Tag: Old Testament Bible Study

Previous Lessons: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8

Read Psalm 119:113-128

Recall the things from the introductory lesson that you wanted to keep in mind as you study the text of Psalm 119.

Don’t forget to read in complete sentences instead of stopping at the end of each verse.

Recall the themes you’ve been noticing in Psalm 119. Watch for those themes to be repeated in today’s and future passages. You may wish to make a list of those themes to refer to throughout this study.

Questions to Consider

1. Review your notes from last week’s lesson. Does that passage relate to this week’s passage? How? Do you notice any repeated words, thoughts, or themes?

2. Describe the psalmist’s posture towards evildoers (113, 115, 118, 119, 126). When you think of people who live in unrepentant rebellion against God, do you tend to have the same posture toward them as the psalmist – righteous anger that they are enemies of God, and, consequently, your enemies as well? Or do you tend to have compassion and a “there, but for the grace of God, go I” posture toward them? Explain why both of these postures are biblical at their appropriate times. Why is it important – for our own hearts and when dealing with and witnessing to the lost – to have a biblically healthy, and appropriate to the situation and individual, balance between those two postures? What could be some of the negative results of having too much compassion for the lost? Of having too much of an “enemies of God” posture toward the lost? How would it impact a church that adopts an out of balance “compassion” posture or “enemies” posture toward sinners?

3. What does double-minded mean in 113? How does the psalmist contrast double-mindedness with God’s stable, secure, and sure law? How does the stability of God’s Word bring us hope? (114) What does the New Testament say about being double-minded? Sometimes we think of the full-throated atheist as the greatest danger to God’s people, but how might a double-minded “Christian” be even more of a threat to the church from within?

How can the double-minded and evildoers pull us away from our hope that’s a result of abiding in Christ and His Word (115-117), and how can they be a distraction and a discouragement from obedience?

4. In 118-120, how does the psalmist describe the way God will deal with evildoers? How does this create a healthy and biblically appropriate fear of God in the psalmist? What is the difference between being afraid of God as some sort of mean monster of indiscriminate wrath, and having a healthy and biblically appropriate fear of God? Considering everything you’ve studied in Psalm 119 so far, does the psalmist’s “obsession” with obeying God’s law seem to be motivated by love for God or being afraid of God? How does an appropriate fear and reverence for God’s power, holiness, wrath, etc., grow our love for Him?

5. Describe what is happening in the psalmist’s life in 121-125, and how he pleads with God. What does he ask God to do to help him? Why? Have you ever been in a situation like the psalmist’s in which you pled with God to intervene over a protracted period of time, and it seemed like He just wouldn’t budge? How does the psalmist’s statement in 126, “It is time for the Lord to act,” resonate with you? Why, in the second half of 126, does he say it is time for the Lord to act? Is it for selfish or personal reasons? Explain how the psalmist is reflecting God’s attribute of justice in this statement. When someone treats you unjustly (actual injustice, not just “I don’t like what you did”) are you more concerned with the pain or problems she is causing you, or the fact that she’s sinning against God by breaking His law?

How is the psalmist’s reflection of the justice of God a result of his loving, studying, and obeying God’s Word? Which godly character traits is God growing in you as you love, study, and obey God’s Word?

6. The psalmist has talked about suffering and being afflicted many times so far in Psalm 119. How is being the victim of injustice (121-125) another form of suffering? Name some godly character traits God grows us in as a result of suffering through injustice. How might growing us in those godly character traits be more important to God, and better for us, than rectifying the unjust situation right away?

7. What are the “therefores” in 127 and 128 “there for”? What do they refer back to? Explain 126-128 in your own words.

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Praying Psalm 119

Have you ever tried praying the psalms? I want to encourage you to try praying part of Psalm 119 back to God each week of this study. (If you’re familiar with my other studies, this will take the place of the weekly “Homework” section.)

The psalms are uniquely suited for praying back to God, both verbatim and conceptually, because they are often written as prayers – as though the psalmist is talking to God. Did you notice that about today’s passage? In which verses?

What is a concept or thought for your own life that the Holy Spirit impressed on your heart or convicted you about from today’s passage? Is there a particular verse(s), or maybe the whole passage, that you would like to pray back to God verbatim? Whatever your “prayer point” from today’s lesson, pray it at least daily until we get to the next lesson.

