Key Thought: Praying the Psalms has helped many believers establish and maintain regular and fulfilling prayer lives. God gave us the psalms to teach us how we can pray together.
January 13, 2024

A. Have a volunteer read Psalm 44:23-26.

1. Ask class members to share a short thought on what the most important point is in this passage.
2. What is this psalm saying to us, and why is it relevant to believers in all ages?
3. Personal Application: Can drawing on good times when God’s promises felt very real, help us deal with times when your troubles make you think that God is far away?” Share your thoughts.
4. Case Study: One of you relatives states, “Why does God allow bad things to happen to those who accept Him and trust Him?” How would you respond to your relative?

B. Have a volunteer read Psalm 22.

1. Ask class members to share a thought on what the most important point in this text is.
2. What can we learn from this psalm about trust in God amid great suffering?
3. Personal Application: How do you deal with difficulties and trials in your life? Are they easy to go through? Was your faith strong always, or did you lose sight of God at times when struggling? Share your thoughts
4. Case Study: One of your friends states, “I can’t seem to see beyond my immediate present troubles. How can I trust in God when I am facing trials that I have no remedies for and my future is in darkness?” How would you respond to your friend?

C. Have a volunteer read Psalm 13.

1. Ask class members to share a short thought on what the most important point in this text is.
2. Can you detect two main moods in this psalm? What decision do you think brought a radical change in the psalmist’s general outlook?
3. Personal Application: When we are in trial, and many times when not, how do our prayers reflect our focus on self? How do we get to the point when we can focus on others and God’s will in our lives rather than “Woe is me”? Share your thoughts.
4. Case Study: One of your neighbors states: “I don’t know why bad things happen to good people. God promised to protect us from evil. And yet good people tend to get the most grief. Why would anyone want to become a Christian when that just brings more trouble?” How would you respond to your relative?

D. Have a volunteer read Psalm 60:1-5.

1. Ask class members to share a thought on what the most important point in this text is.
2. In what situations would this psalm be a suitable prayer?
3. Personal Application: Who do you know right now, who needs not only your prayers but also your ministering touch? Share your thoughts.
4. Case Study: Think of one person who needs to hear a message from this week’s lesson. Tell the class what you plan to do this week to share with them.

(Truth that is not lived, that is not imparted, loses its life-giving power, its healing virtue. Its blessings can be retained only as it is shared.”Ministry of Healing, p. 148)

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Source: https://ssnet.org/blog/2-teach-us-to-pray-teaching-plan/

In my current personal devotions I read through the Psalms, and then kept cruising through Proverbs and Ecclesiastes. When I came to Song of Solomon I asked myself if I really needed to continue. After all some people wonder why such a book as Song of Solomon is even in the Bible. It’s a love story that some think gets a little too personal. Nonetheless, I reminded myself that all Scripture is inspired by God and profitable, so early this morning I prayed for the Holy Spirit to teach this book to me and I dove in. What I found was a beautiful ending to an ugly story I had already read in Revelation 3:14-21.

About 17 years ago I woke up in the middle of the night and could not get back to sleep. Lying there half awake and half asleep, I realized that if I left the house now, I could make it to Daytona Beach to see the sunrise. I jumped in my car and started listening to the book of Revelation as I drove. I listened as the narrator gave Jesus’ account of how wretched, poor, blind, miserable and naked His last-day church is. After such a discouraging message Jesus really woke me up when I heard Him say,

To him who overcomes I will grant to sit with Me on My throne, as I also overcame and sat down with My Father on His throne. Revelation 3:21 NKJV

What? Is Jesus talking about the same church He called wretched, poor, blind, miserable and naked one day overcoming just as He overcame? Wow, Jesus just never gives up!

Photo courtesy of William Earnhardt

I remember years ago when I was working at UPS, I made a mistake and my supervisor got really upset and chewed me out. He ended his lecture by saying, “You may think I am making a big deal out of this by being so angry and upset, but one day when you become a supervisor you will understand.” I walked away feeling rebuked and encouraged at the same time. My boss just chewed me out and told me I would be promoted one day all in the same breath. This is what Jesus was saying to His last day church. A dire warning that ended with a beautiful promise and hope.

Fast Forward to this morning as I was reading Song of Solomon. Chapter 3 ends with a wedding. Chapter 4 is the groom describing his bride. Further study led me to conclude that this is also symbolic of Jesus describing His bride, the church. The church He once described as wretched, poor, miserable, blind and naked. After being redeemed read how Jesus describes His bride and church now.

You are beautiful, my darling,
    beautiful beyond words.
Your eyes are like doves
    behind your veil.
Your hair falls in waves,
    like a flock of goats winding down the slopes of Gilead.
Your teeth are as white as sheep,
    recently shorn and freshly washed.
Your smile is flawless,
    each tooth matched with its twin.
Your lips are like scarlet ribbon;
    your mouth is inviting.
Your cheeks are like rosy pomegranates
    behind your veil.
Your neck is as beautiful as the tower of David,
    jeweled with the shields of a thousand heroes.
Your breasts are like two fawns,
    twin fawns of a gazelle grazing among the lilies.
 Before the dawn breezes blow
    and the night shadows flee,
I will hurry to the mountain of myrrh
    and to the hill of frankincense. You are altogether beautiful, my darling,
    beautiful in every way. Song of Solomon 4:1-7 NLT

The church Jesus once said was wretched, poor, miserable, blind and naked He has redeemed. Now as He inspects every part of her body He exclaims she is beautiful beyond words and beautiful in every way!

