Dear Family of Faith, · Paradise Lost Paradise Redeemed Jesus...Joy of Man’s Desiring His...

Dear Family of Faith,

What a blesssing to begin this summer and continue our journey together in God’s Word. During the month of June, we will be considering Biblical stewardship. In our Quiet Time Personal Study Guides and in our youth and children’s classes, we will be journeying together through some of the Psalms. In July and August, we will all continue through Psalms together.

Our Quiet Time each day is a vitally important time. It is the time that we learn from God, worship Him, pray, discern His will, and walk with Him in His Word. Spending time daily in God’s Word by walking through the passages in this PSG devotional booklet will prepare you for Sunday with your Group. As you have your quiet time each day, take time to answer the questions in the booklet. Reflect back upon the week when you get to Saturday and prepare for the next morning and the community of your Sunday School class. On Sunday, we encourage you to take notes and answer the last question for the week: how will you respond to all you have seen in God’s Word and as you have worshipped Him in the previous week and what do you believe He is trying to change in you in the coming week.

We encourage you to use this booklet to disciple your family members. Our children and students are teaching these same lessons on Sunday and your PSG allows you to spend time walking together with your family in the Word of God. Our family worship times are strengthened as we walk together in God’s Word. Your quiet time can prepare you to spend time talking with your family members and friends around the Word of God.

As we study through Psalms this quarter, I pray that God will do great works in your life, draw you close to Him, help you to forsake sin and cling to Him, and that you will be fully devoted in following Christ. May we all be challenged in the making of disciples and sharing the Gospel with others around us. We would love to hear how your quiet time and family worship time are strengthened through this quarter. Blessings to you all!

Serving Jesus with you,

Steve CliftonExecutive Pastor of Education for Median Adults

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Sunday Lesson Title Scripture

*Stewardship emphasis

List of Lessons

June 4*

June 11* June 18* June 25*

July 2July 9July 16July 23July 30August 6August 13August 20August 27

In the Beginning...When Stewardship Was GivenParadise Lost

Paradise Redeemed

Jesus...Joy of Man’s Desiring

His PresenceThe CreatorGod RevealedHis LoveHis FaithfulnessThe ConfessionThe CleansingThe ProtectorThe Longing

Genesis 1:1, 26-31; 2:7-9, 15, 18-25 Genesis 3:1-24; 1 John 2:15-172 Corinthians 5:17-19; Matthew 6:19-34Psalm 37:4; Philippians 4:4-7; Hebrews 12:1-2; 2 Corinthians 8:1-9; 1 Peter 1:3-16Psalm 84:1-12Psalm 95:1-11Psalm 19:1-14Psalm 136:1-5, 10-15, 23-26Psalm 146:1-10Psalm 51:1-17Psalm 32:1-11Psalm 141:1-10Psalm 42:1-11

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Week of may 29, 2017

Psalm 1

Psalm 1, like the book of Psalms as a whole, shows us that we find true blessedness when we walk in the way of the righteous and delight in God’s Word.

How blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked, nor stand in the path of sinners, nor sit in the seat of scoffers! But his

delight is in the law of the Lord, and in His law he meditates day and night.Psalm 1:1-2 (NASB)

MAIN IDEA

WEEKLY MEMORY VERSE

Mondaymay29

You are about to embark on a 13-week journey through the book of Psalms. While you won’t have the opportunity to study all 150 psalms in this short time, you will have the opportunity to explore the major themes of the book and to apply God’s truth to your life. Here at the outset of the journey there are a few important things to keep in mind: 1) although the book of Psalms is really a collection of songs and poems written by a variety of authors, it is in fact a single book; 2) therefore, as you read through this book over the next 13 weeks, you will be presented with unifying themes that bind the whole book together. Psalm 1 plays a major role in this since it functions like a prologue or introduction to everything that follows. The psalmist introduces the major themes that will continue to come up as you read. He provides the answer to the question, “How does one find true blessing from the Lord?” The answer that he provides is twofold: Blessing comes to the person who walks in the way of the righteous and delights in God’s Word. May God set you on a path that leads to righteousness and a deeper love for His Word!

• What major ideas appear in Psalm 1 that are likely to continue appearing as you read the book of Psalms?

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• Would you say that you delight in the law of the Lord? Do you love God’s Word? How can you grow in your affection for God’s Word over the next 13 weeks?

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Ask the Lord to transform your heart and mind over the next 13 weeks so that at the end of the 13 weeks you look more like the person Psalm 1 describes than you do now. Particularly ask Him to set you on the path of righteousness and to expand your love for His Word.

PRAY

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Psalm 1:1-2

We find true blessedness when we forsake the way of the wicked and wholeheartedly embrace God’s Word.

MAIN IDEA

At the beginning of John Bunyan’s classic work, The Pilgrim’s Progress1, the Evangelist offers Christian two choices: He can journey toward “yonder wicket gate” or “yonder shining light.” Christian must choose between two paths, one straight and easy path that leads directly to the wicket gate and one path that eventually leads to the Celestial City. At the beginning of the book of Psalms, the psalmist offers us a similar choice. We can choose to heed the counsel of sinners (v. 1) or to delight in the law of the Lord (v. 2). But the psalmist does more than offer us a choice. He also gives us the promise that the one who delights in the law of the Lord will experience the blessings of the Lord. At the beginning of your journey through the book of Psalms, you have a choice to make: will you lend your ear to the world or to the Lord Jesus Christ? If you decide to take up God’s Word over these next 13 weeks to read, meditate on, and delight in, the promise the psalmist gives to you is that you will experience the Lord’s blessing.

• How does the psalmist lay out the path of blessedness in these two verses? What is the difference between one who is blessed and one who is not? ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________

• In what ways are you tempted to lend your ear to the world instead of God? What concrete steps can you take to delight in God’s Word instead of the world?

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Ask the Lord to help you walk in His Word instead of in the way of the wicked. Ask Him to help you delight in and meditate on His Word over these next 13 weeks and beyond.

PRAY

TuesdayMay30

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The one who delights in God’s Word is firmly rooted and abundantly fruitful like a tree planted by streams of water.

MAIN IDEA

The imagery of these verses would have been very familiar to the original readers of the Psalms. The contrast between verses 3 and 4 is the contrast between abundant life and withering death. On the one hand, the original readers would have imagined a desert oasis, an island of liveliness and fruitfulness in a sea of lifelessness and fruitlessness (v. 3). On the other hand, they would have also imagined themselves at the threshing floor with a winnowing fork, beating out the useless chaff from the wheat and watching it dissolve in the wind. The first picture describes the abundant life of the person who loves God’s Word and meditates on it day in and day out. The second picture describes the life of sin, which eventually dissolves into utter despair and death. You have the choice of which scene you want to step into. May God give you a desire today to soak up His Word like a tree in the desert soaks up the water of the stream, so that you may lead a life marked by joyful, abundant fruitfulness.

• What kind of imagery does the psalmist use in these verses? How does this imagery fit into the overall point that he is making?

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• If you were to give an honest evaluation of your life right now, which scene would your life fit into–the abundant tree or the withering chaff? What steps can you take today to nourish your soul with the Word of God?

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Ask the Lord to help you be the kind of person that delights in God’s Word. Ask Him to nourish your soul with His Word so that you can produce good fruit for His Kingdom.

PRAY

Psalm 1:3-4Wednesday

May31

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The way of the righteous leads to eternal joy and life; the way of the wicked leads to eternal misery and death.

MAIN IDEA

We live in a veiled world. Spiritual realities are oftentimes covered up by physical facades. A man spiraling into sin Monday through Saturday can still show up to church in his Sunday best and fool everyone into thinking that he is on the path of righteousness. The truth is, however, the way that we live our lives sets the trajectory for how we will spend eternity. In an insightful passage, C. S. Lewis unveils this spiritual reality:

There are no ordinary people. You have never talked to a mere mortal. Nations, cultures, arts, civilizations—these are mortal, and their life is to ours as the life of a gnat. But it is immortals whom we joke with, work with, marry, snub, and exploit—immortal horrors or everlasting splendors2.

The choices that we make each day are eternal choices that are setting us either on a path that leads to eternity in fellowship with God or a path that leads to eternal banishment and misery. Each person that you come into contact with is on one of those paths. Take some time today to examine your own heart. Are you on a path that is bringing you into closer and closer fellowship with the Lord Jesus Christ or one that is gradually distancing you from Him?

• How does the psalmist contrast the wicked and the righteous in these verses?

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• Have you taken an opportunity to examine your heart and determine what kind of path you are on? Does the trajectory of your life take you closer to Jesus Christ or farther away from Him? What steps can you take today that would lead you closer to Him?

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Ask the Lord to help you step onto the path of the righteous through faith in Jesus Christ. Ask Him to help you delight in His Word so that your life will be marked by fruitfulness, and not fruitlessness.

PRAY

Psalm 1:5-6ThursdayJune

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We will only find the path of righteousness through faith in Jesus Christ, who died a sinner’s death to give us a righteous life.

MAIN IDEA

Over the past week we have been presented with the choice of two paths: the path of the righteous and the path of the wicked. When we read this psalm in light of the full testimony of Scripture, we realize something quite alarming. Each of us has a natural bent toward the path of the wicked. Each of us has a sinful nature. David himself will testify later in the Psalms that there “is no one who does good, not even one” (Psalm 14:3). After spending a week studying the implications of being on the path of the wicked, you may be thinking, “This is bad news indeed!” And, the truth is, you’re right! If you drift through life on the same stream on which you entered it, the Bible says that you most certainly are on the path of the wicked. But there is good news, too! Even though you could never get on the path of the righteous on your own merit, there is One who could and His name is Jesus Christ. God entered into this sinful world in the person of Jesus Christ, lived a perfectly righteous life, and then took all of our sin upon Himself on the cross. When He did that, an exchange took place. He paid for our sinful account and credited to us His righteous account (2 Corinthians 5:21). Therefore, there is only one way to find the path of righteousness: trust in the Lord Jesus Christ, who died in your place, was buried, and rose from the grave on the third day. The path of righteousness is paved with the footsteps of our Lord. When we trust in Him and follow Him all of our days, we find ourselves on that path.

• How does the choice between the path of the righteous and the path of the wicked fit into the whole testimony of Scripture?

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• Are you trusting in Jesus Christ today? Are you following Him day in and day out? If not, what concrete steps do you need to take today to follow the Lord Jesus Christ onto the path of righteousness?

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Ask the Lord to help you trust in Jesus Christ and follow Him all of your days. Ask Him to help you have a righteousness that is not born of your own efforts, but that arises from the transformative power of the gospel at work within you.

PRAY

Psalm 1FridayJune

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As you reflect on your personal study throughout the week, choose one verse or passage that particularly stood out to you.

• Why was this verse or passage so meaningful to you? ________________________________________________________

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• In what areas of your life do these truths apply? ________________________________________________________

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• In what ways do you plan to put the truths you’ve observed this week into practice?

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Family Focus: Take the verse or passage that stood out to you and think about how you can share it with your family. How does it apply to your husband, wife, son, or daughter? For singles or students, think about how it applies to your friends or parents. Commit to share this passage with a family member or friend today.

Tomorrow’s lesson is titled, In the Beginning…When Stewardship Was Given from Genesis 1:1, 26-31; 2:7-9, 15, 18-25. Please read these verses, meditate on them, and pray for your teacher and those who will be present in your Sunday School class. Ask God to help you be obedient to His Word.

SaturdayJune

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SUNDAY SCHOOL GROUP NOTES _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

List 2-3 ways you plan to respond to the truths you have learned this week:_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

IN THE BEGINNING...WHEN STEWARDSHIP WAS GIVENSundayJune

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These words, which I am commanding you today, shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your sons and shall talk of them when you

sit in your house and when you walk by the way and when you lie down and when you rise up. Deuteronomy 6:6-7 (NASB)

Week of June 5, 2017

Psalm 78:1-16

We grow in our confidence of God’s present faithfulness by dwelling upon God’s past faithfulness.MAIN IDEA

WEEKLY MEMORY VERSE

What would the world be like if history did not exist? What if, for instance, we had no accounts of the past deeds of our nation? What if there was no Declaration of Independence, Constitution, Bill of Rights, Pledge of Allegiance or Star Spangled Banner? How would that change the way our society functioned? In the United States, we understand that we owe a great debt to our forefathers and the national history they wrought. In Psalm 78, we enter into a context in which the great accounts of God’s past faithfulness had been forgotten by the nation of Israel. The psalmist appeals to an entire generation of Israelites whose fathers “forgot the works of God” (v. 7) and therefore turned against Him in stubborn rebellion (v. 8). Since they had forgotten the great works that God had done for them in the past, they did not trust Him to be faithful to them in the present. As Christians, we have a rich history of God’s past faithfulness upon which to base our present confidence in Him. The greatest of these works is, of course, the cross of Jesus Christ. When it comes time to trust God in your own life, do you remember these works of God or do you forget them like these Israelites? Take some time today to enrich your soul by dwelling on God’s past faithfulness in history and in your life!

• How does the psalmist view the past? Why is it important? What aspects of it are most important?

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• Do you spend much time thinking about God’s past faithfulness? What benefits would you gain from doing so? How could you implement this habit into your life?

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Ask the Lord to help you remember His past deeds. In particular, ask Him that the cross of Jesus Christ would loom large in your mind throughout the day. Ask Him to help your confidence in Him grow as a result of your remembrance of His past faithfulness.

PRAY

MondayJune

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Psalm 78:17-31

The history of Israel’s cyclical sin and God’s persistent mercy gives us confidence that God is faithful and will forgive us when we come to Him in repentance.

