communicate that I interceded on your behalf,

that it took a mediator between God and man to give you his mercy. It's one of the reasons why we realize that Jesus is the fulfillment of Moses, that Jesus is the new Moses, not only because he gives us a new law, right, in the Beatitudes and the Sermon on the Mount, but also because Moses is that, or so Jesus is like Moses in the sense that he stands in the gap, just like Abraham stood in the breach before the Lord. Here is Moses, who multiple times when we read through the book of Numbers, will stand between the Lord and the people

interceding on their behalf and calling upon the Lord's mercy. And the Lord hears the prayers of Moses, just like here is Jesus Christ on the cross, saying, Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing. And we realize that not only does Moses and Abraham and the whole Bible, but ultimately Jesus reveals that the depth of the heart of God

is the heart of mercy. That even when we are unfaithful, God gives us his mercy. That when we fall away, that God remains steadfast. And so he gave Moses the opportunity to stand in the gap. Jesus Christ was sent as the one mediator between God and man. And we are also called. We are called to pray for each other. We're called to stand in that gap and be like Moses, to stand in that gap and be like Jesus

and to be able to say, I'm lifting up my brothers and sisters right now. Because here we are on day 60. And I got to tell you, those of us who are walking this journey, we need each other. I know that I need your prayers so much. And I know that so many of you are going through so much right now. That it's just this weight of life, this burden of feeling crushed, that just knowing that you have brothers and sisters who are praying these words with you, who are listening to these words with you,

are going through this Bible in the air with you, and they're also praying for you. They're also mediating and interceding on your behalf. So let's keep praying for each other because we need each other. We have our Lord Jesus and he he intercedes he lives to intercede at the right hand of the father we have each other so we keep praying for each other we give god praise and let you to go up first and we keep showing up my name is father mike and i cannot Cannot wait to see you tomorrow when you show up again. God bless.