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Suggested Memory Verse

Previous Lessons: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7

Read Psalm 119:97-112

Recall the things from the introductory lesson that you wanted to keep in mind as you study the text of Psalm 119.

Don’t forget to read in complete sentences instead of stopping at the end of each verse.

Recall the themes you’ve been noticing in Psalm 119. Watch for those themes to be repeated in today’s and future passages. You may wish to make a list of those themes to refer to throughout this study.

Questions to Consider

1. Review your notes from last week’s lesson. Does that passage relate to this week’s passage? How? Do you notice any repeated words, thoughts, or themes?

2. Notice the two part pattern to each of the verses in 97-104. What is the impact God’s Word has on the psalmist in each of these verses?

3. Explain the concepts of wisdom (98) and understanding (99, 100, 104) as they relate to God’s Word. What is the difference between factual knowledge and biblical wisdom? How do we acquire biblical wisdom?

Verses 98, 99, and 100 each compare godly, biblical wisdom to a different form of worldly “wisdom”. Explain each form of worldly “wisdom”. How is biblical wisdom far superior to each?

4. Notice how the psalmist’s love for God’s Word feeds on itself. The more he feeds on God’s Word, the more he hungers for it. How does this prove out the truth of Matthew 5:6? Have you experienced this hunger for God’s Word in your life? How can we acquire this hunger for the Word?

Agree with, disagree with, or how would you tweak this statement: “Constant meditation on the Word leads to consistent obedience to the Word, which leads to an increasing love for the Word and the God of the Word.”?

5. We’ve seen previous sections “bookended” with a unified thought (e.g. “I love Your law” / “I love Your law”). Is 97-104 bookended with a unified thought or a contrasting thought? What are the bookend thoughts for this section, how do they complement each other, and how do they fittingly introduce and conclude this section?

6. Have you ever known someone who walked away from the faith due to suffering? How does the psalmist respond to suffering in 105-112? What can you learn from this passage about the biblical response to suffering? Compare the psalmist’s response to suffering to Paul’s response to suffering.

Imagine you’re the psalmist in 105-112. If a lost friend said to you, “All of this loving God’s Word and striving so hard to obey it, and you’re still suffering so much? It’s not working. Why bother?” how would you answer her from what you’ve learned so far in Psalm 119 about God, His Word, and suffering? What do we know about suffering that the world doesn’t know? What do we have during suffering that the world doesn’t have? How is God’s Word a lamp to our feet and a light to our path (105) during the darkness of suffering?

Explain why, for the psalmist and the Christian, obedience to God during times of suffering isn’t an added burden – it’s freeing and brings us joy.

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Praying Psalm 119

Have you ever tried praying the psalms? I want to encourage you to try praying part of Psalm 119 back to God each week of this study. (If you’re familiar with my other studies, this will take the place of the weekly “Homework” section.)

The psalms are uniquely suited for praying back to God, both verbatim and conceptually, because they are often written as prayers – as though the psalmist is talking to God. Did you notice that about today’s passage? In which verses?

What is a concept or thought for your own life that the Holy Spirit impressed on your heart or convicted you about from today’s passage? Is there a particular verse(s), or maybe the whole passage, that you would like to pray back to God verbatim? Whatever your “prayer point” from today’s lesson, pray it at least daily until we get to the next lesson.

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Suggested Memory Verse

Previous Lessons: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6

Read Psalm 119:81-96

Recall the things from the introductory lesson that you wanted to keep in mind as you study the text of Psalm 119.

Don’t forget to read in complete sentences instead of stopping at the end of each verse.

Recall the themes you’ve been noticing in Psalm 119. Watch for those themes to be repeated in today’s and future passages. You may wish to make a list of those themes to refer to throughout this study.

Questions to Consider

1. Review your notes from last week’s lesson. Does that passage relate to this week’s passage? How? Do you notice any repeated words, thoughts, or themes?

2. Notice the I/me/my >>> You/Your pattern in 81-83. Make a 2-column chart, and write all of the I/me/my’s on the left and all of the You/Your’s on the right. What does this teach us about how the psalmist regards God? How we should regard God? What does it teach us about God’s (and God’s Word’s) sufficiency and sovereignty in our suffering?

