Welcome to the Gospel One Psalm At a Time, our small group study for the Winter and Spring. Throughout the week prior to your group's meeting, take some time to:
1) Prayerfully read and study the week's Psalms;
2) Watch the short videos that will be posted here on our website - they are also available on PDT's Youtube channel; and
3) Answer the questions in preparation for a conversation in your small group.
It's a simply ryhthm...
First Psalm: Pray - Read - Watch - Answer - Pray.
Second Psalm: Pray - Read - Watch - Answer - Pray.
Third Psalm: Pray - Read - Watch - Answer - Pray.
My prayer this is a great season of spiritual growth for you and our church as we invest in this together!
All for Jesus!
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Psalm 37: Trusting God in a World Gone Bad
1. What are a few regretful choices you have made recently out of fear? How do you think those regretful choices could have been transformed if you responded through the lens of God’s power and promises and existence instead?
2. What are a few specific ways that you tend to struggle with envy as you examine the world around you? What kinds of power and pleasure in this world are you tempted to envy? Who in your life can you call on to remind you of the truth that this world is like a dream that evaporates? Make a list of those people and ask them to remind you of eternity’s timeline when you struggle.
3. What specific troubling aspects of your life are easy for you to meditate on? How can you instead meditate on the awesome glory of the Lord each day? Take some time to write down a specific prayer that reminds you to meditate on the goodness and glory of God instead of your difficult circumstances. Make it a habit to return to this prayer each day.
4. As a child of God, why do you think it’s so difficult for you to be patient with him even though he promises good things are coming to you?
5. Because of Jesus, why is knowing that we’ll fail in all these practices ultimately a good thing, not a bad thing?
Psalm 42: The Importance of Confronting Yourself
1. Take a moment to reflect on the typical conversations you have with yourself on a daily basis. In what ways do you normally take yourself off the hook and argue for the right of what you’re thinking, even if it’s wrong? Try to think of specific examples. How are those conversations with yourself literally shaping the way you think, speak, act, and live daily? Again, be specific with your personal examples. How have you been your own biggest fan? Your own lawyer? Your own law firm?
2. In what specific ways within your life are you hoping in yourself instead of hoping in God? Meditate on different aspects of your life like your marriage, job, kids, extended family relations, neighbor connections, etc. In a healthy way, how can you confront that system of hope in yourself and replace it with hope in God?
3. In what ways are you telling yourself (or tempted to tell yourself) that your sin makes God want to turn his back on you, walk away from you in disgust, wish you weren’t his child, and/or think you were a bad choice? How can remembering God’s goodness replace the negative narrative you’re speaking to yourself with his truth?
4. In what ways does doubt drive you inward instead of upward toward God? Try to recall specific examples from your life when doubt did this in you. Now, how can remembering that the perfect, righteous life of Jesus was attributed to us as his children be the key to resisting doubt?
Psalm 45: A Hymn of Love
1. If you could write a long song or poem to the Lord, what would you choose to write down? How would you express your feelings for God if it were through the medium of something like a love song? Read Psalm 45 again and then think specifically about Jesus as you read. How might your feelings be expressed differently now in a new love song or poem? What qualities about him would you emphasize?
2. What would it look like to completely yield and offer your heart to Christ today? What specific things in life are you holding on to that might be preventing you from submitting to the rule and love of the Lord Jesus Christ? Where does it feel impossible to submit to him? Think through aspects of things in your life like your job, your marriage, your parenting, your friendships, your money, your free time, etc., and pray for help, that you would love Christ in ways that he deserves by submitting all those aspects of your life to him.
3. How can the specifics of your life be a reflection of your worship to the Lord? How can your life be a song of praise to him right now? As you think through the specifics of your day-to-day life, what kind of perspective shift would need to happen in order for those specifics to be avenues of worship to Christ? What is the value of worshiping Jesus now when we know we’ll be worshiping him for billions of years into the future?