MAIN IDEA

In these verses, the psalmist recounts the events that occurred after God delivered the people of Israel from Egypt. Even though the people had witnessed God’s miraculous power in Egypt and at the Red Sea, they still continued to rebel against Him in the desert (v. 17). Here is a case not for what happens when the past does not exist, but when we intentionally decide to ignore it. The people of Israel had every reason to trust God based on the history of their relationship with Him; however, they allowed the discomfort of their circumstances to drive them to fear and faithlessness. They doubted God, and in turn He poured out His wrath on them. What happens when you enter into the desert of life? Do you intentionally ignore the past faithfulness of God and tailspin into anxiety and unbelief, or do you remember the Lord’s great deeds of old and cling to Him in faith? For most of us, both of these choices have been true at some point. You don’t have to wait for the next wilderness episode in your life to find out which choice you will make. Remember the works of God today so that you will be prepared for the trials of tomorrow. Take some time today to dwell upon the Cross, where two thousand years ago Jesus Christ died in your place to save you and then rose again on the third day. Let this past event give you confidence that Jesus Christ is seated on the throne of heaven today and for all eternity.

• What kind of relationship did the Israelites have with the past? How did this affect their relationship with God?

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• What kind of relationship do you have with the past? Do you allow the testimony of God’s past faithfulness in Scripture and the experience of God’s past faithfulness in your life inform the way you relate to Him today? If not, how can you begin doing that?

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Ask the Lord to help you learn from the historical account of the Israelites’ rebellion against God in the wilderness. Ask Him to help you have a heart filled with faith, and not doubt. Ask Him to help you trust Him today on the basis of what Jesus Christ did for you on the cross.

PRAY

TuesdayJune

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The history of Israel’s cyclical sin and God’s persistent mercy gives us confidence that God is faithful and will forgive us when we come to Him in repentance.

MAIN IDEA

The psalmist brings out the cyclical nature of Israel’s sin by giving his psalm a cyclical structure. The pattern goes somewhat like this: God performs a mighty act of faithfulness on Israel’s behalf, Israel worships God in thankfulness for a time but then forgets what God did and descends into rebellion and doubt, God has mercy on them and performs another great act of faithfulness, and the cycle begins anew. Perhaps this cycle describes your own life. You may sympathize with the Israelites both as they ascend to soaring mountaintops of spiritual success and as they descend to deep, dark valleys of spiritual failure. Perhaps at this very moment you find yourself in one of those pits of despair and are in desperate need of a little bit of light from the Lord. Perhaps you are for the moment on “the peaks of Everest” and your soul is singing the praises of the Lord. In either case, the account of God’s past faithfulness offers you hope—hope for today or hope for tomorrow. In the midst of Israel’s sin, at the point at which they most deserved the full force of God’s wrath, the psalmist tells us that God, “being compassionate, forgave their iniquity and did not destroy them” (v. 38). What an amazing thought that the same God who showed Israel compassion in the past is the same God that sent His Son for you and who at this very moment offers you forgiveness on the basis of the substitutionary death of Jesus Christ. Whether today is a peak or a valley, you have ten thousand reasons to praise your God and Savior!

• What is the nature of Israel’s relationship with the Lord? What shape does this relationship take?

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• How would you describe your relationship with God at this point in your life? Would you say you are at a peak, in a valley, or somewhere in between? What hope or comfort can you draw from this psalm for the particular season of life you are in?

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Ask the Lord to help you learn from the cyclical nature of Israel’s sin. Ask Him to help you have confidence not in your own ability to remain faithful to Him, but in His perfect ability to remain faithful to you.

PRAY


June7

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God’s past discipline of Israel helps us understand that God disciplines those whom He loves.MAIN IDEA

Verse 56 continues the psalmist’s focus on the cyclical nature of Israel’s sin. Even though God brought Israel out of Egypt and through the Red Sea, forgave them in their wilderness wanderings, and provided for them when they didn’t trust Him, they still continued to tempt and rebel against God. Because of Israel’s persistent sin against the Lord, God disciplined them by giving them into the hands of their enemies. His discipline didn’t last forever, for after a time God “awoke as if from sleep” and “drove His adversaries backward” (vv. 65-66). Perhaps you find yourself in a season of life in which you are experiencing God’s discipline. There is much comfort for you in these verses. God’s discipline is neither meaningless nor endless. It lasts for a season and its purpose is to bring reconciliation in your relationship with Him. Furthermore, discipline is not the same as abandonment, for even though God “abandoned the dwelling place at Shiloh” (v. 60), He still considered the enemies of Israel “His adversaries” (v. 66). Take heart that even in the midst of the Lord’s stern discipline in your life, He is eternally and infinitely with you and for you; He will never be against you, nor will He ever forsake you.

• How does the psalmist describe the Lord’s discipline in these verses? For what purpose does God discipline Israel?

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• Have you ever experienced the Lord’s discipline? How did you respond to it? Does the account of God’s discipline of Israel change the way you think about God’s discipline in your own life? If so, how?

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Ask the Lord to help you receive His discipline, whenever it comes, with thankfulness in your heart. Ask Him to help you remember that He disciplines those whom He loves and that the ultimate goal of His discipline is reconciliation.

PRAY


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Israel’s hope in a future Messiah from the line of David should point us to the fulfillment of that hope in our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

MAIN IDEA

The psalmist makes an interesting move at the end of this historical retelling. He transitions from focusing on the people of Israel as a whole to focusing particularly on the tribe of Judah, and even more specifically on a shepherd named David from the tribe of Judah. Why this hard shift from the national to the individual? A little biblical context may help us understand. From a very early stage Judah was identified as a Messianic figure who would enjoy an eternal rule over the people of Israel and the nations (Genesis 49:10). Even though this grand rule didn’t come to pass in the life of Judah himself, we find years later that God makes a covenant with a descendant of Judah, King David. In this covenant, God promises David that one of His descendants would rule on the throne of Israel for all of eternity (2 Samuel 7:13-16)! It is no accident that the psalmist mentions these two men at the end of this great account of God’s history with the people of Israel. He is pointing the readers forward to the fulfillment of the promise, the day in which God’s Messiah would enjoy eternal rule and His people would be brought together under that rule. How incredible is it that you can say, “I know that Messiah! His name is Jesus, He has saved me from my sin, and He is Lord of my life!” What we find in the concluding verses of Psalm 78 is a sliver of hope—a hope that the sinful cycles of Israel will one day be broken and that God’s people will one day be fully reconciled with Him. Praise God that you have the privilege of saying that the hope has been fulfilled, the promise has been delivered, and the day has come. Jesus, who is enthroned in heaven as we speak, is the ultimate fulfillment of the promises of God!

• What kind of shift takes place in the last verses of this psalm? Where does the psalmist focus his attention?

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• Would you say that you have bowed the knee to the Messiah to whom Psalm 78 looks forward? Are you more committed to Christ in some areas of your life than others? As you contemplate the fulfillment of God’s promises in the person of Jesus Christ, what action would the Lord have you take to further commit your life to Him?

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Ask the Lord to help you read Scripture with an eye for your Lord Jesus Christ. Ask Him to help you see Him not only in the pages of the New Testament, but the Old Testament, too. Ask Him to help you place all of your trust and hope in Him.

PRAY

Psalm 78:67-72FridayJune

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SaturdayJune

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Family Focus: Take the verse or passage that stood out to you and think about how you can share it with your family. How does it apply to your husband, wife, son, or daughter? For singles or students, think about how it applies to your friends or parents. Commit to share this passage with a family member or friend.

Tomorrow’s lesson is titled, Paradise Lost from Genesis 3:1-24 and 1 John 2:15-17. Please read these verses, meditate on them, and pray for your teacher and those who will be present in your Sunday School class. Ask God to help you find joy in His sufficiency.

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PARADISE LOSTSundayJUNE

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Psalm 23

As the Good Shepherd, the Lord leads His people, comforts them, and protects them from evil.

Surely goodness and mercy will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever. Psalm 23:6 (NASB)

MAIN IDEA

WEEKLY MEMORY VERSE

A particular image probably pops into your mind when you think of a shepherd. More than likely, this image is an assimilation of the popular depiction of a shepherd that appears in the movie theatres and bookshelves of our culture. This image paints a shepherd as a clean, robed man with a crook who fawns over a few sheep. This image, however, is deficient. The life of a shepherd in the Ancient Near East was difficult, dirty, and dangerous. For a little taste of the shepherd’s life, read what David said about the subject to King Saul just before defeating Goliath:

Your servant was tending his father’s sheep. When a lion or a bear came and took a lamb from the flock, I went out after him and attacked him, and rescued it from his mouth; and when he rose up against me, I seized him by his beard and struck him and killed him (1 Samuel 17:34-35).

This is the kind of person the Bible has in mind when it refers to a shepherd. He is, of course, a tender of the sheep. He leads the sheep, feeds them, and cares for their daily needs. But he is also the defender of the sheep. When a threat presents itself against the sheep, he is willing to lay down his own life to neutralize that threat. That’s what David did with the lions and the bears, and it is also what he did with Goliath. On a much grander, more glorious level, that is what our Lord Jesus Christ did for us when He laid down His own life for us on the cross.

• What other passages of Scripture come to your mind when you think of a shepherd? How do those passages describe a shepherd?

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• Do you find the Lord trustworthy? How does the Bible’s description of Him as a Shepherd contribute to His trustworthiness? Based upon this description, would you trust Him with your life? How about your eternity?

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Ask the Lord to help you have an implicit trust in Him. Ask Him to help you trust in Him just like a sheep trusts the shepherd to lead him and protect him.

PRAY

MondayJune

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Psalm 23:1-3

As the Good Shepherd, the Lord leads His people into peace and righteousness.MAIN IDEA

In J.R.R. Tolkien’s famous fantasy novel The Lord of the Rings3, a good amount of mystery and intrigue surround the character, Aragorn. Though he is of royal heritage, he forsakes the life of a king and instead journeys far and wide throughout Middle Earth fighting evil. In a poem introducing the character, Tolkien writes the following line: “Not all those who wander are lost.” While this makes really good literature, such a statement is just not true biblically. In several places the Bible links “wandering” with “lostness” (Isaiah 53:6; Romans 3:10-18; Hebrews 2:1-3). This spiritual reality is drawn directly from the physical world of shepherds and sheep. If a sheep wanders from a shepherd and the shepherd does not recover it, that sheep is almost certainly doomed. Without the leadership of the shepherd, the sheep is imperiled by anything from shallow streams to hungry predators. This is the imagery evoked when the Bible compares the people of God to sheep. When you wander from the leadership of your Shepherd, the results in your life are disastrous. But if you follow the leading hand of the Lord in your life, everything that Psalm 23:1-3 describes will be true of you. He will lead you to peace and righteousness. In Him, you will find deep satisfaction and joyful restoration. Submit yourself to the Lordship of Jesus Christ today and allow Him to lead you to green pastures and quiet waters!

• How would you describe the leadership of the Lord as portrayed in Psalm 23:1-3? What kind of leader is the psalmist depicting?

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• What are some obstacles in your life that are stopping you from fully submitting to the Lordship of Jesus? How can the message of Psalm 23:1-3 help you overcome those obstacles?

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Ask the Lord to help you fully submit to the Lordship of Jesus Christ in your life. Ask Him to lead and guide you in the way that David describes in this psalm.

PRAY

TuesdayJune

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As the Good Shepherd, the Lord protects His people from evil and comforts them in the face of it.MAIN IDEA

One of the most common human fears is the fear of the dark. When alone in utter darkness, a set of anxious questions oftentimes arise in the mind. Am I safe in this darkness? What unknown dangers lurk here? How will I find my way through it? Few things bring more comfort in darkness than companionship. Being alone in the dark and being with a close and trusted companion in the dark is the difference between night and day. The promise of Psalm 23:4-6 is the promise of companionship; more specifically, it is the promise of the Lord’s companionship. Whether “the valley of the shadow of death” refers to the actual experience of death or dark times in our lives, we are sure of two things: 1) we will certainly pass through this valley and 2) God will be with us when we pass through it. His presence will shine a light of comfort into an otherwise black chasm, so that we can say with confidence that we will “fear no evil.” With the Lord on our side, we are empowered to look evil in the face and enjoy the meal that the Lord has set before us (v. 5). If you are trusting in the Lord and following Him day in and day out, you can also share in the psalmist’s assurance: “Surely goodness and lovingkindness will follow me all the days of my life, And I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever” (v. 6).

• What is the root of the psalmist’s confidence in this passage? How is it that he can say, “I will fear no evil” and “surely goodness and mercy will follow me all the days of my life”?

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• Describe your experience with dark times in your life. Do you usually share in the confidence of the psalmist or experience something different? What can you take away from this psalm that will help you have confidence in God’s comforting and protecting presence in your life?

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Ask the Lord to help you be prepared for the “valley of the shadow of death.” Ask Him to give you an unshakeable confidence in His comforting and protecting presence in your life.

PRAY

aPsalm 23:4-6Wednesday

June14

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Jesus Christ is the Good Shepherd who leads and protects us by laying down His life for us on the cross.

MAIN IDEA

The shepherd image in Psalm 23 shows us how God leads us, comforts us, and protects us. When we take a step back and look at the Bible as a whole, we find the shepherd image in many places: Adam and Eve had a kind of shepherd role in their dominion over the animals; Abraham was a shepherd, as were Moses and King David; and, of course, God Himself is referred to as a shepherd in several places in the Old Testament. When we turn to the pages of the New Testament, however, we find the most comforting use of this imagery in the words of our Lord Jesus Christ: “I am the good shepherd; the good shepherd lays down His life for the sheep…I am the good shepherd, and I know My own and My own know Me, even as the Father knows Me and I know the Father; and I lay down My life for the sheep” (John 10:11; 14-15). Jesus, clearly drawing from the imagery set out in Psalm 23 and other places of the Old Testament, spells out exactly what it means to be a good shepherd. He laid down His life for us on the cross in order to deliver us from the hands of our greatest enemies: sin, death, and Satan. He intimately knows each one of us by name and cares for us with tender love and affection. We are His sheep, and He is our Shepherd. May we continue to follow His guiding hand all of our days!

• In what way does Jesus refer to Himself as a shepherd in this passage? On what characteristics of a shepherd does He focus? How does that contribute to the message He is giving His disciples?

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• Do you feel you “know” Jesus in the way that He describes in this passage? What steps can you take to grow in your personal knowledge of Him? How can this passage help you move in that direction?