3. What is the overall theme of this section? Suffering can often be categorized in one of three ways: “deserved” suffering (suffering the direct consequences of your own sin), “undeserved” suffering (suffering as a result of someone else’s sin {abuse, being a victim of a crime, etc.} or as a result of living in a fallen world {illness, natural disasters, etc.}), and persecution (suffering as a direct result of your testimony of Christ). Which kind of suffering is the psalmist experiencing here? How does the psalmist characterize those persecuting him in 85-87, 95?

As Christians, Scripture teaches us to expect persecution for our testimony. Compare what the New Testament teaches us to expect regarding persecution with what the psalmist is describing here. How are the two similar or different?

Sometimes Christians equate “persecution” with martyrdom, physical torture, or imprisonment. Is that how the psalmist is describing his persecution? Second Timothy 3:12 says, “all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted”. Over the last 2000 years, have all Christians who lived godly lives been martyred, tortured, or imprisoned? If not, is this verse of Scripture untrue, or is it possible that we’re defining “persecution” incorrectly? If persecution is more of a spectrum, with martyrdom, torture, and imprisonment at the “most difficult” end, what kinds of things would be at the “easiest to endure” end? In the middle? Where, on the spectrum, would you say the psalmist’s persecution fell? Have you ever experienced persecution? Where, on the spectrum, did your persecution fall? (You may wish to read my article 4 Things You Need to Understand About Christian Persecution.)

4. How would you characterize the urgency of the psalmist’s plea in 84-86? Is our posture toward suffering that we are OK with God “taking His time” to alleviate it, or do we, like the psalmist, cry out, “How long must your servant endure?…Help me!” (84,86) when we’re suffering, do our minds go to the “How long, O Lord?” passages of Scripture, like this one, or are passages where God seems to help immediately and miraculously (e.g. parting the Red Sea, the provision of manna, raising the dead, etc.) our go to? Do we ever stop to think about how much “How long, O Lord?” went on prior to some of those seemingly immediate miracles? Why does God often seem to wait so long before alleviating our suffering?

In previous lessons we have seen the psalmist say that affliction taught him obedience to God and His Word, a concept that’s reiterated for Christians in the New Testament. What are some other aspects of godly character God grows us in when suffering lasts a long time? How, and in which verses, does the psalmist demonstrate in this passage that long and drawn out suffering teaches us endurance and dependence on God? What does the New Testament teach us about this?

What does today’s passage teach us about where our focus should be when we are being persecuted? How does keeping our focus on Christ help us in times of persecution?

5. Notice the structure of 89-96. The psalmist moves from the “macro” of God, His Word, and His work, to the “micro,” and back again to the “macro”. How does he do this in:

• 89-91:

• 92-95:

• 96:

How do verses 89 and 96 “bookend” this section with the concepts that God’s Word is eternal, transcending the bounds of time (89), permanent, transcending the ravages of time (89), and limitless, transcending all temporal barriers and situations (96)? How are these characteristics rooted in the nature of God, Himself?

Explain how, even though – or maybe, because – God’s Word is eternal, permanent, and limitless, on the macro level, it is able to work within the framework or containment of the temporal on a micro level – human history, the bounds of the earth and the laws of nature, our circumstances, our human frailty, etc. How can something so vast be “contained” by our tiny little lives and circumstances? How does this characteristic of God’s Word help the psalmist, and us, during times of persecution?

Spend some time meditating on this characteristic of God and His Word, and let it lead you to worship Him.

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Praying Psalm 119

Have you ever tried praying the psalms? I want to encourage you to try praying part of Psalm 119 back to God each week of this study. (If you’re familiar with my other studies, this will take the place of the weekly “Homework” section.)

The psalms are uniquely suited for praying back to God, both verbatim and conceptually, because they are often written as prayers – as though the psalmist is talking to God. Did you notice that about today’s passage? In which verses?

What is a concept or thought for your own life that the Holy Spirit impressed on your heart or convicted you about from today’s passage? Is there a particular verse(s), or maybe the whole passage, that you would like to pray back to God verbatim? Whatever your “prayer point” from today’s lesson, pray it at least daily until we get to the next lesson.

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Suggested Memory Verse

Previous Lessons: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5,

Read Psalm 119:65-80

Recall the things from the introductory lesson that you wanted to keep in mind as you study the text of Psalm 119.

Don’t forget to read in complete sentences instead of stopping at the end of each verse.

