Friday, February 13, 2015
Psalm 10:12-18 KJV
12 Arise, O LORD; O God, lift up thine hand: forget not the humble. 13 Wherefore doth the wicked contemn God? he hath said in his heart, Thou wilt not require [it]. 14 Thou hast seen [it]; for thou beholdest mischief and spite, to requite [it] with thy hand: the poor committeth himself unto thee; thou art the helper of the fatherless. 15 Break thou the arm of the wicked and the evil [man]: seek out his wickedness [till] thou find none. 16 The LORD [is] King for ever and ever: the heathen are perished out of his land. 17 LORD, thou hast heard the desire of the humble: thou wilt prepare their heart, thou wilt cause thine ear to hear: 18 To judge the fatherless and the oppressed, that the man of the earth may no more oppress.
OBSERVATION QUESTIONS
1) The psalmist has poured out his complaint against the wicked in previous verses of this psalm. What are the psalmist's three (3) petitions to the Lord? (v.12)
2) What does the psalmist accuse the wicked of doing? (v.13)
3) What does the psalmist believe about the Lord, the oppressed (helpless), and the wicked? Why? (v.14-18)
APPLICATION QUESTIONS
4) Have you ever suffered because of the misdeeds of the wicked? If so, what did you do about it?
5) Has it ever seemed that the Lord allowed the wicked to prevail in your life? If so,, please describe one such time.
LIFE LESSONS
6) The Lord may allow the ways of the wicked to prevail in our lives for a season, but never forever.
7) God often allows the wicked to oppress the humble to draw His people closer to Himself.
8) The Lord will always vindicate His people, in due time.
Friday, October 3, 2014
Psalm 56:1-7
1 [To the chief Musician upon Jonathelemrechokim, Michtam of David, when the Philistines took him in Gath.] Be merciful unto me, O God: for man would swallow me up; he fighting daily oppresseth me. 2 Mine enemies would daily swallow [me] up: for [they be] many that fight against me, O thou most High. 3 What time I am afraid, I will trust in thee. 4 In God I will praise his word, in God I have put my trust; I will not fear what flesh can do unto me. 5 Every day they wrest my words: all their thoughts [are] against me for evil. 6 They gather themselves together, they hide themselves, they mark my steps, when they wait for my soul. 7 Shall they escape by iniquity? in [thine] anger cast down the people, O God.
OBSERVATION QUESTIONS
1) What does the psalmist ask of the Lord? Why? (v.1-2)
2) When does the psalmist say that he will trust in God? (v.3)
3) How will the psalmist demonstrate his trust in the Lord? (v.4)
4) What are the psalmist's enemies like? (v.5-6)
5) What does the Psalmist ask the Lord to do? (v.7)
APPLICATION QUESTIONS
6) What frightens (or angers) you most?
7) How does that fear (or anger) manifest in your life?
8) How do you manage your emotional enemies?
PRINCIPLES
9) Any person, place, or thing that takes our focus off God is an enemy.
10) The worst thing that Christians can do when facing enemies is to focus more on the enemy (or self) than to focus on Jesus.
11) The Lord understands our weaknesses and will deliver us from our enemies or give us grace to endure their attacks.
Monday, September 22, 2014
Isaiah 30:9-17
9 That this [is] a rebellious people, lying children, children [that] will not hear the law of the LORD: 10 Which say to the seers, See not; and to the prophets, Prophesy not unto us right things, speak unto us smooth things, prophesy deceits: 11 Get you out of the way, turn aside out of the path, cause the Holy One of Israel to cease from before us. 12 Wherefore thus saith the Holy One of Israel, Because ye despise this word, and trust in oppression and perverseness, and stay thereon: 13 Therefore this iniquity shall be to you as a breach ready to fall, swelling out in a high wall, whose breaking cometh suddenly at an instant. 14 And he shall break it as the breaking of the potters' vessel that is broken in pieces; he shall not spare: so that there shall not be found in the bursting of it a sherd to take fire from the hearth, or to take water [withal] out of the pit. 15 For thus saith the Lord GOD, the Holy One of Israel; In returning and rest shall ye be saved; in quietness and in confidence shall be your strength: and ye would not. 16 But ye said, No; for we will flee upon horses; therefore shall ye flee: and, We will ride upon the swift; therefore shall they that pursue you be swift. 17 One thousand [shall flee] at the rebuke of one; at the rebuke of five shall ye flee: till ye be left as a beacon upon the top of a mountain, and as an ensign on an hill.
OBSERVATION QUESTIONS
1) How did the Lord describe His people? (v.9)
2) What had the people of God done wrong? (v.10-12)
3) How did the Lord say that He would punish His people? (v.13-14)
4) How did the Lord say that His people would be saved? (v.15)
5) What would the people do instead? (v.16-17)
APPLICATION QUESTIONS
6) Have you ever refused to heed the Lord's word of correction, after transgressing His commands, choosing instead to read (hear) pleasant messages from motivational speakers to comfort your soul? If so, briefly describe what happened.
7) Have you ever refused to allow the Lord to comfort you, opting instead to seek comfort in your own way? If so, what was the result?
8) What do you do when you need to hear a word from the Lord directly?
PRINCIPLES
9) When we ignore the Lord's correction, He may allow our enemies to overtake us.
10) It is often easier to listen to comforting words of an enemy, than the corrective words of the Lord.
11) The Lord wants to strengthen us, but can only do so as we turn to Him and listen for His voice, with a desire to obey what we hear.