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Ask God to help you fully trust in His Son Jesus Christ. Ask Him to help you follow Him as a sheep follows a shepherd all of your days.

PRAY

John 10:1-18ThursdayJune

15

22

We should follow David’s example by acknowledging God’s shepherd role in our lives, trusting Him, and allowing Him to lead us for the rest of our days.

MAIN IDEA

Over the past week, we have focused on the identity of the Lord as the Good Shepherd. God is a Shepherd who leads, comforts, and protects His people. This imagery is not lost on Jesus Christ, who is God in the flesh, since He calls Himself the Good Shepherd and proved it by laying down His life for the sheep. There is, however, an aspect of Psalm 23 that we have not yet given detailed attention. Apart from understanding God’s role as a Shepherd in your life, it may be the most helpful aspect of this psalm in terms of helping you live the Christian life. It is truly remarkable how the theological truth that God is a Shepherd finds immediate application in the life of David. He doesn’t learn this great truth and then go on living as if it were not true; rather, he allows it to transform the way he thinks, talks, and lives. Because God is his Shepherd, he “shall not want” (i.e. he shall not lack anything; v. 1), he will “fear no evil” (v. 4), and he will “dwell in the house of the Lord forever” (v. 6). Are you ever dissatisfied in life? Are you ever crippled with fear? Do you have an assurance of where you will spend eternity? Your answers to these questions reveal how much you are allowing this passage of Scripture to actually affect your life. As you enter into the weekend and turn your mind toward Sunday morning, resolve that you will not just hear and understand the message of Psalm 23, but also apply it to your life.

• What aspect of Psalm 23 jumped out to you the most over the week? Why? ________________________________________________________

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• How has God’s Word transformed your life? In what ways is your life different because of your relationship with God? What life changes is Psalm 23 calling you to make?

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Ask the Lord to help you apply this passage to your life. Pray that the Holy Spirit would bring understanding, comfort, and conviction.

PRAY

Psalm 23FridayJune

16

23

SaturdayJune

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Tomorrow’s lesson is titled Paradise Redeemed from 2 Corinthians 5:17-19 and Matthew 6:19-34. Please read these verses, meditate on them and pray for your teacher and those who will be present in your Sunday School class. Ask God to help you steward all things faithfully.

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PARADISE REDEEMEDSundayJune

18



25


Psalm 138

God is the source and subject of our thanksgiving.

I will give You thanks with all my heart; I will sing praises to You before the gods. Psalm 138:1 (NASB)

MAIN IDEA

WEEKLY MEMORY VERSE

Psalm 138 may be one of the richest psalms in all the Psalter. It is instructive in its focus on personal thanksgiving to God. It is grand in its proclamation of the universal praise that the Lord will receive. Yet the aspect of this psalm that contributes most to its richness is what it teaches us about God. If God were not a part of this psalm, there would be no cause for personal thanksgiving or universal praise. With Him, there are ten thousand reasons and more to give thanks and praise. Without Him, we would be reading a blank page. For what reasons, then, according to Psalm 138, should we offer thanks and praise to God? David answers in abundance: God is a God of lovingkindness and truth (v. 2); He answers us when we call to Him (v. 3); His glory is infinitely great (v. 5), yet He regards the lowly and spurns the prideful (v. 6); He protects us and delivers us from danger (v. 7); and, finally, He is faithful (v. 8). These are the reasons the psalmist lists in this psalm. However, because God is infinite, we can be assured that there is an infinite number of other reasons to give Him thanks and praise. As we enter into a week of focus on thanksgiving, prepare your heart to give thanks and praise to the Lord!

• What reasons does the psalmist list for giving thanks and praising the Lord? ________________________________________________________

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• What motivates you to give thanks and praise the Lord? What aspect of His character do you love most?

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Ask the Lord to help you be motivated to give Him thanks and praise. Ask Him to help you grow in your affection for Him as you consider and examine the reasons why you praise Him.

PRAY

MondayJune

19

26

Psalm 138:1-3

God is worthy of our personal thanksgiving.MAIN IDEA

David begins Psalm 138 on a personal note. The overwhelming focus is on what he will do: “I will give You thanks” (v. 1a), “I will sing praises” (v. 1b), and “I will bow down” (v. 2). David has very personal reasons for giving thanks and praise to his God. God has shown Himself faithful in David’s life: “On the day I called, You answered me; You made me bold with strength in my soul” (v. 3). It is not, though, that David must give God praise out of begrudging obligation because he “owes God one.” David’s thanksgiving is much less calculated. He gives thanks with all his heart and he holds nothing back from the Lord. Moreover, it is the Lord alone he praises, showing all other gods to be false. What reasons do you have to be personally thankful for the Lord today? Have you experienced the richness of a relationship with God that allows you to praise Him with your whole heart? If you feel you are lacking in your motivation to praise God today, look to the cross of Jesus Christ. If you are a Christian, then you have sufficient cause to be personally thankful to God because He sent His only beloved Son to a cross to die in your place and take away your sin. What a God! What a Savior! Lift up your voice in thanksgiving today!

• What reasons does David give for his personal thanksgiving to God? How does he express this thanksgiving?

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• On a one to ten scale, how would you rate your affections for God today? What can you learn from David’s impassioned expression of thanks and praise to God? From where does he draw such zeal? How can this text help you to find it?

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Ask the Lord to grow your affections for Him. Ask Him to help you emulate the passion and zeal of David in this passage.

PRAY

TuesdayJune

20

27

God is worthy of universal praise.MAIN IDEA

If you were to open a hymn book, one of the oldest hymns you would find is “All Creatures of Our God and King4.” Written by Francis of Assisi in A.D. 1225, its words have been preserved and cherished by the church through the centuries. The hymn calls all the universe to give praise to the Lord: “All creatures of our God and King, Lift up your voice and with us sing, Alleluia, Alleluia…Let all things their Creator bless, And worship Him in humbleness.” This small taste of the hymn’s rich lyrics shows its close resemblance to David’s words in Psalm 138:4-6. After offering up personal thanks to God, he widens his scope to all the world and describes a great scene in which all the kings of the earth will praise our glorious God. While this grand promise has yet to pass, we can rest assured that it one day will. One day, our Lord Jesus Christ is going to return in the clouds, and on that day every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. On that day, we will join a host who will with one heart and one voice sing praises to the Lord for all eternity. Is there some great weight in your life that is suppressing your joy in the Lord? Take heart! Set your mind on that day when you will be ushered into the presence of the Lord, alongside brothers and sisters in Christ from all ages and from every corner of the earth, to worship Him in humbleness!

• What kind of shift occurs between verses 1-3 and 4-6 of this psalm? How does the psalmist’s perspective change?

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• When you think about the second coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, what emotions do you experience? Excitement? Anxiety? Fear? How can this psalm help change the way we think about that day?

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Ask the Lord to help you set your mind on His return. Ask Him to give you a genuine desire to stand before Him one day along with countless others to worship Him for all of eternity.

PRAY


June21

28

God is faithful and will certainly accomplish His plans for our lives.MAIN IDEA

Martin Luther was a man who had confidence in the Lord’s plan for his life. At the Diet of Worms, where he faced the ultimatum of recanting his writings or being permanently excommunicated from the church and possibly even executed, Luther uttered the following words:

Unless I am convinced by the testimony of the Holy Scriptures or by evident reason–for I can believe neither pope nor councils alone, as it is clear that they have erred repeatedly and contradicted themselves–I consider myself convicted by the testimony of Holy Scripture, which is my basis; my conscience is captive to the Word of God. Thus I cannot and will not recant, because acting against one’s conscience is neither safe nor sound. Here I stand. God help me. Amen.5

These words show that Luther, like David in Psalm 138, was utterly confident that no matter what mortal man did to him, God would be faithful to accomplish His plans. Can you say with confidence today that you trust God with your life? Take some time to ponder that question. God is perfectly faithful and trustworthy, and He will not forsake the work of His hands in your life. Trust Him today!

• How does David respond to difficulty and trouble in his life? How do these things impact His relationship with the Lord?

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• How do you typically respond to difficult situations in your life? Do you typically lean on the Lord like Luther and David or do you have a different response? How can this psalm help you the next time you find yourself in a difficult situation?

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Ask the Lord to help you lean on Him even when things are difficult. Ask Him to help you trust Him with your life.

PRAY


22

29

Worship is an overflow of our love for and confidence in God.MAIN IDEA

Although Psalm 138 uses the language of “thanks” and “praise,” at its very core it is a psalm about worship. The word “worship” is actually a combination of two words: “worth” and “ship.” The practice of worship is placing ultimate worth upon the person or thing being worshipped. When we worship the Lord, what we are really saying is that He ultimately is worthy of our thanks and praise. At the beginning of the week we looked at all the things this psalm teaches us about God: He is a God of lovingkindness and truth; He answers us when we call; His glory is great and yet He regards the lowly; He protects us from evil; He is faithful; and the list could go on and on. Within the psalm, each of these facets of God’s character function as evidence that God is worthy of thanks and praise. David considers who God is and what He has done, and he concludes, “Yes, God is worthy of my thanks and praise. Therefore, I will bow down to Him and worship Him!” As you enter into the weekend and prepare your heart for Sunday morning worship, take some time to consider just a few of the ten thousand reasons that you have to worship God. Allow these reasons to fuel your worship on Sunday morning as you join your brothers and sisters in Christ to lift your voice to the One who created you, saved you, and will one day return to gather you to Himself for all of eternity!

• What does this psalm teach us about God? What does it teach us about our relationship with God?

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• How have you historically defined worship? How does your definition line

up with the biblical definition as described in Psalm 138? How can this psalm impact the way that you worship God?

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Ask the Lord to help you worship Him in spirit and truth on Sunday. Ask Him to help you see Him as ultimately worthy of your thanks and praise.

PRAY

Psalm 138FridayJune

23

30

SaturdayJune

24



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Tomorrow’s lesson is titled Jesus…Joy of Man’s Desiring from Psalm 37:4; Philippians 4:4-7; Hebrews 12:1-2; 2 Corinthians 8:1-9; and 1 Peter 1:3-16. Please read these verses, meditate on them, and pray for your teacher and those who will be present in your Sunday School class. Ask God to help you be joyful in serving Him.

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JESUS...JOY OF MAN’S DESIRINGSundayJune

25



32


Psalm 84

The most blessed place for you to be is in the presence of God.

For a day in Your courts is better than a thousand outside. I would rather stand at the threshold of the house of my God than dwell in the tents of wickedness.

Psalm 84:10 (NASB)

MAIN IDEA

WEEKLY MEMORY VERSE

Psalm 84 is all about the psalmist longing to dwell in God’s Temple. In the immediate context the Temple refers to the physical structure in Jerusalem where God’s presence dwelled and where the Israelites worshipped Him for roughly a thousand years. One of the most amazing things about our God is His commitment throughout all of history to dwell with His people. Take a moment to consider how, before the Temple was established, God dwelled with Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden (Genesis 3:8) and with the Israelites in the tent of meeting (Exodus 40:34-38). Now consider something even more glorious: God is so committed to dwelling with us that He took on flesh and made His dwelling among us in the person of Jesus Christ (John 1:14). Moreover, when Jesus ascended into heaven to sit at the right hand of the Father, He sent us His Holy Spirit to dwell within us so that our bodies are a temple of the Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 6:19). As you go about your day, set your mind on the glorious future that awaits you in the new heaven and new earth, where there will be no need for a temple since God Himself will be our Temple (Revelation 21:22-27).

• Why was the Temple such an important place for the ancient Israelites? Why did the psalmist long to be there?

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• What steps can you take to dwell in God’s presence? What would it look like for you to put those steps into place today?

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Ask the Lord to give you a desire to dwell in His presence to match the longing of the psalmist in this psalm. Ask Him specifically to help you spend more time in His Word, with His people, and in prayer.

PRAY

MondayJune

26

33

Psalm 84:1-4

We should long to dwell in God’s presence, for there we will find both blessing and joy.

MAIN IDEA

In the first four verses of this Psalm, we find the psalmist expressing his desire and delight in the strongest of language: his soul “longs” and “faints” and his heart and flesh “sing for joy” (v. 2). What is the object of his longing and joy? It is the Temple of God, which he describes throughout these verses as God’s “dwelling place” (v. 1), “the courts of the Lord” (v. 2), God’s “altars” (v. 3) and God’s “house” (v. 4). Even though the psalmist’s language varies when he describes the Temple, he has one glorious truth in mind: The Temple is the place where the “Lord of hosts” (v. 1), “the living God” (v. 2), his “King and…God” (v. 3) dwells. This is why the psalmist desires the Temple so greatly and delights in it so intensely. When he goes there, he enters into the presence of the God of the universe. Take a moment to think about what you are actually doing right now in your devotion. You are entering into the presence of the Rock of Ages, the Ancient of Days. When you enter into His presence with faith and love for Jesus Christ in your heart, He welcomes you with open arms. Let this glorious truth drive you to desire Him and delight in Him more today.

• Why did the psalmist use such strong language to express his emotions? What was so important to him?

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• On a 1 to 10 scale, how would you rate your desire for and delight in God today? Taking this psalm as an example, what can you do today to increase your desire for and delight in God?

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Ask the Lord to raise your affections for Him. Ask Him to give you a desire for and a joy in His presence. Ask Him specifically to help you delight in His Word as you read it and meditate on it.

PRAY

TuesdayJune

27

34

God is all-powerful, and therefore we are blessed when we find our strength in Him.MAIN IDEA

In these verses, the psalmist paints the picture of ancient Israelite pilgrims journeying to Mount Zion in order to worship God in His Temple. Where will these pilgrims find the strength for such a journey? Our culture emphasizes inner-strength: the idea that the way to get through life’s journey is by relying on one’s self. However, the testimony of Scripture is at odds with this idea. The way that these pilgrims find strength for the journey is by finding their strength in the God of Zion, the “Lord God of hosts” (v. 8). When we find strength in this way we are blessed (v. 5), because the Lord God Almighty is the ultimate source of strength. Notice that as the pilgrims continue their journey to Zion, “they go from strength to strength” (v. 7). This is because God is not only the source of their strength, but the purpose of their strength. The reason they are striving to get to Zion is because they desire more than anything to be in God’s presence and to worship Him. Take a moment today to think about where you find your strength and, even more importantly, for what you use your strength. When we rely on God for strength and then use our strength for the glory of Jesus Christ, God gives ear to our prayers and we go from strength to strength just like the pilgrims in this psalm (v. 8).

