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Sabbath School 1st Quarter 2024: Psalms

Mark Finley

01 How to Read the Psalms

Welcome to a new Sabbath School series on the book of Psalms.

I've been really excited as I have begun to go through this quarter.

I love the title, the Psalms, where God and people meet heart to heart.

These prayers were personal prayers of a variety of authors as we will study together.

1 of the prime authors, of course, of the Psalms was David.

But as we look at these 150 Psalms, they take you from the heights of jubilation, joy, and praise to the very depths of human experience, to fear, to anxiety, to discouragement, and everything in between.

So the Psalms really reflect the human experience.

They are songs of praise, but also songs of lament, songs of despair.

In the Psalms, God becomes our refuge, our strength, our defender, our king, our Lord.

We dwell under the shadow of his wings, many expressions.

So we see God as the sovereign Lord, as supreme.

I love the way it's put in the introduction to our lesson.

It says, the Psalms bear witness to a spiritual journey that's common to many of God's children.

The journey begins with a faith that's firmly established and secured by God's sovereign rule, and where good gets rewarded and evil punished.

As we progress through our study, we'll see what happens when the well-ordered world of faith is challenged and threatened by evil.

How can believers sing the song of the Lord in a strange land.

So the Psalms take us through that full gamut of human emotions.

In Psalm, in lesson 1, December 30 to January 5th, the lesson is entitled how to read the Psalms.

1 of the first principles in reading the Psalms is understanding that although the Psalms reveal human attitudes of praise, human attitudes of despair, although they reveal that, they are inspired by God.

I love what it says in 2 Peter 1, verse 21, for prophecy never came by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit." So when you look at the prophetic word of God, it's not merely human thoughts about God, but it's rather holy men of God speaking.

When we read the Psalms, we are reading not simply man's thoughts about God, but we're reading inspired thoughts that God places in the human mind.

The Bible itself is inspired by God and the Psalms as 1 of the books of the Bible are inspired by God.

When I was first learning to read the Bible, 1 of my early teachers said, take your Bible and turn it and cut it right in half.

And if you do that, you will come to the book of Psalms.

So Psalms is about halfway through the Bible.

And it is fitting to be there because it connects everything that has come in the past with what will come in the future.

The Psalms reveal the journey of faith of all of God's children.

Now in our lesson, under Sunday's lesson, it talks about the Psalms and ancient Israel's worship.

The Psalms were meant to be sung, they were meant to be prayed.

This is really a prayer that is sung by David.

The Lord is my rock, my fortress, my deliverer, my God, my strength in whom I'll trust.

You see the same thing in Psalm 30, verse 1, very similar thought.

I will extol you, O Lord, for you have lifted me up and have not let my foes rejoice over me.

O my Lord, I cried to you, verse 2, and you healed me.

So Here the Psalms were part of the ancient worship of Israel.

In fact, in Chronicles and Nehemiah, we find the Psalms used as part of Israel's worship and praise.

In fact, in 1 Chronicles 16.7, David delivers a psalm of praise to Asaph.

We've got Thanksgiving psalms, we've got praise psalms, we've got joyful psalms, and we have admonishing psalms.

In fact, the word psalm in the Hebrew Bible, teleum, simply means praises to God.

So Psalms, when you think of the Psalms, think of praise, think of prayer, and think of worship.

Think of the Psalms being sung and think of the Psalms being prayed.

Now, let's meet the Psalmists on Monday's lesson.

When you think of the Psalms, if I said who wrote the Psalms, most likely the response would be David.

But yet, we have Psalms that certainly David wrote the vast majority of the Psalms, but we have Psalms written by Levites, we have Psalms written by Asaph, Psalms written by Korah, Psalms written by Heman, and Psalms written by Ezraite.

These Psalms that are written by these various authors all reflect their human experience with God.

Now why would God write to have us or have them write down these human experiences?

Why write down these experiences of fear, anxiety, and even despondency?

Because they are the full gamut of human experience that we have gone through.

And as we see how God is faithful to lead these psalmists through these experiences, we too can grasp the faithfulness of God.

For example, in Psalm 25, verse 1 to 5, we find that the psalmist reaches out in trust to God.

Look, Psalm 25, verse 1 to 5, to you, O Lord, I lift up my soul.

Indeed, let no 1 who waits on you be ashamed.

Let those be ashamed who deal treacherously without cause.

Lead me in your truth and teach me, for you are the God of my salvation.

On you I wait all day." So here's a psalm of trust, trust that God will be part of his protector, trust that God will deliver him from his enemies, trust that God will teach him and guide him.

If you go on to Psalm 42, you find a psalm that talks about the longing of God, the longing to know God.

Psalm 42, 1, as the deer pants for the water brooks, so pants my soul for you, O God, my soul thirsts for the living God.