Just as the groom is inspecting every part of his bride’s body, so Jesus inspects every aspect of our lives. Some parts of our lives may be downright ugly right now. Just like there are parts of our body we don’t want people looking at, there are parts of our lives we really don’t want Jesus to see. We know what sin and ugliness He will find there. Here is the good news: Not just good news, it is beautifully wonderful news. We can turn those ugly parts of our lives over to Jesus. Let Him cleanse us and redeem us. Then the same Jesus who looked at us and said we are wretched, poor, miserable, blind and naked, will inspect every aspect of our being and go on and on about how beautiful we are. Beautiful beyond words. Beautiful in every way!

Jesus is the Faithful and True Witness. He is being honest when He tells me how ugly my sins are. Now that He is redeeming me I can’t wait to hear Him say how beautiful I am. And when Jesus raves on and on about how beautiful we are – even too beautiful for words and beautiful in every way-He will still be just as honest, faithful and true as He has ever been!

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Source: https://ssnet.org/blog/beautiful-message-in-a-book-of-the-bible-i-almost-didnt-read/

Daily Lesson for Monday 8th of January 2024

All Christians know, and have experienced, times of despair and suffering, times when they have wondered what the Lord is doing, or why the Lord is allowing these things to happen to them. The psalmists themselves went through similar things. And, through divine inspiration, they recorded what they had experienced.

This reluctance could cause us to miss the point of worship. The failure to express honestly and openly our feelings and views before God in prayer often leaves us in bondage to our own emotions. This also denies us confidence and trust in approaching God. Praying the Psalms gives an assurance that, when we pray and worship, we are not expected to censure or deny our experience.

Psalms 44:1-26, for example, can help worshipers articulate their experience of innocent suffering freely and adequately. Praying the Psalms helps people experience freedom of speech in prayer. The Psalms give us words that we can neither find nor dare to speak. “Our heart has not turned back, nor have our steps departed from Your way; but You have severely broken us in the place of jackals, and covered us with the shadow of death” (Psalms 44:18-19, NKJV).

Notice, however, how Psalms 44:1-26 begins. The writer is talking about how, in the past, God had done great things for His people. Hence, the author expresses his trust in God and not “in my bow” (Psalms 44:6).

Despite this, trouble has still come to God’s people. The list of woe and lament is long and painful. However, even amid all this, the psalmist cries out for God to deliver, to “redeem us for Your mercies’ sake” (Psalms 44:26, NKJV). That is, even amid the trouble, he knows the reality of God and His love.

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Source: https://ssnet.org/blog/24a-02-trust-in-times-of-trouble/

Daily Lesson for Sunday 7th of January 2024

A simple way of introducing the Psalms into daily life is to devote time each day to the reading of a psalm, beginning with Psalms 1:1-6, and following the order given in the psalter. Another way is to read the psalms that correspond to your present situation, whatever it happens to be: there are psalms of lament, the psalms of communal lament, the thanksgiving psalms, hymns, penitential psalms, the wisdom psalms (seeking God’s wisdom and guidance), historical psalms, psalms containing anger and rage, and pilgrimage psalms. Over the course of this quarter, we will be looking at many of them and studying these psalms in the context in which they appear.

How, then, are we to read the Psalms?

First read the psalm, engaging in simple reflection, and then pray. Ruminating over the psalm involves reflection on the various aspects of the psalm: the way the psalmist addresses God and the reasons for the prayer. Consider how your situation corresponds to the psalmist’s experience and how the psalm might be able to help you articulate your experience. You will be amazed at how often you will find yourself being able to resonate and relate to what you read there.

If something in the psalm challenges you, ponder, for example, whether the psalm corrects your present false hopes about something you are facing. Contemplate the psalm’s message in the light of Christ’s person and salvific work and the long-term hope Christ’s work offers us. As we know, or should know, it always helps to look at everything in the Bible in light of Christ and the Cross.

Also, look for new motives for prayer that the psalm supplies, and think about their importance for you, your church, and the world. Ask God to put His Word on your heart and mind. If the psalm corresponds to the situation of someone you know, intercede in prayer for that person. The point is, the Psalms cover so many aspects of life, and we can be enriched by reading and absorbing into our hearts what they are saying to us.

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The post Sunday: Fostering the Use of the Psalms in Prayer appeared first on Sabbath School Net.

Source: https://ssnet.org/blog/24a-02-fostering-the-use-of-the-psalms-in-prayer/

The Bible Project is one of my favorite Youtube channels. And several people on our blog have mentioned how helpful this animated overview of the Book of Psalms is. I believe you will also find it so:

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Source: https://ssnet.org/blog/bible-project-animated-overview-of-the-book-of-psalms/