• Who/what was the source of strength in this psalm? How did the pilgrims find strength for their journey? How did they use this strength?

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• Does your definition of personal strength line up with Scripture’s definition? What are the differences between how our culture defines strength and how Scripture defines it? How can you ensure that you are finding your strength in God and not in yourself or some other source?

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Ask the Lord to help you find your strength in Him. Moreover, ask Him to help you expend all of your strength to pursue Him further. In particular, ask God to give you the strength you need to be faithful to His Word on a daily basis.

PRAY


June28

35

God is a mighty fortress, and therefore we are blessed when we find our refuge in Him.

MAIN IDEA

One of the most comforting metaphors used by the psalmists is God as a place of refuge. The historical backdrop to this metaphor is the great walled cities of the Ancient Near East. Upon entering, one was thought to be safe from the dangers and enemies of the outside world. When the psalmists refer to God as a refuge, or similarly as a “shield” (vv. 9, 11) in these verses, the idea is that those who enter into a relationship with God have nothing to fear from their enemies or from any other dangers of the world. Over the past several days, we have seen how God is both the ultimate dwelling place and the ultimate source of strength. When you combine these attributes, you find how fitting the metaphor of a refuge is for God. In Him is the best possible place to dwell and to find strength and safety. The psalmist goes on to describe the glory of finding our refuge in God: upon those who take refuge in Him, God bestows favor and honor, and from those who walk uprightly in His presence He withholds no good gift (v. 11). In what are you trusting? For those who are trusting in Jesus Christ alone, who are finding their refuge in Him, all of the promises of these verses find their yes (1 Corinthians 1:20).

• How did the psalmist describe God in this passage? What is the main metaphor that he used?

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• Who/what are you trusting in today? In what are you finding your refuge? What are some ways you can forsake earthly comforts today and find your refuge in the Lord?

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Ask the Lord to help you find your refuge in Him. Ask Him to help you be free from the anxieties of the world. In particular, ask God to help you trust Jesus Christ with every aspect of your life.

PRAY


29

36

Because God is the ultimate dwelling place, source of strength, and refuge, we should long for Him, delight in Him, and trust in Him.

MAIN IDEA

In Psalm 84, we have experienced the loveliness of dwelling in God’s presence (vv. 1-4), the blessedness of finding our strength in Him (vv. 5-8), and the comfort of finding our refuge in Him (vv. 9-12). Moreover, we have identified how the psalmist relates with God. He begins the psalm by expressing his deep longing for and delight in the Lord’s presence (v. 2) and ends the psalm with a stand of faith and trust in God (v. 12). This psalm teaches us both about the character of God and how we should relate to Him. Because God is the ultimate dwelling place, source of strength, and refuge, we should long for Him, delight in Him, and trust in Him. Take a moment to think about two things: 1) To what degree do you believe, in your heart and in your mind, that God is who this psalm teaches that He is? 2) Are you acting on this belief by longing for and delighting in God’s presence and trusting Him with every aspect of your life?

• What does this psalm teach us about God? What does it teach us about how we should relate to God?

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• How much are you longing for God’s presence? How much are you trusting Him? What are some steps you can take today to increase your desire for, delight in, and trust in God?

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Ask the Lord to help you believe the truths expressed about Him in Psalm 84. Ask Him to help you follow after the example of the psalmist by longing for Him, delighting in Him, and trusting in Him.

PRAY

Psalm 84FridayJune

30

37

SaturdayJuly

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Tomorrow’s lesson is titled His Presence from Psalm 84:1-12. Review these verses to prepare your heart and pray for your teacher.

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HIS PRESENCESundayJuly

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39

Matthew 6:1-4

Week of July 3, 2017

Genesis 1

We are called to be thankful and to sing praise to our mighty Creator God.

Come, let us worship and bow down, let us kneel before the Lord our Maker.Psalm 95:6 (NASB)

MAIN IDEA

WEEKLY MEMORY VERSE

In Psalm 95, the psalmist reaches back to the creation narrative in order to teach his audience how to relate to God. Genesis 1 provides the rationale for the psalmist calling the Lord “a great God, and a great King above all gods” (Psalm 95:3). In Genesis 1, we see that God, as Creator, has ownership and sovereign control over “the depths of the earth,” “the peaks of the mountains,” “the sea,” and “the dry land” (Psalm 95:3-5). In fact, when we read Genesis 1 we find that God is Lord over the entire universe, from the greatest expanses of the heavens to the minutest organisms of the earth. As you read Genesis 1 and meditate on it, consider God’s sovereign ownership of your life. He brought you into being by the word of His power and He has the right to speak into your life with the utmost authority. Jesus Christ bought us with the price of His very life upon the cross (1 Corinthians 6:20). Consider how you can heed the call that Jesus Christ has placed upon your life to glorify Him in all things (1 Corinthians 6:20) – this is the very reason for which you were created and saved.

• What does the narrative of Genesis 1 tell us about the character of God? How does it inform us of the way that we should relate to God?

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• Are there any areas in your life which you have not submitted to the Lordship of Jesus Christ? What steps can you take today to more fully submit to His Lordship?

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Ask the Lord to help you stand in awe of His Creation and goodness. Ask Him to help you fulfill the purpose for which you were created and for which you were saved: to bring glory to the name of Jesus Christ. Spend time confessing areas of your life in which you have attempted to maintain control over.

PRAY

MondayJuly

3

40

Genesis 2

We are called to bow down and worship our intimate Creator God.MAIN IDEA

Genesis 2 is the context behind the psalmist’s call for us to bow down and worship our intimate, shepherding Creator God (Psalm 95:6-7). A noticeable shift occurs between Genesis 1 and 2. While Genesis 1 focuses on the cosmic aspects of Creation, showing God speaking the entire universe into existence, Genesis 2 zooms in on God’s creation of man. As the scene plays out, we see God’s intimate relationship with man: He creates man from the dust of the ground and then breathes life into his nostrils (v. 7). This breath of life from God is something that sets mankind apart from all other Creation. It shows us the great care that God has for each one of us, even though we are less than a speck in comparison to the vastness of the universe. It is no wonder, then, that when we come to Psalm 95:7 we find the psalmist using the imagery of a shepherd to describe God’s care for us. God has shown this intimate shepherd care to us most clearly by sending His only beloved Son Jesus to die on a cross for our sins.

• What does the narrative of Genesis 2 tell us about God and our relationship with Him?

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• Are there any areas of your life that you have not entrusted to the care of the Lord? What are some steps you can take today to entrust your life to Him?

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Ask the Lord to help you grow in your affection toward your Creator God. Ask Him to help you entrust every area of your life to His care. Spend time confessing areas of your life that you have tended to hold back from Him.

PRAY

TuesdayJuly

4

41

God is our mighty Creator, and therefore we should praise Him with thanksgiving in our hearts.MAIN IDEA

In this passage, the psalmist calls us to joyfully praise God for His Kingship over all the universe. God derives His right to rule over all of Creation from the fact that He is the Creator (vv. 4-5). He is not only King over rock and water, but He is also King over us, since He created us also. For this reason, we should offer Him all of our praise and thanksgiving (vv. 1-2). Furthermore, He is a good King and a good Creator. He did not create us only to rule over us harshly and then bring about our total destruction when we sinned against Him. As our Creator He certainly had the right to do so. Rather, He is kind and loving and helps us when we are in need. As the psalmist says, He is “the rock of our salvation” (v. 1). Think about the great grace and mercy that God has shown you! He brought you into the world and rules over you. Even though you spurned His rule and sinned against Him, He loves you so much that He became the rock of your salvation in His Son Jesus Christ. The proper response to such a loving gift is thanksgiving and praise.

• On what basis did the psalmist describe God as the universal King? How did the psalmist want you to respond to God?

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• What are some steps that you can take today to bring your life under the Kingship of God?

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Ask the Lord to give you a heart of thanksgiving for Him as a good King and Creator. Ask Him to help you praise Him on a daily basis for who He is and what He has done for you.

PRAY


July5

42

These verses continue the theme of Creation, calling on us to worship and bow down to our “Maker” (v. 6). However, the psalmist gives us a new perspective on the identity of our Creator by using the metaphor of a great Shepherd carefully leading His sheep by His own hand (v. 7). Such language shows that God is not only a great King exalted above the highest heavens. He also stoops down to our level to have a personal, caring relationship with us. The ultimate fulfillment of this image came in the person of Jesus Christ, who took on flesh to dwell among us (John 1:14) and who is Himself the Good Shepherd that lays down His life for the sheep (John 10:11). In the same way that an obstinate sheep has no chance of survival when he spurns the leading hand of the shepherd, so also the only end for those who harden their hearts against the Lord is misery and desperation (vv. 8-11). How comforting it is to know that God cares for us so deeply and watches over us so carefully! How sharpening it is to know that when we stray from Jesus Christ the only result is distress and anguish!

• What kind of language did the psalmist use to describe God in these verses? Can you think of any other places in Scripture where this language is used?

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• What steps can you take today to ensure that you are not hardening your heart against the Lord and His Word?

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Thank the Lord that He is not only a highly exalted King, but that He is also the Good Shepherd. Ask Him to help you submit to Him as Lord and entrust Him with your life as a sheep does with a shepherd. Confess any ways that you have failed to trust Him.

PRAY

Psalm 95:6-11

We should open our hearts in worship to our intimate, shepherding Creator God.MAIN IDEA

ThursdayJuly

6

43

The Bible teaches that Jesus Christ was not only present at Creation, but actively involved; therefore, to worship our Creator God is to worship Jesus.

MAIN IDEA

Over the past week we have heard the psalmist’s call for you to worship your Creator God, who is both a mighty King and a Good Shepherd. If we take a step back and try to understand this psalm in light of the entire Bible, we find that this psalm is actually a call to worship Jesus. This truth might not come directly out of Psalm 95, but consider a couple of other texts as well. John teaches us that Jesus was present at Creation and that “apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being” (John 1:3). Paul teaches us that by Jesus, through Jesus, and for Jesus all things were made (Colossians 1:16-17). This is an amazing truth! Jesus Christ, who went to the cross to bleed and die in your place, is also the highly exalted King who spoke the universe into existence by the word of His power. Moreover, He is the intimate shepherding God who breathed the breath of life into you and cares for you deeply. As you heed the call of this psalm to worship your Creator God, see it as an opportunity to worship your Lord Jesus Christ.

• In light of the whole testimony of Scripture, how does Jesus Christ relate to Psalm 95?

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• What are some tangible ways you can heed the call of Psalm 95 and worship your Creator God today?

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Thank the Lord that He created you and breathed the breath of life into you. Thank Him that He is the Good Shepherd who not only created you, but also laid down His life for you. Ask Him to help you worship Him in sincerity and pureness of heart.

PRAY

John 1:1-5 and Colossians 1:15-17FridayJuly

7

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SaturdayJuly

8



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Tomorrow our lesson is titled The Creator from Psalm 95:1-11. Review these verses to prepare your heart and pray for your teacher.

45

THE CREATORSundayJuly

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46


Psalm 19:1-6

God reveals Himself to us in nature.

Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in Your sight, O Lord, my rock and my Redeemer.

Psalm 19:14 (NASB)

MAIN IDEA

WEEKLY MEMORY VERSE

For a period of time in 1847, the Table Rock Album sat atop a plateau overlooking Niagara Falls. Visitors to the mighty Table Rock could record their thoughts in the album as they took in the spectacle of the Falls. While some entries into the album fall into the sin of worshiping the creation rather than the Creator, one visitor’s reflection serves well as a sample for what is found in the album as a whole: “This is but the breathings of the great ‘I Am’!6” Whether this impromptu poet knew it or not, he was giving a pretty good summary of the message of Psalm 19:1-6. In Psalm 84, we saw how God is the great Creator. Today’s passage shows us how creation itself testifies loudly to God’s identity as the Creator. In the language of the psalmist, creation preaches a sermon that God deserves all the glory because He brought all things into existence. At some point today, go outside and consider how the sky above your head and the sun charting its course from horizon to horizon have one ultimate purpose: to declare to you the glory of God.

• How did the psalmist speak about creation in the passage? What action did he describe creation doing?

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• How much time have you taken lately just to appreciate God’s creation? What steps can you take to better experience the glory of God in His creation?

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Ask the Lord to help you see His glory in all of creation. At the same time, ask Him to help you worship Him as the Creator and not fall into the trap of worshipping the creation.

PRAY

MondayJuly

10

47

Psalm 8

Considering God’s glory revealed in nature leads to thankfulness for His care and love for us.MAIN IDEA

Psalm 8 has a similar message to Psalm 19:1-6, with a slightly different focus. A different poet in the Table Rock Album, standing before the roar of Niagara Falls, sums up Psalm 8 well: “Oh! God!! Great are Thy works! Oh! Man!! How small are thine, when placed in the same view.7” When we consider the vastness of the universe or the sheer power of a place like Niagara Falls, we realize simultaneously how great and glorious God is and how small and insignificant we are. The psalmist’s words go deeper than the poet in the Table Rock Album. The psalmist asks, “What is man that You are mindful of him, and the son of man that You care for him?” Amazingly, even though we are little more than a speck of dust on the great canvas of creation, God is mindful of us and He cares for us. In fact, the Bible as a whole testifies to the fact that mankind is the pinnacle of creation (Genesis 1:26-30). Therefore, God cares for humans in a way that is unmatched in all the rest of creation. This is especially true for Christians, because through Jesus Christ we have been adopted into God’s family as His children (John 1:12-13; 1 John 3:1)!

