Saturday, August 8, 2015
Psalm 78:56-62 NIV
56 But they put God to the test and rebelled against the Most High; they did not keep his statutes. 57 Like their ancestors they were disloyal and faithless, as unreliable as a faulty bow. 58 They angered him with their high places; they aroused his jealousy with their idols. 59 When God heard them, he was furious; he rejected Israel completely. 60 He abandoned the tabernacle of Shiloh, the tent he had set up among humans. 61 He sent the ark of his might into captivity, his splendor into the hands of the enemy. 62 He gave his people over to the sword; he was furious with his inheritance.
OBSERVATION QUESTIONS
1) How did the people of God "put God to the test"? (v.56)
2) Who did the psalmish compare them to? Why? (v.57)
3) How did the Lord feel when His people rebelled against Him and what did He do about their transgressions? (v.58-62)
APPLICATION QUESTIONS
4) What difficulties (hardships) has the Lord allowed in your life when you willfully rebelled against Him?
LIFE LESSONS
5) The Lord allows His rebellious people to be afflicted to correct us (to bring us back into alignment with His will for our lives).
Saturday, June 27, 2014
Jeremiah 14:1-10 KJV
1 The word of the LORD that came to Jeremiah concerning the dearth. 2 Judah mourneth, and the gates thereof languish; they are black unto the ground; and the cry of Jerusalem is gone up. 3 And their nobles have sent their little ones to the waters: they came to the pits, [and] found no water; they returned with their vessels empty; they were ashamed and confounded, and covered their heads. 4 Because the ground is chapt, for there was no rain in the earth, the plowmen were ashamed, they covered their heads. 5 Yea, the hind also calved in the field, and forsook [it], because there was no grass. 6 And the wild asses did stand in the high places, they snuffed up the wind like dragons; their eyes did fail, because [there was] no grass. 7 O LORD, though our iniquities testify against us, do thou [it] for thy name's sake: for our backslidings are many; we have sinned against thee. 8 O the hope of Israel, the saviour thereof in time of trouble, why shouldest thou be as a stranger in the land, and as a wayfaring man [that] turneth aside to tarry for a night? 9 Why shouldest thou be as a man astonied, as a mighty man [that] cannot save? yet thou, O LORD, [art] in the midst of us, and we are called by thy name; leave us not. 10 Thus saith the LORD unto this people, Thus have they loved to wander, they have not refrained their feet, therefore the LORD doth not accept them; he will now remember their iniquity, and visit their sins.
OBSERVATION QUESTIONS
1) What did the Lord tell the Prophet Jeremiah about the dearth (famine) and its effects on His people? (v.1-4)
2) How would the famine effect the animals? (v.5-6)
3) What did the people say to the Lord about His chastening? (v.7-9)
4) What did the Lord say in response? (v.10)
APPLICATION QUESTIONS
5) Have you, your church, or this nation ever been chastened by the Lord?
6) If so, please describe one such time and what the transgressor(s) did, if anything, to receive the Lord's mercy and forgiveness.
LIFE LESSONS
7) The Lord chastens (judges) His people when we have not confessed and/or repented of our transgression(s) against Him.
