Week 18 - The Psalms and Proverbs
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Christian Life - Small Group Warm Up Question:
How has your study of the Bible improved over the years?
Psalms & Proverbs
Psalm 52 ~ Psalm 53 ~ Psalm 54 ~ Proverbs 12:1-14
1. Psalm 52 is written in response to David hearing the news of 85 priests (plus women, children, infants, and animals) being slaughtered (1 Samuel 22:6-23). Ahimelech the priest had helped David with bread and returning to him the sword of Goliath (1 Samuel 21:1-9), only to have an evil servant of Saul’s, Doeg the Edomite, report the news and then ruthlessly kill the priests, women, and children. In light of that background, how does Psalm 52 impact you?
2. How is Psalm 52 a helpful reminder to us in our own struggles with living in an evil world?
3. How does David contrast himself with Doeg in Psalm 52:8? What does that mean?
4. Why does David finish the Psalm the way he does? How can we grow a similar faith, confidence, and trust in God’s justice and timing? Read Romans 12:17-21. What stands out to you from this passage?
5. Read Psalm 53:1. What do you think the majority of people actually believe about God? Even if someone calls themself a Christ, why is one’s behavior a good evidence of one’s actual beliefs?
6. Why do some people act different in public places than they do at home? What kind of warnings might parents give their children before going out in public, to a family gathering, to church, etc.? Why?
7. How is it helpful to remember that nothing escapes God’s sight? (Psalm 53:2) What does God see when He looks at humanity across the world? In a similar way to how the Israelites were mistreated by the nations surrounding them, how are Christians often mistreated by the lost world surrounding them? How can persecuted Christians “rejoice” and “be glad” in the midst of such persecution (Psalm 53:6)?
8. When might be a time that you would be so overcome with grief, sadness, or despair that you just poured out your soul to God? In Psalm 54 David is referring to how his hiding spot from Saul was revealed by the Ziphites (1 Samuel 23:19-29). Although David was almost caught by Saul on this occasion, the Lord protected him and the place was named “the Rock of Escape” (1 Samuel 23:28). When has the Lord delivered you from a seemingly inescapable challenge?
9. Why is this description so fitting in describing lostness: “they do not set God before themselves” (Psalm 54:3)? How did you see this description manifest in your own life before becoming a Christian? In what ways do Christians continue to face this temptation?
10. David’s faithful response to God is both a praise, an expression of gratitude, and a “freewill offering” (Psalm 54:6). Why is our giving to God such an expression of where our hearts are? Why is withholding our offerings to God so serious? If we struggle with tithes and offerings to God, what steps can we take to be more faithful in our giving?
11. Do you love being disciplined at home? At work? Why is the love of discipline compared with a love of knowledge? (Proverbs 12:1)
12. Why is being a great wife like being a “crown” to your husband? (Proverbs 12:4) Why would being a poor spouse be described as “rottenness in his bones”?
13. What are some of the other comparisons you found helpful in Proverbs 12 between the wicked/
14. What does it mean that “the work of a man’s hand comes back to him”? (Proverbs 12:14) How can this both be a warning and an encouragement? What other ways have you heard this truth expressed?