• What does the psalmist teach us about God in the psalm? What does he teach us about man? How do the two relate to one another?

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• Have you taken time to think about how much God cares for you? What are some ways you can increase your thankfulness to God for His daily care of you?

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Ask the Lord to help you understand how much He cares for you. Ask Him to give you a humble heart in light of His very particular love for you as one of His children.

PRAY

TuesdayJuly

11

48

God primarily reveals Himself to us in His Word.MAIN IDEA

While creation certainly does tell us much about God’s character (Psalm 8, 19:1-6; Romans 1:18-20), it is not the primary means God uses to reveal Himself to us. God’s primary means of revelation is His Word. Theologians make the distinction between God’s general revelation in creation and His special revelation in His Word. While general revelation is important, we need the special revelation of God’s Word to arrive at saving faith in Jesus Christ (2 Timothy 3:15-16). In these verses, the psalmist crescendos in his exaltation of the perfect nature of God’s Word and transformative effects it has in our lives (vv. 7-9, 11). This crescendo climaxes in his proclamation of the desirability of God’s Word: it is finer than gold and sweeter than honey (v. 10). Take hold of your Bible and consider this amazing truth: the book you are holding in your hand is God’s particular revelation of Himself to you. God wants you to know Him and He has given you exactly what you need to do so!

• What are some of the ways that the psalmist spoke about God’s Word in this passage? How did he say God’s Word affects us?

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• How much time do you spend in God’s Word? What steps could you take today to spend more quality time getting to know God better by studying His Word?

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Ask the Lord to help you love the Bible. Ask Him to help you spend more time in it and to know Him better as a result.

PRAY


July12

49

When the Apostle Paul found himself stuck in a Roman prison, he requested three items: his cloak, his books, and his parchments (2 Timothy 4:13). At one of the most vulnerable times in his life, he desired nothing more than to immerse himself in the study of God’s Word. Why is this? It is because God’s Word is central to every aspect of our lives, both the good parts and the bad parts. In Psalm 119:105-112, we find the psalmist in a time of affliction and danger. He has been delivered into the hands of his enemies and he is suffering as a result of it. Yet in the midst of this intense trial, he keeps God’s Word at the center of his life. Even though he is being tossed to and fro in a sea of despair, he knows that he has a firm anchor in the Word of God. What are you going through right now? No matter what life throws at you, you can have confidence in God’s Word. In it you find the path to salvation and fellowship with your Lord Jesus Christ. May God’s Word be a lamp to your feet and a light to your path today.

• In what kind of circumstances was the psalmist in this passage? What did he do in the midst of these circumstances?

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• How do you usually respond to difficult life circumstances? What steps can you take today to ensure that God’s Word is at the center of your life when difficult circumstances occur in the future?

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Ask the Lord to help you make His Word central in your life. Ask Him to help you to respond to difficult circumstances with faith in Him and dependence upon His Word.

PRAY

Psalm 119:105-112

God’s Word is central to every aspect of our lives.MAIN IDEA

ThursdayJuly

13

50

God’s revelation of Himself to us should lead us to repentance and ultimately to Christ.MAIN IDEA

Over the past week we have looked at what Matthew Henry describes as “the two excellent books which the great God has published: the book of the creatures and the book of the Scriptures.8” At this point a very important question must be asked: When the God of the universe reveals Himself to us through His Creation and in His Word, what do we do? How do we respond? In Psalm 19:12-14 we find the psalmist, in response to God’s revelation, pleading with the Lord to give him a pure and repentant heart. When the psalmist considers the glory of God revealed in creation and the perfection of God revealed in Scripture, he desires above all else to be in a right relationship with God. Hebrews tells us that when we open ourselves to God’s Word, He exposes every thought and intention of the heart (Hebrews 4:12). No doubt many of these thoughts and intentions are sinful. Thanks be to God that He doesn’t expose our sin and leave us to despair in it. Rather, He gives us the good news of the gospel that though our sins be many, He has taken them all away through the atoning death of Jesus Christ on the cross. Rejoice today that because of Jesus Christ, you can stand before a holy God and be counted righteous.

• How did the psalmist respond to God’s revelation? ________________________________________________________

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• What has God exposed about your heart through His Word? In what areas

of your life is repentance needed? ________________________________________________________

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Ask the Lord to help you open yourself up to His Word. Ask Him to help you identify areas in your life where repentance is needed. Thank Him for the good news of the gospel without which there would be no hope for sinners such as us!

PRAY

Psalm 19:12-14FridayJuly

14

51

SaturdayJuly

15



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Tomorrow’s lesson is God Revealed from Psalm 19:1-14. Review these verses to prepare your heart and pray for your teacher.

52

GOD REVEALEDSundayJuly

16



53


Psalm 136

God’s lovingkindness is everlasting!

Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good, for His lovingkindness is everlasting.Psalm 136:1 (NASB)

MAIN IDEA

WEEKLY MEMORY VERSE

In Jewish tradition this psalm is called the Great Hallel, which simply means the “Great Psalm of Praise.” It is dominated by two refrains: “give thanks” and “His loving kindness is everlasting.” This shows us that the psalmist is praising God for a particular reason: His lovingkindness is everlasting. Another way of saying this is that God’s steadfast love endures forever. This phrase is repeated in every single verse of the psalm—twenty-six times! It isn’t difficult to discern that the main theme of this psalm is God’s steadfast love. “Love” refers to the kind favor that God shows His people in His relationship with them. The fact that this love is “steadfast” means that God is totally committed to showing His people love even when we don’t reciprocate it. The fact that this love “endures forever” means that God’s commitment to love His people will never fail, even in the darkest hours of our relationship with Him. The greatest gesture of God’s ever-enduring steadfast love toward us is the cross of Jesus Christ. God sent His only beloved Son to a cross to bear our sins so that we could live for eternity in a perfect relationship with Him. Give thanks to God today for His steadfast love toward you!

• What is the major theme with which the psalmist dealt in this psalm? ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________

• Are you thankful to God for His steadfast love toward you? What are some ways you can increase in your thankfulness toward Him?

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Ask the Lord to help you appreciate His steadfast love. Ask Him to help you be more thankful for the cross of Christ, His greatest gesture of love toward you.

PRAY

MondayJuly

17

54

Psalm 136:1-9

God’s steadfast love is evident in the fact that He created us.MAIN IDEA

The psalmist begins by establishing that God really is God (vv. 1-3). He is the “God of gods” and “Lord of lords” (vv. 2-3) and has stooped down to our level to establish a relationship with us to prove His steadfast love. He didn’t have to do this. He could have created us and left us to our own devices. Instead, He created us in the most intimate of ways: by breathing life into us (Genesis 2:7). Moreover, He created a universe all around us which is not only habitable, but also declares His great glory (vv. 3-9). Scientists often point out the astronomical odds of a world that supports life, and much less human life. We are an intergalactic anomaly! Here we are, and not due to a chance collision of atoms, but to the fact that we have a loving Creator who created a world in which we would thrive. What an amazing thought that every time we draw a breath it is a testimony to our God of His steadfast love. If it were not for this love, the Bible teaches that the universe and everything in it would literally disintegrate into nothingness (Hebrews 1:3). Take some time today to thank Him for His goodness toward you.

• To what event did the psalmist refer in these first nine verses? What does this teach us about the character of God?

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• Do you make it a practice to thank God for His goodness toward you? What are some steps you can take to improve in this area?

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Ask the Lord to help you be more thankful for His goodness toward you. Ask Him to help you be more aware of everything you have to be thankful for—even for your own existence!

PRAY

TuesdayJuly

18

55

God’s steadfast love is evident in the fact that He created us.MAIN IDEA

Genesis 1 is the historical backdrop to Psalm 136:1-9. Much of the language used by the psalmist comes from this opening chapter of the Bible. There are at least two pieces of evidence within this chapter that point to God’s steadfast love toward us. The first is that everything God creates is “good.” The word carries the connotation not only of “favorable” or “morally upright” as we use it, but also of “fitting.” The universe that God created around us fits together. It is the opposite of chaos. On a very basic level, this “fittingness” is the reason why we can live orderly, meaningful lives. We know that the sun will come up in the morning and go down in the evening because God has decreed it so. The second piece of evidence proving God’s steadfast love toward us comes at the end of the chapter. God creates man in His own image. This is an amazing gift that God gives to mankind alone. We are made in His likeness and can therefore enter into a relationship with Him on a level that is impossible for the rest of Creation—in fact, we were made to do so! Although the image of God in us was diminished significantly because of sin, part of the new life in Christ is having this image restored (Ephesians 4:24).

• What similarities exist between Genesis 1 and Psalm 136:1-9? ________________________________________________________

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• Have you considered how God’s created order enables you to live an orderly, meaningful life? What steps can you take to increase your awareness of this reality?

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Ask the Lord to help you be more thankful for His created order. Ask Him to restore His image within you as you continue to grow in Christ.

PRAY

Genesis 1Wednesday

July19

56

In 1 Corinthians 10, Paul teaches us that the events in Israel’s history were written down for our instruction. In Psalm 136:10-26, we find the psalmist operating under a similar principle. He recalls certain events in Israel’s history—namely, the Exodus, the crossing of the Red Sea, and Joshua’s conquest in the Promised Land—and to show how each event is evidence of God’s steadfast love toward His people. Indeed, God has been incredibly faithful to His people throughout all of history. Even after the fall of Adam and Eve (Genesis 3), God’s flooding of the world due to sin (Genesis 6 – 9), and the haughty rejection of God at the Tower of Babel (Genesis 11), God established a relationship with Abraham and promised him blessings and a great nation. Even after the personal failures of Abraham and his descendants and a four-hundred-year bout of slavery in Egypt, God made good on His promises by delivering His people out of Egypt and giving them the Promised Land. God always makes good on His promises. The greatest testimony to this is the cross of Christ, where God ultimately made good on all His great promises to us.

• To what historical events did the psalmist refer in this passage? Did he give any new insights into these events?

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• Do you trust God? If so, on what basis do you trust Him? How can this psalm help you to have more confidence in God in the future?

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Ask the Lord to help you dwell more on His past faithfulness both as revealed in Scripture and in your life personally. Ask Him to help you dwell more on the Cross, which is the greatest gesture of His love for us and faithfulness toward us.

PRAY

Psalm 136:10-26

God’s steadfast love is evident in His past faithfulness to His people.

MAIN IDEA

ThursdayJuly

20

57

God’s steadfast love is evident in Israel’s miraculous crossing of the Red Sea.

MAIN IDEA

While the psalmist refers to many events in Israel’s history in Psalm 136, one event that comes up several times is Israel’s crossing of the Red Sea. Moses’ song of praise to God after God delivered Israel through the Red Sea highlights how this event is evidence of God’s steadfast love. Moses describes God as a mighty defender of His people. The Egyptians had Israel pinned: before them was a mighty sea and behind them a mighty army. In His faithfulness, God rose up and saved His people in a miraculous and glorious way. This leads Moses to the climax of his song in verse 13: “You have led in your steadfast love the people whom you have redeemed; you have guided them by your strength to your holy abode” (Exodus 15:13 ESV). What an amazing verse! Think about your own life. Has God not done something similar for you? The enemies of sin and death were bearing down upon you, threatening you with eternal misery in hell. But God in His faithfulness rose up and defeated your enemies by sending His only beloved Son to die in your place. In His steadfast love He has led you out of the fires of hell and redeemed you! What a loving Savior! Keep these great truths in mind as you enter the weekend and prepare your heart for Sunday morning worship.

• How is God’s steadfast love revealed in the story of the Red Sea? ________________________________________________________

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• How much time do you spend considering what God has done for you

through the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ? What are some practical ways you can spend more time thinking about this?

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Ask the Lord to help you dwell on your deliverance from sin and death through the cross of Christ. Ask Him to help you be thankful for His steadfast love this weekend. Ask Him to lead you in worship this Sunday morning in response to the great truths you have considered throughout the week.

PRAY

Exodus 15:1-18FridayJuly

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SaturdayJuly

22



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Tomorrow’s lesson is His Love from Psalm 136:1-5, 10-15, 23-26. Review these verses to prepare your heart and pray for your teacher.

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HIS LOVESundayJuly

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60


Psalm 146:1-2, 10

We should praise the Lord out of the overflow of our love for Him and joy in Him.

I will praise the Lord while I live; I will sing praises to my God while I have my being. Psalm 146:2 (NASB)

MAIN IDEA

WEEKLY MEMORY VERSE

Psalm 146 begins and ends with the same Hebrew word: hallelu-yah. In our English translation, this familiar word translates to the phrase “Praise the Lord!” What drives a person to praise someone or something? In our routine conversations with others, what causes us to praise the movie we saw over the weekend or the new restaurant we ate in last night? In his book Reflections on the Psalms9, C.S. Lewis writes that “we delight to praise what we enjoy because the praise not merely expresses but completes the enjoyment; it is its appointed consummation.” When we praise God, it takes our love for Him and joy in Him to a deeper level. What is bubbling in our hearts finally overflows out of our mouths in a proclamation of praise. As a believer, you have so many reasons to praise God in this way. He has delivered you from your hopeless slavery to sin through the death, burial, and resurrection of His Only Beloved Son and He has entered into a loving, joy-filled, personal relationship with you that will last for all of eternity. Take some time today to “Praise the Lord!”

• What is the psalmist’s main theme in this passage? How did he emphasize this theme?

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• On a scale of 1 to 10, how would you rate your joy in the Lord? How often does your joy in the Lord overflow into praise? What steps can you take today to increase your joy in and praise of the Lord?

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Ask the Lord to help you find your joy in Him alone. Ask Him to help you see the folly of trying to find ultimate satisfaction in the things of the world. Pray that your joy in Him would overflow into praise.

PRAY

MondayJuly

24

61

Psalm 146:3-4

It is folly to place our full trust in mankind and its institutions rather than in God.MAIN IDEA

The message of these verses can be expressed in some very memorable lines from Martin Luther’s famous hymn, “A Mighty Fortress Is Our God.”