You go through Psalm 77, it's a God, it's a Psalm of thanks.

So some of the Psalms mentioned hardships, some focus on joy.

The Psalmist cried out to God to save them and experience his undeserved favor.

They glorify God for his faithfulness and love, and they pledge their untiring devotion to him.

The Psalms are testimonies of divine redemption and they're signs of God's grace and hope.

In the Psalms, we find a song for every season.

I love the contrast between Psalm 3, Psalm 33, and Psalm 109.

In Psalm 3, you have a prayer of thanksgiving for God's defense in trouble.

You find that all through the third Psalm, this prayer of thanksgiving, that God is our defense in time of trouble.

Lord, how are they that increased who trouble me?

Many of those who say to me, there is no help for him in God.

02 Teach us to Pray

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.

03 The Lord Reigns

Welcome back for another Sabbath School lesson as we study the book of Psalms.

We're on lesson number 3 this week, The Lord Reigns.

As I read this lesson over, I tried to summarize it with the aspects of God and his character.

And there are really 5 different aspects of God that we're studying this week.

First, Christ as the all-powerful creator.

And fifth, Christ as the supreme law giver.

If you look at the introduction to the lesson, it talks about the Psalms unswervingly upholding the foundational belief in God's sovereign reign.

The Lord created and sustains everything that he's created.

So this lesson focuses on the sovereignty of God.

By the sovereignty of God, we mean that God reigns over all things, God sustains all things, and that even when God allows through his permissive will for evil to arise, God is still on the throne, evil will 1 day run its course, and in God's time evil will be judged, condemned, and eradicated.

So this lesson focuses on the fact of the reign of God, the fact that he is sovereign in all the worlds.

If we look at Sunday's lesson, we focus on Christ as the all-powerful creator.

We find that in 2 Psalms that are listed, Psalm 8, that says, verse 3, When I consider your heavens and the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars which you've ordained, what is man that you are mindful of him, and the Son of man that you visit him.

For you made him or created him a little lower than the angels.

You've crowned him with glory and honor." So here, God is positioned as the 1 that created us, the 1 that fashioned us.

This is brought out even more clearly in Psalm 100, where David speaks and he says in verse 3, know that the Lord, he is God.

It is he who has made us and not we ourselves.

That's a little interesting twist on self-reliance that God made us.

Now in an age when the evolutionary hypothesis has become so popular and commonplace, the Psalms speak to us of the fact that we're not a speck of cosmic dust, we're not simply skin covering bones, we're not some genetic accident, but that we were fashioned and created by God.

That makes all the difference, because if God created us, we have value.

And wherever we find ourself in life, the 1 that made us, fashioned us, and created us, is there for us.

Our lesson under Sunday goes on, pointing out that the Lord has created everything.

He's everlasting and superior over the gods of the nations, which only are the work of man's hands, nothing more.

The idols have hands, but they handle not.

As for the Lord, in His hand are the deep places of the earth, and his hands form the dry land.

So the psalmist is pointing out that God is the all-powerful creator.

You know, when you look at Psalm 19, for example, the heavens declare the glory of God, and the firmament shows his handiwork.

Day unto day uttereth speech and night under night uttereth knowledge.

In other words, when I look at the stars and see the amazing precision of creation, It indicates a creator God.

The story is told of Napoleon on a ship with his sailors, and they were debating the existence of God.

They were giving all the philosophical reasons why they believed God did or did not exist.

And it seemed that the atheistic forces were winning.

And Napoleon came up to this group, as the story is told, and just stood there gazing at the stars.

And then he said, Look up, gentlemen, who made the stars?

And the planets, the planets all rotating, revolving around the sun as the center of our solar system.

Who keeps the magnetic pull of the field from pulling Earth too close to the Sun so it consumes?

Who keeps Earth at the very right place so it doesn't go further and freeze?

The psalmists know the answer to that question.

Everything exists, owes its existence to God who sustains life.

I think 1 of the main things in our lesson this week to point out is that life is not a cosmic accident.

Everything, everything in life is sustained by God.

So we move from the all-powerful Creator to the sovereign Lord.

The first sentence says, "'Closely tied, in fact, inseparably tied to the Lord as creator, is the Lord as sovereign ruler.

Now what is it that characterizes God's reign?

Verse 2, clouds and darkness surround him.

Righteousness and justice are the foundation of his throne.

So the characteristic of God's reign, righteousness and judgment.

Righteousness has to do with right living.

Righteousness has to do with living in harmony with God's will.

Justice has to do with the characteristic of God of fairness, honesty, integrity.

And so we look here, it says under the note for Monday's lesson, The Lord's rule is demonstrated in his works of creation, salvation and judgment.

The Lord establishes his kingship over the whole world.

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Sabbath School 1st Quarter 2024: Psalms

11 Longing for God in Zion

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