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HopeLives365

Sabbath School 1st Quarter 2024: Psalms

Mark Finley

01 How to Read the Psalms

02 Teach us to Pray

03 The Lord Reigns

04 The Lord Hears and Delivers

05 Singing the Lord’s Song in a Strange Land

06 I Will Arise

07 Your Mercy Reaches Unto the Heavens

08 Wisdom for Righteous Living

09 Blessed is He Who Comes in the Name of the Lord

10 Lessons of the Past

11 Longing for God in Zion

12 Worship That Never Ends

13 Wait on the Lord

Well, we're studying the Psalms and we're on lesson number 2.

Let's suppose that you were transported back in time to the church at Colossae, And you were going to attend a worship service where the Apostle Paul was going to speak.

And before that worship service, there was singing.

What songbook do you think they would sing praises and pray out of?

Colossians chapter 3, and we're going to look there at verse 16.

Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing 1 another in psalms, hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord.

You and I could imagine the ancient Christians in the first century singing the Psalms.

I can almost hear them singing, God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.

I can almost hear them singing Psalm 32, blessed is the man whose sin is forgiven, whose iniquity is covered.

You know, you can almost Imagine them singing a psalm like Psalm 91.

Though a thousand fall at thy side and 10, 000 at thy right hand, it shall not come nigh thee.

Songs about God as refuge and strength and defender.

In fact, the Apostle James talks too about singing the Psalms, the Psalms in worship.

James 5, verse 13, is anyone among you suffering?

So you can almost imagine going to church and hearing the cheerful voices of these early Christians singing the Psalms.

Now, praying the Psalms has helped many believers establish and maintain regular and fulfilling prayer lives.

Well, I suggest, and our lesson, I think, brings out a good point.

Don't worry about a speed reading course, but each day read a psalm.

I'm personally, as I mentioned in our last Sabbath school lesson, I'm reading 5 psalms every morning.

Reading that psalm, now when I come to Psalm 119, which has, you know, 160 some odd verses, 170 verses, I won't be reading 5 Psalms that morning.

But read a Psalm and pray through that psalm as you read it.

As you feel impressed with a thought, speak your words out to God.

As you feel moved by the Spirit to give God praise, give Him praise.

As you feel moved by the Spirit to make a request to God, make that request.

If you feel moved by the Spirit to make a request to God, make that request.

If you feel moved by the Spirit to ask God to help you overcome anxiety and fear, do that.

Read the Psalm engaging in simple reflections.

Ask yourself, what was David going through?

Or what was the psalmist who wrote this Psalm going through?

What indeed are you currently going through?

Now, sometimes you're gonna read a Psalm that doesn't really resonate with you.

Other times you're gonna read a Psalm that says, wow, it's exactly what I needed for this particular day.

But focus on the use of Psalms in prayer.

It says in about the middle paragraph, page 13, if you're following along in your lesson quarterly, Sunday's lesson, January 7, First read the psalm engaging in simple reflection and then pray.

And That involves reflection on the various aspects of the psalm, the way the psalmist addresses God, the reasons for the prayer.

Consider how your situation corresponds to the psalmist's experience and how this psalm might be able to help you in your own experience.

So let's look through this week in this week's lesson and let's look through some of the Psalms and how they speak to us.

Monday's lesson is trust in times of trouble, and it focuses particularly on Psalm 44.

So let's go to Psalm 44, and let's take a look at that in the light of our devotional experience.

It's quite a lengthy psalm, 26 verses, and it begins, we've heard with our ears, O God, our fathers have told us what deeds you did in their days and days of old, how you drove out the nations with your hand." Now, as I'm reading that, what am I thinking about?

I'm saying, God, when Israel faced major challenges and difficulties, you were there.

You were there to drive out their enemies.

You can work powerfully in my life as well.

Through you, we'll push down our enemies.

Through your name, we'll trample those who rise up against us.

For I will not trust in my bow, nor shall my sword save me.

But you have saved us from our enemies and have put to shame those who hated us.

In God, we boast all day long and praise your name forever." So as I'm reading that Psalm, I'm saying to myself, Lord, whatever forces come against me today, whatever evil powers try to impact my life today, God, in you, I'm gonna boast all day long.

And the psalm concludes, arise for our help and redeem us for your mercy's sake.

So in Monday's lesson, we find a psalm that is a psalm of trust in a time of trouble.

God is our vindicator, God's our deliverer, God's our protector, and we praise him.

Here in the lesson, the last paragraph says, notice however how Psalm 44 begins.

The writer's talking about how in the past God has done great things for his people.

Hence the author expresses his trust in God, not in his bow, not in his weapons.

Despite this, trouble still comes upon 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 his mercy's sake.

Even in the midst of trouble, The psalmist knows the reality of God and his love.

In the Psalms, we do not find the idea that if we are faithful to God, we're going to be healthy, wealthy, and wise.

We don't find that in the Psalms we find in the Psalms They're gonna be ups and they can be downs sometimes we're gonna be on the mountain peak Sometimes we're gonna walk through the valley of despair Sometimes in the Psalms we're gonna be jubilant and cheerful and sometimes will face discouragement Sometimes we'll have great victories in the psalm, sometimes defeat.

But whatever we are going through does not change the reality of the fact that God is a God of love, He cares for us, He's sovereign, and he'll never leave us or forsake us.

In Tuesday's lesson, we have a Psalm of Despair.

Now in Psalm 22, These are the words that Christ uttered on the cross of Calvary.

You'll recognize them immediately in Psalm 22 It's a psalm of suffering, a psalm of praise.

So Jesus memorized the Psalms as a child.

He sensed in Psalm 22 that the Psalmist was speaking about his experience.

And so look, Psalm 22, verse 1, "'My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?

"'Why are you so far from helping me?' "'And from the words of my groaning.'" This Jesus illustrate this on the cross.

My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?

In other words, the weight of The sin of the world was so great.

The guilt of sin of every human being that had ever lived was bearing down upon Christ.

And when it was, darkness enshrouded him.

He could not see himself coming through the doors or the portals of the tomb.

He thought he may be separated from the Father forever.

Series

Sabbath School 1st Quarter 2024: Psalms

02 Teach us to Pray

Transcript

Parent Series

Sponsor

Recorded

Sabbath School 1st Quarter 2024: Psalms

01 How to Read the Psalms

21m

Anthony Baca Weekend 2019

The Intention of the Bible

49m

The Parables

The Rich Man and Lazarus

43m

Hashtag - RelationshipGoals

29m

Sabbath School 1st Quarter 2024: Psalms

06 I Will Arise

20m

03 Light Shines in the Darkness

24m

Strong Delusions

50m

iShare 2012 Seminar: How to Study the Bible

How to Study the Bible, Part 1

47m

Delighting in the Almighty

8. Black, White, Gray and Vinegar

31m

Handling Hell Well

The Revelation

1h 1m

Seminars

Understanding the Longest Time Prophecy

50m

Connecting the Dots of Adventism

45m

Sound Doctrine