Did we in our own strength confide, our striving would be losing; Were not the right Man on our side, the Man of God’s own choosing. 10

There is no doubt that many of us are tempted to trust in mankind and its institutions. For instance, we may trust a new president or set of political ideals to make our nation right, or we may trust in our spouse to bring us ultimate fulfillment. In the midst of temptations like these, each of us should heed the words of this psalm: it is folly to place our faith in any mortal man, for in him salvation does not exist (v. 3). How could it when the life of mortal man is like a wisp of smoke in light of eternity (v. 4)? True salvation can be found in one Man alone, the eternal God-Man Jesus Christ, who died for us and rose again so that we could be made right with God. Praise God that He didn’t leave your fate in the hands of any mortal man!

• How did the psalmist describe mankind in these verses? ________________________________________________________

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• Who or what are you trusting in today? When you think about what makes you feel safe and confident, do you think about the Lord Jesus Christ or someone/something else? What steps can you take to decrease your trust in mankind and its institutions and increase your trust in the Lord?

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Ask the Lord to help you trust Jesus Christ alone. Ask Him to help you flee from the idolatry of trusting in mortal man. Ask Him to help you identify specific areas in your life where you may be trusting someone/something else besides Him.

PRAY

TuesdayJuly

25

62

It is wise to place our full trust in the Lord because He is the eternal God and He is for us, and not against us.MAIN IDEA

While it is folly to trust in mankind and its institutions, it is wise to trust in the Lord. In fact, the psalmist calls those who trust and hope in the Lord blessed. According to the psalmist this is true for many reasons: God is our mighty Creator (v. 6), He is completely faithful and trustworthy (v. 6), He is the champion of the downcast and opposed (vv. 7-9), and He is the eternal God who reigns over all of creation. The psalmist’s description of God contrasts strongly from the way he talks about mankind. While mankind is finite (v. 4), God is infinite (vv. 6, 10). While there is no salvation in mankind (v. 3), there is ample salvation for all people who trust and hope in God (vv. 7-9). Think about the desperate spiritual situation you were in before you trusted in Christ: you were enslaved to and oppressed by sin, blind to your folly, a stranger to God, and spiritually fatherless. The moment you trusted in Jesus Christ, you were freed from sin, your spiritual blindness was healed, and you were adopted into the family of God. For these reasons—and ten thousand others—take some time to pour out your heart in praise to the Lord.

• How did the psalmist describe God in these verses? How does this compare or contrast with how he described mankind in the previous verses?

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• Are you trusting in the Lord today? If you aren’t, what is holding you back? What can you take away from today’s reading that might help you trust in the Lord in the future?

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Ask the Lord to help you trust in Him today. Ask Him to give you a confidence in your heart and mind that He is trustworthy. Take some time to thank Him for all the spiritual benefits that come from trusting in Him.

PRAY


July26

63

Psalm 146 is a hymn calling us to praise the Lord because God is infinitely and eternally trustworthy. It is important for us to know that there is a very practical way we can express our trust in God on a daily basis: trusting in the Lord Jesus Christ and heeding His Word. This simple step of faith is expressed beautifully in Edward Mote’s famous hymn “The Solid Rock.”

My hope is built on nothing less Than Jesus’ blood and righteousness; I dare not trust the sweetest frame, But wholly lean on Jesus’ name. On Christ, the solid Rock I stand; All other ground is sinking sand. 11

As the psalmist has shown us over the past few days, there are so many compelling reasons to trust in Christ alone and to heed His Word. He is for you, and not against you. In Him alone is salvation found. Take some time to praise the Lord for His goodness toward you!

• What connections exist between the message of Psalm 146 and the message of Matthew 7:24-27?

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• In the words of Edward Mote, are you standing on Christ the solid Rock today? If not, what are you trusting instead of Christ? How can Psalm 146 and Matthew 7:24-27 help you trust Christ more?

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Ask the Lord to help you stand on Christ the solid Rock. Ask Him to help you avoid the sinking sand of trusting in mortal man and his institutions. Ask Him to help you identify specific areas in your life where you need to trust Him more.

PRAY

Matthew 7:24-27

It is wise to trust Jesus and do His Word because all other strongholds ultimately fail.MAIN IDEA

ThursdayJuly

27

64

In the midst of a world that is oftentimes chaotic and confusing, God is our refuge and strength.

MAIN IDEA

We live in a world in which chaos and confusion oftentimes prevail. Sometimes in our lives it is difficult to know why things happen or what will happen in the future. In the midst of the storm, it can be very difficult to heed the call of Psalm 146 to praise the Lord because, frankly, it is hard to trust Him. In these times, we need something that can keep us steadfast and stable. In “A Mighty Fortress Is Our God,” Martin Luther wrote some of the most compelling words on this subject, and he took them almost directly from Psalm 46:

A mighty fortress is our God,A bulwark never failing;A helper He, amid the floodOf mortal ills prevailing. 12

When our lives become especially tumultuous, we have to remember that God is still our refuge and strength. In the midst of the chaos and confusion, He counsels us to “cease striving and know that I am God” (v. 10). What are you going through right now? No matter what it is, the Lord’s counsel to you is to forsake all trust in mortal man and to throw yourself down at the foot of the cross, crying out to Jesus and placing all of your trust in Him.

• What metaphors did the psalmist use in this passage to speak of God? ________________________________________________________

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• What trials are you facing in your life today? How are you responding to

those trials? How can you make God your refuge and strength in the midst of those trials?

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Ask the Lord to help you run to Him and find your refuge in Him. Ask Him to help you forsake all trust in mortal man. Ask Him to help you specifically trust in Jesus Christ alone for salvation.

PRAY

Matthew 6:1-4Psalm 46FridayJuly

28

65

SaturdayJuly

29



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Tomorrow’s lesson is His Faithfulness from Psalm 146:1-10. Review these verses to prepare your heart and pray for your teacher.

66

HIS FAITHFULNESSSundayJuly

30



67


2 Samuel 11

Like King David, there will be times in our lives when we sin against the Lord; what matters is how we deal with our sin.

Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me.Psalm 51:10 (NASB)

MAIN IDEA

WEEKLY MEMORY VERSE

The superscript title of Psalm 51 sets the psalm’s historical background: “A Psalm of David, when Nathan the prophet came to him, after he had gone in to Bathsheba.” This historical episode, recorded in 2 Samuel 11-12, might be considered the darkest hour of David’s life. In a time when God’s people are out fighting a war for the nation, we find David in the comfort of his home in Jerusalem. From the roof of his home, he sees Bathsheba bathing and in a violent act of lust sends for her to come to him and lay with him. Bathsheba conceives and David spirals deeper into a cycle of sin by trying to cover up his lustful actions. He calls Bathsheba’s husband, Uriah, back into Jerusalem from the battlefield and discreetly attempts to coerce him into laying with Bathsheba. However, due to the honor of Uriah, the plan fails. David, desperate to maintain his image, spirals even deeper into sin. He instructs Joab, the commander of David’s army, to place Uriah on the front line and abandon him, basically leading him to his death. Uriah is killed in battle, and David goes from being an adulterer to a murderer. God, in His grace, sends the prophet Nathan to confront David in his sin. How does David deal with his sin? Over the next week, we will learn how to treat our own sin by examining how David responded to his sin with brokenness, confession, and repentance.

• What caused David to spiral deeper and deeper into sin? What actions did he take that led him into this cycle?

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• Can you identify any specific cycle of sin in your life? How did you get into this cycle? How do you deal with it?

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Ask the Lord to help you identify specific cycles of sin in your life. Ask Him for the wisdom to know how to deal with your sin.

PRAY

MondayJuly

31

68

Psalm 51

When we sin against the Lord, we should respond with brokenness in our hearts.MAIN IDEA

Before Martin Luther came to a deeper and fuller understanding of the gospel, it is said that he would spend hours upon hours each day confessing his sins to a priest in hopes of being made right with God. While we know that no mortal man can acquit us of our sin, one positive note we can take away from this story is that Martin Luther was a man broken over his sin. We find a similar characteristic in King David in Psalm 51: He is utterly crushed because he has sinned against the Lord. When we fall into sin, the first step toward dealing with it is genuine brokenness. God is pleased when we come to Him with “a broken and contrite heart” (v. 17). True brokenness is something that we cannot fake. It must come from the heart or it is not really brokenness. It requires one thing: a genuine, heartfelt love for God. As Christians, we truly desire above all things to please God. When we fall into sin, we displease God. As a result, we are crushed and heartbroken. Praise God that Jesus Christ was broken on a tree so that we wouldn’t have to remain in a state of brokenness over our sin. Because of the cross, when we cry out to God in our brokenness, He has mercy on us and grants us forgiveness. Praise God that our broken relationship with Him has been mended by the broken body of Jesus on the cross.

• What evidence do you find in Psalm 51 of David’s brokenness over sin? ________________________________________________________

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• How have you dealt with sin in your own life? Do you find that your sin often leads you to brokenness? If not, why not? What loves are present in your heart that are distracting you from your love for God?

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Ask the Lord to help you identify specific sin in your life and be genuinely broken over it. Ask the Lord to help you not remain in a state of brokenness, but to move forward by setting your eyes on the cross of Jesus Christ, where He was broken so that you wouldn’t have to remain so.

PRAY

TuesdayAug.

1

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When we sin against the Lord, we should respond with brokenness in our hearts.MAIN IDEA

Psalm 38, which many scholars trace back to the historical episode of David and Bathsheba, helps us gain more perspective on what it means to be broken over our sin. In it we find the heart of King David on full display. His words exude utter agony over his sin. He desires nothing more than to please the Lord (v. 9), but because of his sin, his relationship with the Lord is fractured. His “sorrow is continually before” him and he is “full of anxiety” (vv. 17-18). Has your heart ever experienced the pangs of a searing conscience such as King David describes? As we saw yesterday, God is pleased when we are broken over our sin. The wonderful thing about godly grief is not the fact that it is painful, but that it leads to salvation (2 Corinthians 7:10). When we cry out to God in our brokenness like David (vv. 21-22), He answers us with the gospel of Jesus Christ. The gospel teaches us that though our sin is great, God’s grace is infinitely greater. God rejoices when we are broken over our sin because brokenness drives us to a deeper understanding of just how loving and gracious He really is.

• What is the tone of this psalm? What kind of language did King David use to describe his heart condition? ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

• Have you ever experienced brokenness at the level that King David described in this psalm? What steps can you take to be more broken over your sin? Where should you turn when you are broken over your sin?

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Ask the Lord to help you be broken over your sin. Ask Him to help you gain a robust understanding of the gospel so that when brokenness comes, it leads straight to the foot of the cross where you find infinite grace, love, and mercy.

PRAY

Psalm 38Wednesday

Aug.2

70

Brokenness is not the final piece of the puzzle when it comes to dealing with our sin. If we just remained in a state of brokenness, our relationship with God would be deficient and our lives would be full of depression. When we find ourselves in a state of brokenness over sin, the next step is to confess our sin to God. Confession to the Lord should occur daily in our lives. King David provides us with an excellent example of what confession looks like (vv. 3-5). We identify specific sin over which we are broken and we confess to God that we have in fact committed it. When we do this, something incredible happens: God hears us! Not only does He hear us, but because of the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, He offers us forgiveness! The New Testament speaks of Jesus as our Great High Priest. This means that when He went to the cross to die He was our representative, taking all of our sin upon Himself and suffering the punishment for it. Because of this great work He has done on the cross, we can “draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need” (Hebrews 4:16). Praise God that your sin no longer separates you from Him. Due to the cross of Jesus Christ, you can come to Him with confidence to confess your sin and find mercy.

• How did David approach God in Psalm 51? What kind of language did He use to describe his sin?

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

• How often do you confess your sin to God? Is there usually an element of fear and timidity involved? What steps can you take to draw near to God’s throne of grace with confidence like David did in Psalm 51?

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Ask the Lord to help you identify sins in your life that you need to confess to Him. Ask Him to take away any fear that you may have in approaching Him. Ask Him to help you have confidence when you approach Him based upon the work that Jesus Christ has done on your behalf on the cross.

PRAY

Psalm 51

When we are broken over our sin, we should confess our sin to the Lord.

MAIN IDEA

ThursdayAug.

3

71

Brokenness over sin and confession of sin to God should ultimately lead to repentance.MAIN IDEA

Over the past week, we have considered how God desires for us to deal with our sin by having broken and contrite hearts and drawing near to His throne of grace in confession with confidence. If our response to sin ends there, however, it is incomplete. There is one final step that we must take to deal with sin unto the Lord: repentance. Repentance is a decisive, intentional action in which we renounce our way of living and embrace God’s way of living. We see this in King David’s repeated appeals for the Lord to cleanse him (vv. 2, 7, 9, 10) and restore the joy of the Lord in him (v. 12), as well as in his renewed commitment to proclaim the truth of God’s Word (vv. 14-16). To deal with our sin rightly, we must be broken over our sin, confess our sin, and then turn away from our sin and toward the Lord. How have you dealt with your sin lately? Is there a rift in your relationship with God due to unrepentant sin in your life? God desires nothing more than for you to cry out to Him in brokenness, confess your sins to Him openly, and to turn back to Him with a renewed desire to love Him and serve Him. As you enter the weekend and prepare for worship on Sunday, remember this: there is no reason for you to remain alienated from God, because by the power of the cross the sin that separated you from Him has been removed from you as far as the east is from the west!

• What actions do you see King David take or determine to take in this passage? What did King David intend to do with his sin from that point forward?

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________

• How have you dealt with your sin lately? Is there a rift in your relationship with

God due to unrepentant sin in your life? What steps do you need to take to deal with your sin today?

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Ask the Lord to give you a repentant heart. Ask Him to help you be broken over your sin, to confess your sin, and to turn away from that sin and toward the Lord Jesus Christ.

PRAY

Matthew 6:1-4Psalm 51FridayAug.

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SaturdayAug.

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Tomorrow’s lesson is The Confession from Psalm 51:1-17. Review these verses to prepare your heart and pray for your teacher.