Recall the themes you’ve been noticing in Psalm 119. Watch for those themes to be repeated in today’s and future passages. You may wish to make a list of those themes to refer to throughout this study.

Questions to Consider

1. Review your notes from last week’s lesson. Does that passage relate to this week’s passage? How? Do you notice any repeated words, thoughts, or themes?

2. In lesson 5, we saw the psalmist “holding God to His promises”. What was the outcome of that according to 65?

3. Previously, the psalmist has said he “loves,” “treasures,” “desires,” etc. God’s commands. Verse 66 is the first and only place in Psalm 119 in which he says, “I believe in Your commands.”. What does it mean to “believe in” God’s Word? What is the posture of heart of someone who believes in God’s Word? Does believing God’s Word require accompanying action on the part of the believer? If we don’t act in response to and in accordance with God’s Word, do we really believe it? How do our actions demonstrate our belief in God’s Word?

4. Examine what the psalmist is saying about “affliction” in 67, 71, 75 in light of 69-70, 78. Is he talking about a) God disciplining him for his sin, b) the type of persecution from others that results from living a godly life, or c) “regular” life suffering (i.e. illness, being the victim of a crime, losing your job due to downsizing, etc.)? It may help to examine the Hebrew word עָנָה (ʿānâ), which is translated as “afflicted” here.

Why did the psalmist consider this affliction to be “good” for him? Because it was a pleasant experience? Because he was a martyr, or because his suffering earned him brownie points with God? Notice that he gives the reasons in the second half of verses 67 and 71. What did God accomplish in the psalmist’s life through this affliction? What did the affliction teach him about God’s Word and about how to respond to God’s Word?

What did the affliction teach the psalmist about God Himself (68)? Consider not only verse 68, but also these passages. What does suffering teach us about God and His Word? Respond to this statement in light of all of these passages: “Even in suffering, God is good, He is doing good, and the ultimate results are good.”

What is the psalmist’s response to the result of the good work (teaching him to learn and obey God’s Word) God did in his life? (72)

Notice the wording of 75. Some people think the existence of suffering and evil demonstrates that God is either powerless to stop it, or that He isn’t good because He doesn’t stop it. This is called theodicy, or “the problem of evil”. Others think everything “good” that happens is from God and everything “bad” that happens is from Satan. What does verse 75 tell us about God’s sovereignty, power, and goodness in affliction? Why did God cause the psalmist – obviously a godly man who loved the Lord and was pursuing holiness – to be afflicted? Why does He cause godly people today to be afflicted? How have you seen God’s goodness and sovereignty in your own suffering?

5. Notice the clear line of distinction between those who fear the Lord and “the insolent” (those who don’t fear the Lord) in this passage. Identify the verses that describe each of these groups. How does the psalmist characterize these two types of people? Have you found this characterization to be true in your own life?

6. Consider the concept of shame in verses 78 and 80. What role does sin play in shame? Compare what you’re seeing about shame in this passage to these passages. Why is it biblically appropriate for lost people to feel the weight of their shame before a holy God? Why is it biblically inappropriate for saved people striving for holiness to stand in shame before God? You may (especially if you’re saved and struggle with guilt and shame) wish to read my article Guilt and Shame- Burden or Blessing?

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Praying Psalm 119

Have you ever tried praying the psalms? I want to encourage you to try praying part of Psalm 119 back to God each week of this study. (If you’re familiar with my other studies, this will take the place of the weekly “Homework” section.)

The psalms are uniquely suited for praying back to God, both verbatim and conceptually, because they are often written as prayers – as though the psalmist is talking to God. Did you notice that about today’s passage? In which verses?

What is a concept or thought for your own life that the Holy Spirit impressed on your heart or convicted you about from today’s passage? Is there a particular verse(s), or maybe the whole passage, that you would like to pray back to God verbatim? Whatever your “prayer point” from today’s lesson, pray it at least daily until we get to the next lesson.

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Suggested Memory Verse

Previous Lessons: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5

It’s catch up week! How’s the studying going? What is God teaching you through His Word in Psalm 119?

This week you get to catch up on any lessons you might be behind on, go back and pray through any of the passages you didn’t get a chance to pray through, review your memory verses, or if you’re already caught up, you could even read ahead in Psalm 119 a little. It’s your week to use as you see fit. Happy studying!

Here are all of our memory verses so far, if you’d like to review them: