The resources God has given us to live a thriving life are His Word, Spirit, and People.
Read God’s Word:
Psalm 121, 123-125, 128-130
Act 2: God’s Covenant People
Scene 5: Kings and Prophets: God shapes a kingdom people
Background Information: Psalm 121, 123-125, 128-130
Psalms are not promises, they are poems. They speak what is true about the human cry and about God, but we must not see everything that is spoken in them as things we are to take as the will of God or the promises of God. The imprecatory Psalms (those that invoke judgment, calamity or curses upon one’s enemies or those perceived as the enemies of God) teach us, but they don’t necessarily tell us how we are to pray or think about our enemies. They teach us to be honest with God in our prayers and to look to God for ultimate justice. The book of Job should change anyone’s mind who believes that Psalm 121:7 can be claimed as a direct promise from God to keep all harm from your life. Much harm came to Job’s life, and in fact much harm came to David’s life even as he wrote these Psalms. So, what are we to do with them? Do we read them as inspirational poetry with no real bearing on our own lives? The Psalms are part of the larger Word of God. All together it teaches us how to think about and deal with suffering. Job taught us about mystery. The cross of Christ teaches us about God’s ultimate solution for human sin and suffering. Psalms teach us that between the advents of Christ we are to entrust our lives, our enemies, our suffering and our blessings to God. He does bless and protect in response to our prayers. He does deliver people from harm as they seek his protection. Yet ultimately he has his will that will be done. Psalms, as a whole, will teach us the wisdom of asking our good Father for what we want, because he will often say “yes.” They will also teach us to trust our loving Father for what he does, even when it is a mysterious and hard “no.”
Pray:
Praise God for…
Thank God for…
Confess your sins to God
Pray for the Christian Challenge guys as they gather today for “Man Camp” Ask God to encourage them in their walk and strengthen their love for one another.
Ask God for… (what else concerns you?)
Reflect:
Write down one passage of scripture that stood out to you today.
Write down why this passage stood out to you.
Engage Community:
Text or call someone now and tell them…
– What you are praying for.
– What stood out from God’s word today.