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THE CONFESSIONSundayAug.

6



74

Week of August 7, 2017

2 Samuel 12:1-15

Like King David, when we deal with our sin rightly through brokenness, confession, and repentance, God is faithful and just to forgive us.

How blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered! How blessed is the man to whom the Lord does not impute iniquity, and in whose

spirit there is no deceit! Psalm 32:1-2 (NASB)

MAIN IDEA

WEEKLY MEMORY VERSE

Last week we journeyed to the darkest hour in King David’s life and examined how he dealt with his sin. David cried out to the Lord in brokenness, drew near to God’s throne of grace in confession, and turned from his sin in repentance. When we deal with our sin in this way, something truly amazing happens: God forgives us! Although King David faced severe consequences due to his sin, at the end of the day when he confessed, “I have sinned against the Lord,” Nathan the prophet replied that God in His grace has “taken away your sin” (v. 13). What an incredible amount of relief this must have brought King David! He attested to the great weight of his unconfessed sin: “My body wasted away through my groaning all day long. For day and night Your hand was heavy upon me; my vitality was drained away as with the fever heat of summer” (Psalm 32:3-4). Do you ever find yourself being crushed under the weight of your hidden sin? Step out into the light today. Cry out to the Lord in brokenness, confession, and repentance and you will find forgiveness. Jesus Christ went to the cross to ensure that forgiveness would be granted to those who ask for it.

• What happened when King David confessed his sin? How did God respond? ________________________________________________________

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• Is there currently unconfessed sin in your life? What effect does this sin have upon your life – both internally and externally? What is stopping you from confessing your sin to God?

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Ask the Lord to help you understand forgiveness. Ask Him to help you confess your sin to Him and experience the joy and relief of the true forgiveness He grants to us.

PRAY

MondayAug.

7

75

Psalm 32:1-5

We are considered blessed when our sin has been forgiven.MAIN IDEA

Forgiveness is a virtue that has long been considered uniquely Christian. We sing about it in great hymns such as “Just as I Am.” We read about it in great literary works by Christian authors such as Victor Hugo’s Les Misérables. We experience it on a human level every day with our spouses, siblings, and friends Yet, each of these examples is merely a glimpse of the glory of experiencing the true forgiveness that is found in our Lord Jesus Christ. Do you realize the lengths to which God has gone in order to ensure your forgiveness? Because of our sin, each of us deserves the full force of God’s wrath. Because God is a God of love and forgiveness, He sent His Only Beloved Son to the Cross to absorb the wrath that each of us deserves. Not only this, but in exchange for His wrath, God has placed upon each of us the perfect righteousness of His Son Jesus Christ. God imputed our iniquity onto Jesus and imputed His righteousness onto us (v. 2). Therefore, when we come to God in brokenness, confession, and repentance, He is faithful and just to forgive us (1 John 1:9)! Because of the cross, your debt has been paid, your iniquity has been cleared, and your transgression has been forgiven! Truly, how blessed is the one whose sins have been forgiven!

• What happened when David confessed his sin to God? How did David describe forgiveness?

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

• How much time have you taken lately to think about what God did in order to ensure your forgiveness? Why is it important for you to think about this great truth? What steps can you take to help you focus upon it more?

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Ask the Lord to help you see the glory of true forgiveness. Ask Him to help you confess sin more often and then be thankful for His forgiveness.

PRAY

TuesdayAug.

8

76

In response to God’s wonderful gift of forgiveness, we should lean on Him with our full trust and dependence.MAIN IDEA

It is truly the greatest of all blessings to be forgiven by the God of the universe. Though we have accrued an infinite debt, it has been nailed to the cross and He remembers it no more. There is no doubt that this wonderful truth should change the way that we live, but the question is, how? In our debt-based culture, it is easy for us to misunderstand God’s forgiveness. We think, “God has deposited this much forgiveness into my account, so I must pay Him back with this many good works or that many prayers.” That is not how forgiveness works. God doesn’t want us to pay Him back. As a matter of fact, that would defeat the purpose of forgiveness all together! God desires but one return on His investment of forgiveness in your life: He wants you. He wants your full allegiance, your whole heart, your total trust, and He wants it today! If you have been following David’s footsteps over the past couple of weeks and are just blown away by the fact that God has forgiven you, respond to Him right now by placing every aspect of your life into His hands.

• How did David describe the proper response to God’s forgiveness? Did his language indicate a certain timeframe for this response?

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• What has your response to God’s forgiveness looked like in the past? Can you identify any ways that you have allowed the conventions of our culture to influence the way you relate to God? What steps can you take moving forward to surrender your whole life over to the Lord?

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Ask the Lord to help you be thankful for the forgiveness that He has granted you. Ask Him to help you respond rightly, by placing your full trust in Him.

PRAY


Aug.9

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Over the past week we have been considering the blessedness of Divine forgiveness. We would be remiss, however, to think about Divine forgiveness without also thinking about human forgiveness. Our relationship with God should influence our relationships with other people. This is especially true when it comes to forgiveness. C.S. Lewis comically observed that everyone “says forgiveness is a lovely idea, until they have something to forgive…And then, to mention the subject at all is to be greeted with howls of anger.13” There is no doubt that this has been true of all of us at some point in our lives. The idea of forgiving others when they have truly wronged us flies in the face of our sinful human nature. Yet the gospel of Jesus Christ – which has as its centerpiece Divine forgiveness – transforms the way we think about forgiving others. The gospel teaches us that though we have committed countless infinite offenses against a holy God, in His great love and mercy He purchased our forgiveness by giving up the life of His Only Beloved Son. Is this kind of forgiveness not truly inspiring? Should it not create the mold for how we relate to those who have wronged us?

• What is the rationale behind the way Paul spoke about forgiveness in Ephesians 4:31-32?

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

• Have you considered how your relationship with God influences your relationship with others? Is there a person in your life right now that you are holding a grudge against? What steps should you take in order to forgive that person just as God in Christ has forgiven you?

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Take some time to thank God for granting you forgiveness. Confess any grudges that you are harboring in your heart against other people. Ask God to help you take the Christ-like step of granting that person forgiveness.

PRAY

Psalm 32:1-7 and Ephesians 4:31-32

We should forgive others in the same way that God has forgiven us in Christ.

MAIN IDEA

ThursdayAug.

10

78

Those who have been forgiven by the Lord should trust in Him and rejoice in Him.MAIN IDEA

In Psalm 32, David gloried in the blessedness of Divine forgiveness and prescribed the proper human response to such forgiveness. To conclude the psalm, he gave further instruction to those who have been forgiven by the Lord (v. 8). His instruction is two-fold: 1) Trust in the Lord and 2) rejoice in the Lord. After experiencing such gracious forgiveness from the Lord, it would be folly not to trust Him. David used the illustration of a foolish mule that can only be tamed by a bit or bridle to get this point across (v. 9). Those who do not draw near to the Lord after experiencing His forgiveness are comparable to such a mule. On the other hand, those who trust in the Lord shall be surrounded by lovingkindness (v. 10). The repository of God’s grace and forgiveness is bottomless. So long as you continue to draw near to Him, your life will continue to be flooded with the streams of His love. This leads directly into David’s second piece of instruction. He called upon the righteous ones – by which he means those who have been counted righteous by virtue of Divine forgiveness – to “be glad in the Lord and rejoice” (v. 11). If you have experienced the forgiveness of the Lord and continue to experience it on a daily basis, you have more cause than anyone else on earth to shout for joy! May David’s instructions influence the way you approach corporate worship this Sunday.

• How did David’s approach change in Psalm 32:8-11 from the rest of the psalm? What was he doing in these verses that he hadn’t done in the others?

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• Would you say that you are trusting in the Lord and rejoicing in Him today? If

not, why not? What are some things that you can do to begin trusting in Him and rejoicing in Him?

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________

Take some time to thank God once again for granting you forgiveness. Ask Him to help you give Him your full trust. Ask Him to help you rejoice in Him. In particular, ask Him to help you to worship Him with a trusting and joyful spirit this Sunday.

PRAY

Matthew 6:1-4Psalm 32:8-11FridayAug.

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SaturdayAug.

12



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Tomorrow’s lesson is The Cleansing from Psalm 32:1-11. Review these verses to prepare your heart and pray for your teacher.

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THE CLEANSINGSundayAug.

13



81


Psalm 141

In the Psalms we have a repository of inspired prayers that we should use for our own edification and encouragement.

For my eyes are toward You, O God, the Lord; in You I take refuge; do not leave me defenseless. Psalm 141:8 (NASB)

MAIN IDEA

WEEKLY MEMORY VERSE

Martin Luther was a man committed to prayer. He even wrote a book for his barber to help his barber learn how to pray. Once, on a particularly busy day, Luther quipped, “I have so much to do that I shall spend the first three hours in prayer.14” Though the irony of his statement may strike us as comical, it shows that he truly depended upon the Lord in prayer. He also saw an important place for the Psalms in the life of prayer. He notes that “from the Psalms you may learn not the works of the saints only, but the words, the utterances, the groans, the colloquies, which they used in the presence of God, in temptation and in consolation.14” In other words, in the book of Psalms we find a collection of the prayers of the saints of old from which we can learn and after which we can model our own prayers. In Psalm 141 we find such a prayer. In a time of dire need and danger, King David cries out to God as his Protector. What form do your prayers usually take? Do your prayers look anything like David’s in this passage? Not all occasions call for a prayer like the one we find in Psalm 141, but we would do well to pay attention to the words that David utters to the Lord and model our own prayers after his when appropriate.

• What form does the psalmist’s prayer take in this passage? What did he pray about? What/who is the main subject of his prayer?

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

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• On a scale from one to ten, how would you rate your prayer life? What struggles do you have in prayer? How can David’s prayer in this psalm inform the way that you pray? What can you learn from him?

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________

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As we enter into a focused study on this prayer of David, ask the Lord to revitalize your prayer life. Ask Him to help you learn from David’s example and to put what you learn into practice.

PRAY

MondayAug.

14

82

Psalm 141:1-2

God is pleased when we lift up our voices to Him in prayer.MAIN IDEA

If you have spent time in a Christian church, you know that prayer is one of the hallmarks of the Christian life. We pray at church, we pray at meal times, we pray before bed, we pray with our families and friends, and we pray on countless other occasions. But have you ever stopped to think about what prayer really is? On the most basic level, we can define prayer as communicating with God. Or, as King David puts it in Psalm 141, to pray is to “call upon” the Lord (v. 1). While such a succinct and direct definition may cause prayer to seem a bit bland, there is a world of wonder packed into it. First of all, consider the fact that when you pray you are communicating with the eternal God of the universe. The One who created the sun, moon, stars, and the world and everything in it stoops down to your level to give ear to your prayers! David’s metaphor in verse 2 adds to the glory of prayer. Our prayers are like the sweet fragrance of sacrifices wafting into the Lord’s nostrils. In other words, our prayers actually bring God pleasure! Both the Apostle John and the author of Hebrews attest to this truth (Revelation 5:8; Hebrews 13:15). The Apostle John’s attestation is particularly compelling. He describes a great worship service in heaven at the end of the ages in which the prayers of the saints are offered up to the Lord Jesus Christ as a golden bowl of incense. May you be encouraged to offer up a sacrifice of praise to your Lord today!

• How did David describe prayer in the first two verses of this psalm? What images did he use to describe it?

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• How would you describe your prayer life? Does prayer bore you, excite you, or cause some other response in you? What can you glean from David’s prayer that would help enrich your prayer life?

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Ask the Lord to help bring to your mind often the nature of prayer—that you are bringing pleasure to God by calling upon Him. Take a few portions of this psalm that stick out to you and pray them back to God.

PRAY

TuesdayAug.

15

83

The ultimate subject of prayer is God; in other words, God is pleased when our prayers are primarily about Him.

MAIN IDEA

Prayers come in many different shapes and sizes. If you have small children, undoubtedly, you have heard prayers about toys and sweets. If you are a sports fan, perhaps you have prayed for your team to make a big play or win the big game. On a more serious note, life truly does afford us a great many things to pray about: finances, home life, health, spiritual matters, family members, work situations, and the list could go on for pages. In the Psalms, we find a variation of situations as well, everything from prayers of praise from the heights of Mount Zion to pleas of desperation from the depths of the miry bog. One thing that is consistent throughout the Psalms is the subject of the psalmists’ prayers. Even though each prayer arises from the context of a particular situation, each has as its main subject the Lord God Himself. Psalm 141 is no exception. David finds himself in a desperate and dangerous situation. There are “men who do iniquity” from whom he needs protection (vv. 4, 9-10). While much of the content of his prayer details the nature of his relationship with these men (vv. 4-7, 9-10), at the apex of his prayer he focuses on the Lord (v. 8). Let this be an example for your prayers. In the midst of life’s complexities there are so many things to pray about, but never let your prayers stray far from the Lord God Himself!

• In what kind of situation did King David find himself? How did he translate this situation into a prayer to God?

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• What are the pressing situations in your life? How can you take King David’s example in this psalm and use it to help you pray to God?

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Ask the Lord to help you focus in on Him in prayer. Don’t be afraid to bring the particular matters of life up in your prayer, but try to tie these matters back into who God is and how He can help you in your particular situations.

PRAY


Aug.16

84

There are several interesting similarities between King David’s situation in Psalm 141 and the Apostles’ situation in Acts 4. Both find themselves in a dangerous and desperate situation. King David is faced with a group of wicked men who have devised a trap for him. Without the Lord’s defense, he will certainly fall prey to their devices. We can arrive at a bit more specificity in describing the Apostles’ situation. The religious leaders in Jerusalem arrested Peter and John for preaching the gospel and, after treating them roughly, sternly commanded them “not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus” (Acts 4:18). After publicly opposing the will of the religious leaders, Peter and John are released and they return “to their own companions” (v. 23). Just like King David, Peter and John and the rest of the Apostles have enemies that wish to harm them. They know that if they keep preaching the gospel they will suffer a similar fate to their Lord Jesus Christ: public execution under the false pretense of religious heresy and upheaval. How do they pray in the midst of such a distressing situation? They pray a prayer to God that is mainly focused on God Himself. They focus on who God is as Creator and Lord and on what He has done in creating the universe and sending His Only Beloved Son to die for their sins. Finally, they ask for the strength to keep preaching His Word no matter what situation in which they find themselves. By focusing their prayers on God, they are able to gain strength by placing their present sufferings and dangers in the perspective of God’s eternal plan.

