Further Experience of the Psalms – First Session On Faith
I. Introduction
II. Verses to Study
A. “I appointed My king on Zion, My holy mountain…” He said to me: “You are My son. I Myself today did beget you.” Psalms 2:6-7
Lord, how many are my foes…Yet you, Lord, are a shield for me, my glory Who lifts up my head. With my voice I cry out to the Lord, and He answers me from His holy mountain. I lie down and I sleep. I awake, for the Lord has sustained me. Psalms 3:2, 4-6
When I call out, answer me, my righteous God, and give me relief from my distress. In the straits, You set me free…Lift up the light of Your face to us, Lord. You have put joy in my heart more than in the season that their grain and wine increased. Psalms 4:2, 7-8
1. What fundamental messages do you take away from these verses?
2. How does the psalmist make the point that we’re small?
3. How do these verses make us feel we matter?
4. We do have problems and pain. Why? Yet, how are we comforted?
5. What’s the emphasis on God being righteous all about? How does the poet make us feel God comforts us?
B. For not a god desiring wickedness are You, no evil will sojourn by You…You hate all workers of iniquity. Psalms 5:5-6
You bless the just man, O Lord. Psalms 5:13
Rescue me for the sake of Your kindness. Psalms 6:5
Grant me justice, Lord, as befits my righteousness and as befits my integrity…He searches hearts and conscience, God is righteous. Psalms 7:9-10
Guide me, O Lord, in Your righteousness. Psalms 5:9
What is man that You should note him, and the human creature, that You pay him heed, and You make him little less than the gods (Elohim), with glory and grandeur You crown him? You make him rule over the work of Your hands. All things, You set under his feet. Psalms 8:5-7
1. What does this psalm teach us about God?
2. What is the psalmist asking from God?
3. What fundamental lesson is the psalmist teaching us about our role in the world?
C. I said to the Lord, “My Master You are. My good is only through You.” …The sorrows of those who hasten after another god shall be multiplied. I will not pour their libations of blood; I will not bear their names on my lips. The Lord is my portion and lot. Psalms 16:2-5
From before You my judgment will come, Your eyes behold rightness…Set firm my steps on Your pathways, so my feet will not stumble…As for me, in justice I behold Your face, I take my fill, wide awake, of Your image. Psalms 17:2, 5, 15
The Lord is my crag and my bastion, my deliverer, my God, my rock where I shelter, my shield and the horn of my rescue, my fortress…
The Lord dealt with me by my merit, for my cleanness of hands He requited me. For I kept the ways of the Lord…
For You light up my lamp, O Lord, my God illumines my darkness. Psalms 18:3, 21-22, 26, 29
For the idolaters eagerly seek all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But first seek the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be provided for you. Matthew 6:32-33
1. The psalmist acknowledges that we feel pain and loneliness. He teaches that we can turn in such moments to God. How?
2. What does the psalmist say we tend to do instead? Is that so in our times, too? How?
3. Where should we turn? How are God’s ways more reliable? And how is that so?
D. I. The heavens declare the glory of God, and His handiwork is proclaimed by the firmament. Day after day pours forth speech; and night after night, they convey knowledge. There is no speech, and there is no voice; unheard is their sound. Yet, their line goes forth throughout the earth, and their words reach to the end of the world. Psalms 19:1-4
II. The teaching of God is perfect, restoring the soul. The testimony of God is trustworthy, making wise the simple. The precepts of the Lord are upright, gladdening the heart. The commandments of God are clear, enlightening the eyes…They are more desirable than gold, even fine gold in abundance, and sweeter than honey… Psalms 19:7-10
III. A. With the merciful, You act mercifully. With the wholehearted, You act wholeheartedly. With the pure, You act purely. And with the crooked, You act deviously. Psalms 18:25-26
B. For You meet him with the blessings of good…He requested life from You, and You gave it to him – length of days forever and ever. Psalms 21:3-4
1. This psalm is about shoring up faith. What’s the first way? Does it work for you?
2. What’s the second way described in the psalm? How does that work, and for you?
3. What’s the third? Have you experienced this?
III. Conclusion
And to further experience these particular Psalms we reviewed in class we are including links to four of Sandy''s blogposts that address these same Psalms. I believe your will find that reading his blogposts will strengthen the experience and understanding of these particular Psalms. Please try them. All you need to do is click on these links.
B. https://sandykress.wordpress.com/2020/11/05/god-deputizes-us-to-serve-in-the-world/
C. https://sandykress.wordpress.com/2020/11/27/when-threatened-and-lonely-where-do-we-turn/
D. https://sandykress.wordpress.com/2020/12/03/three-ideas-that-shore-up-faith/