• What similarities exist between King David’s situation and that of the Apostles? What similarities exist between their prayers?

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• Is there something distressing occurring in your life right now? How can the prayers of King David and the Apostles inform the way that you pray about your situation?

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Ask the Lord to help you gain the perspective of King David and the Apostles. Even the most difficult moments in life can be addressed by God, so we should focus our prayers on Him during those times. Pick out some portions of the text and pray those portions back to God.

PRAY

Acts 4:23-31

Much like King David, when the Apostles found themselves in a difficult situation they focused their prayers on God Himself; we should heed their example!

MAIN IDEA

ThursdayAug.

17

85

We should use psalms like Psalm 141 to help us pray on a daily basis.MAIN IDEA

In the Psalms we find a great intersection. We find the high and elevated language of praise and adoration and worship of God and we also find the grit and grime that is the stuff of our everyday lives. Psalm 141 is a perfect example of this intersection: King David finds himself in the midst of a horde of conniving evil men and at the same time calls upon God as his mighty Protector. This intersection can be an immense blessing to us as we go about our daily lives. It means that we can actually pray like the psalmists did! The psalmists inhabited the same world that we do—a world ravaged by the effects of sin. Yet the psalmists also point us to the amazing truth that our God has entered into this sinful world in order to save us from it. This means God cares deeply about the things you go through on a daily basis. Whether it is a negative report from the doctor, a bad turn in your finances, a wayward child, or a long week at work, we can take these life situations and pray about them in a similar way to how King David does in Psalm 141! Make it a daily habit to take up your Psalter and pray the Words of God back to Him!

• Take a few moments to read over a handful of psalms other than Psalm 141. Do you see the psalmists praying in a similar way to King David in Psalm 141?

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________

• What are your strengths and weaknesses when it comes to prayer? What

steps can you take today to spend more time praying the Psalms? ________________________________________________________

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Ask the Lord to help you pray the Psalms on a daily basis. Consider choosing another psalm besides Psalm 141 and praying it back to God.

PRAY

Matthew 6:1-4Psalm 141FridayAug.

18

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SaturdayAug.

19



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Tomorrow’s lesson is The Protector from Psalm 141:1-10. Review these verses to prepare your heart and pray for your teacher.

87

THE PROTECTORSundayAug.

20



88


Psalm 42 and 43

We have an innate longing and hope that can be satisfied by God alone.

Why are you in despair, O my soul? And why have you become disturbed within me? Hope in God, for I shall yet praise Him, the help of my countenance and my

God. Psalm 42:11; 43:5 (NASB)

MAIN IDEA

WEEKLY MEMORY VERSE

In his most famous sermon, The Weight of Glory, C.S. Lewis made an observation about the lackluster spirit prevalent in his own day and age. It is worth quoting at length:

If we consider the unblushing promises of reward and the staggering nature of the rewards promised in [Scripture], it would seem that our Lord finds our desires not too strong, but too weak. We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased. 15

What are you passionate about? What drives your desires? The purpose of Lewis’s imagery (taken directly from Jeremiah 2:13) is to show that ultimate satisfaction can come from God alone. Though worldly pleasures can satisfy momentarily, they will ultimately fail us because, to quote Lewis again, “we were made for a better world.15” In Psalms 42 and 43 we find a psalmist who understands that worldly pleasure will never truly satisfy. He desires God more than anything else in the world because he knows that God is greater than anything this world has to offer. May his longing for and hope in the Lord take root in your own heart and life this week!

• How did the psalmist describe his longing for the Lord? How did he cue you (the reader) into this theme?

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• Have you thought about your passions lately? To what degree would you say you resemble the kind of person C.S. Lewis described, one who is far too easily pleased? What steps can you take this week to find your ultimate satisfaction in God?

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Ask the Lord to help you dive into Psalms 42 and 43 with eagerness and excitement this week. Ask Him to help you find your ultimate satisfaction in Him.

PRAY

MondayAug.

21

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Psalm 42:1-5

Spiritual hunger and thirst should point us to the fact that we were made to worship God and that we need daily fellowship with Him.

MAIN IDEA

Reflecting on the horrifying conditions of Nazi concentration camps during the time of World War Two, Elie Wiesel wrote, “I was a body. Perhaps less than that even: a starved stomach. The stomach alone was aware of the passage of time.16” Few, if any, of us, have known the kind of hunger that these blood-curdling words describe. The words remind us of the body’s desperate need for sustenance: with it we thrive, and without it we die. In this passage, the psalmist uses similar imagery to describe his desire for the Lord. His soul pants for the Lord in the same way a thirsty deer pants for water (vv. 1-2). Just as our physical bodies depend on sustenance for physical life, so also our souls depend on the Lord for spiritual life: with Him we thrive, and without Him we die. This is why Jesus says, “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness” (Matthew 5:6). He knows that when we acknowledge our desperate need for the Lord, the next step is to come to Him and drink deeply from His streams of mercy and grace. If you know that you desperately need Jesus and that you will perish without Him, there is much hope for you both in Psalm 42 and in the words of Jesus. The psalmist rejoices in the future day of hope in which he will praise God and experience His presence (v. 5). Jesus promises us that when we hunger and thirst for Him, we will be satisfied (Matthew 5:6). The good news is this: The day of hope has come and the promise has been fulfilled. Praise God today that He hasn’t left you to die in your hunger and thirst for Him. Rather, He sent His Son Jesus so that you could partake of the Bread of Life for all of eternity!

• What was the leading image that the psalmist used in these verses? How does that image shed light on your relationship with God?

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• Have you ever desired the Lord so strongly that you could use language similar to the language the psalmist used? How would you measure your desire for God today? What steps can you take to increase your desire for Him?

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Ask the Lord to help you hunger and thirst for Him. Ask Him to reveal any areas in your life where you are drinking from broken cisterns (Jeremiah 2:13). Ask Him to increase your cognizance of your daily need for Him.

PRAY

TuesdayAug.

22

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When we are met with suffering and despair, we must hope in God.MAIN IDEA

Scripture assures us that the Christian life will not always be easy. Jesus Himself foretold fiery trials for the ones that follow Him (Matthew 24:3-14). Therefore, it is almost a certainty that at some point in your life you will be able to relate to the suffering expressed by the psalmist. Charles Spurgeon attested to the dark caverns of despair to which our souls may sometimes bring us as he described his own battle with depression:

Causeless depression cannot be reasoned with, nor can David’s harp charm it away by sweet discoursings. As well fight with the mist as with this shapeless, undefinable, yet all-beclouding hopelessness…The iron bolt which so mysteriously fastens the door of hope and holds our spirits in gloomy prison, needs a heavenly hand to push it back. 17

Yet Spurgeon also took his cues from the psalmist in his response to such sufferings, asserting that “there is no remedy for it like a holy faith in God.” Each of us has at least one appointment with suffering, and some of us have many more. Jesus has promised us as much. The message of the psalmist is that when we do enter into the dark night of the soul, there is only one way out: Hope in God, for you shall yet praise Him, the help of your countenance and your God (v. 11).

• What was the mood of the psalmist in these verses (i.e., happy, sad, ambivalent, etc.)? To whom did the psalmist turn in the midst of his circumstances?

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• Have you ever experienced despair on the level that the psalmist described in these verses? How did you deal with it? What can you learn from the way that the psalmist dealt with it?

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Ask the Lord to help you hope in Him. Even if you are not going through a period of suffering at this very moment, ask Him to help you prepare for the times in your life when you will be.

PRAY


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One of the great themes of Scripture is God’s deliverance of His people. The psalmist would have been intimately familiar with this aspect of God’s character. The epitome of God’s saving nature in the Old Testament was the Exodus. In an amazing testimony to God’s particular love and care for His people, Moses tells how “the sons of Israel sighed because of the bondage, and they cried out; and their cry for help because of their bondage rose up to God” (Exodus 2:23). How comforting it is to know that God hears our cries for help! This should come as no surprise to us as we think about the way God has delivered us by sending Christ as our Savior. The psalmist hopes for God’s light and truth to bring him to the dwelling places of the Lord (vv. 3-4). In Christ, we have the ultimate fulfillment of the psalmist’s longings, for in Him we have the radiance of the glory of God. God Himself became flesh and made His dwelling among us in order to deliver us from the eternal bondage of sin. If He has delivered us in such a profound way, how can we not trust Him to deliver us from the trials that surround us day in and day out? While we will never fully escape the troublesome effects of sin on this earth, each of us can look to the day when we will be taken up into the clouds to live with God for all of eternity utterly free of sin, suffering, and death. Heed the words of the psalmist today: Hope in God (v. 5)!

• What differences exist between Psalms 42 and 43? What similarities exist? ________________________________________________________

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• Have you taken time lately to consider the way in which God has delivered you? How does considering the wonderful truths of the gospel help you to trust God more with your current life situations? What steps do you need to take to hope in God today?

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Ask the Lord to help bring to your remembrance the wonderful truths of the gospel. Spend time in thanksgiving to God for delivering you from bondage to sin. Ask Him to help you hope in Him today.

PRAY

Psalm 43

In times of desperate need, we can call confidently upon God as our mighty Deliverer.

MAIN IDEA

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We should allow the psalmist’s longing for and hoping in God to influence the way we approach each day of our lives.

MAIN IDEA

In one sense, Psalms 42 and 43 are about the past: the psalmist who penned them has been dead for nearly three thousand years, his enemies are likewise in the grave, their respective nations have bowed out of the world’s stage, and the particular circumstances which occasioned these psalms have been lost in the stream of history. In another sense, however, Psalms 42 and 43 are about today, tomorrow, and the next day. The God of the psalmist is the same God that you love and serve today, the sinful condition of the world was the same then as it is today, the inward heart longings and struggles that the psalmist eloquently expresses are no different from yours, and the psalmist’s advice to his own soul to “hope in God” remains to be after three thousand years the advice that our souls need to hear on a daily basis. What will you do with Psalms 42 and 43 today, tomorrow, the next day, and in the rest of 2017? Will you look to it as an interesting historical document that has no bearing on your life today, or will you receive it as the timeless Word of God with immediate authority and power over every aspect of your being? If you choose the latter, then enter this weekend and in particular Sunday morning worship with the words of the psalmist in your heart and on your lips: “Hope in God, for I shall again praise Him, the help of my countenance and my God” (v. 5).

• After studying these psalms for a week, what would you identify as the major themes with which the psalmist was dealing?

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• If you had to identify three things that you want to remember from Psalms 42 and

43, what would they be? What steps can you take to implement those three things into your life?

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Ask the Lord to help you apply the truths of this text to your life. Ask Him to help you hope in Him today, tomorrow, the next day, and in the rest of 2017.

PRAY

Matthew 6:1-4Psalm 42 and 43FridayAug.

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SaturdayAug.

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Tomorrow’s lesson is The Longing from Psalm 42:1-11. Review these verses to prepare your heart and pray for your teacher.

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THE LONGINGSundayAug.

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CITATIONS

Page 6 - Tuesday, May 30Bunyan, John. The Pilgrim’s Progress. London: Penguin Classics, 2008. Page 14.

Page 8 - Thursday, June 1Lewis, C.S. The Weight of Glory: And Other Addresses. New York: Harper One, 1980. Page 46.

Page 20 - Tuesday, June 13Tolkien, J.R.R. The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1994. Page 167.

Page 28 - Wednesday, June 21Assisi, Francis. “All Creatures of our God and King.” 1897

Page 29 - Thursday, June 22Luther, Martin. Quoted in http://www.christianitytoday.com/history/2008/august/what-luther-said.html by Elesha Coffman. Posted August 8, 2008.

Page 47 - Monday, July 10American Earth: Environmental Writing since Thoreau. Ed. Bill McKibben. “Table Rock Album.” New York: Penguin Random House, 2008. Page 60.

Page 48 - Tuesday, July 11American Earth: Environmental Writing since Thoreau. Ed. Bill McKibben. “Table Rock Album.” New York: Penguin Random House, 2008. Page 61.

Page 51 - Friday, July 14Henry, Matthew. Commentary on the Whole Bible. “Psalms.” Appears online at http://www.biblestudyguide.org/comment/matthew-henry/mh-complete/MHC19019.HTM.

Page 61 - Monday, July 24Lewis, C.S. Reflections on the Psalms. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1986. Page 95.

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Tuesday, July 25Luther, Martin. “A Mighty Fortress is our God.” 1529.

Page 64 - Thursday, July 27Mote, Edward. “The Solid Rock.” 1834.

Page 65 - Friday, July 28Luther, Martin. “A Mighty Fortress is our God.” 1529.

Page 78 - Thursday, August 10Lewis, C.S. Mere Christianity. New York: Harper One, 1980. Page 115.

Page 82 - Monday, August 14Dawn, Marva J. Morning by Morning. Grand Rapids, Eerdmans, 2001. Page 242.

Parrish, Archie. A Simple Way to Pray: The Wisdom of Martin Luther on Prayer. Marietta: Serve International, 2009. Page 76.

Page 89 - Monday, August 21Lewis, C.S. The Weight of Glory: And Other Addresses. New York: Harper One, 1980. Page 26.

Lewis, C.S. Mere Christianity. New York: Harper One, 1980. Page 137.

Page 90 - Tuesday, August 22Bloom’s Modern Critical Interpretations: Elie Wiesel’s Night: New Edition. Ed. Harold Bloom. New York: Infobase Publishing, 2010. Page 86.

Page 91 - Wednesday, August 23Piper, John. A Camaraderie of Confidence. Wheaton: Crossway, 2016. Page 32.

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