Prayer – Lesson 12, A Sure Guide for Living
Heavenly Father, bless our classes again today as they study Your Word. Reassure each student of the reliability and practicality of the Bible. We pray this in Jesus' name, Amen.
Why are the Proud Cursed?
"Thou hast rebuked the proud that are cursed, which do err from thy commandments." (Psalm 119:21)
In "Biblical Perspective" Gordon Snider writes:
These are people whose sense of self-importance causes them to accept authority for themselves which belongs only to God. And this naturally leads to a refusal to follow the directions of God. Thus, to the psalmist, to be proud is to be cursed. The proud were specifically described as those who do err from thy commandments. The connection between the proud and do err at first seems unusual. The proud deliberately choose to resist God, while err means to sin through ignorance. There may be a suggestion here that open rebellion against God makes it impossible for us to see the “road signs” along the way that indicate we are going the wrong direction. Thus we truly are not only ignorant of our wrong, but willfully ignorant.
Source: Studies in the Psalms: Adult Teacher's Insights, page 73.
What is the Word of God?
In "Doctrinal Discussion" William Sillings writes:
What is the “Word of God”? The Word of God is the direct self-revelation of God to humanity. This part of revelation is often listed by theologians in the area of “special revelation” and includes both words and deeds of God's direct self-revelation.
Sillings continues on page 74 about how God's Word takes three forms.
Source: Studies in the Psalms: Adult Teacher's Insights, page 74.
A Spiritual Primer?
In "God's Word for Today" David Woods writes:
Psalm 119 is made up of twenty-two strophes (paragraph of poetry), one for each letter of the Hebrew alphabet, and each strophe has eight verses. Each of these verses begins with the Hebrew letter by which their particular strophe is named. Faithlife Study Bible notes that the most prominent feature in translation is the repetition of eight words: law, word (imrath), word (devar), judgments, testimonies, commandments, statutes, and precepts. Psalm 119 is characterized as a Torah Psalm, a wisdom Psalm, and an individual lament. The author is unknown. This Psalm emphasizes the Word of God, using some term for God's Word in almost every verse. Preacher's Commentary notes that the psalmist was involved in a real battle with enemies, but also was struggling with himself to do what was right and good. New Bible Commentary calls this Psalm the Golden ABC of God's Word.
Discussion: Early American education was profoundly impacted by The New England Primer, Webster's Speller, and the McGuffey Readers. How might our lives be impacted if we used Psalm 119 as a spiritual “primer”?
Source: Studies in the Psalms: Adult Teacher's Insights, page 70.
A Guide to Cleansing
Read Psalm 119:18
"Blessed are the undefiled in the way, who walk in the law of the Lord" (v. 1).
Funambulism - the art of walking along a thin wire or rope. Often it is called tightrope walking. Viewers were captivated as they watched a man skilled at this art on June 23, 2013. Nikolas Walendra has numerous entries attributed to his name in the Guinness World Records. But what gripped the attention of the viewing public that day was when he became the first person to high-wire walk across a Grand Canyon-area gorge. Amazing.
And yet, showmanship of this sort seems to be such a waste. What is more exciting is when we see a man or woman of God walking the straight and narrow path of righteousness. Spiritual funambulism bears some similarities to the tightrope walker who must maintain his balance by positioning his center of mass directly over his base of support. To stay on the narrow path of righteousness, we must maintain the balance between legalism and radicalism. We must keep ourselves positioned so that we are supported totally by Holy Spirit. Only then, can we be confident that we will not fall, missing the glory of getting to the end of the way where we will receive our eternal reward. (Gayle Woods)
To stay on the narrow path of righteousness,
we must maintain the balance between legalism and radicalism.
This devotional is the Monday, November 14, 2016 entry of Opening the Word.
"USA little colorado pano AZ.jpg" by Dschwen BY CC SA 3.0 / Resized
The Barrier of Negativity
If you were to take the "attitudinal" temperature of your Sunday school class this week, how would it run - positive, negative, apathetic? As a society, we have experienced many changes in the past few years. The response by many Christians has been a persistent, even pervasive, negativity.
Quite frankly, some Christians and their churches exhibit very little of the "joy of the Lord." When challenged, they find multiple excuses to feed their faith-destroying attitudes instead of striving to change, based on God's promises.
Such negativity is destructive personally and corporately, creating a huge, unnecessary barrier in front of the unchurched guest. Seriously, if you were invited to your local school's basketball game only to find the stands filled with spectators trashing the local team, and the players slouching up and down the court, uninterested in competing, would you ever go back?
Are our attitudes toward life creating unnecessary barriers for those checking out Jesus?
A Sure Guide for Living
Lesson 12 - November 20, 2016
Focus Text: Psalm 119:1-5, 9-11, 17-24
Central Truth: God's Word is the supreme guide for life.
Objective: By the end of this lesson my students should be able to list three reasons why the Word of God is a safe and sure guide.
Lesson Outline:
- Blessed by the Word (Psalm 119:1-5)
- Guarded by the Word (Psalm 119:9-11)
- Counseled by the Word (Psalm 119:17-24)
Prayer – Lesson 11, The Goodness of God
Heavenly Father, as our students study Your Word today, help them to thrill in the knowledge that You are truly good. Help us to praise You more for Your goodness and love. In Jesus' name. Amen.
God's Word – Commandments vs. Statements
In "Biblical Perspective" Gordon Snider writes concerning Psalm 107:11…
The reason for this condition is clear. God's words are not so much commandments as they are statements of fact — this is the way life is. Man either aligns himself with the world as it was created, or he experiences some or all of the problems of verse 10. Man is by nature a rebel against God (Rom. 5). He despises and disdains the counsel of the most High. This name of God emphasizes His sovereign rulership over all creation as the Creator-God. Its use here amplifies the absurdity of the one created rejecting the advice of the one who made and rules all things
Source: Studies in the Psalms: Adult Teacher's Insights, page 66.
Applying God's Goodness to Our Lives
In "Doctrinal Discussion" William Sillings writes:
God's goodness has meaningful applications to our living today . For one thing, it puts definite limits on the kinds of spiritual, physical, emotional, or moral battles we go through as God's people. For instance, when Jesus was about to be crucified, He told Peter that Satan had desired to have them all in order to sift them as wheat through difficult and crushing circumstances, but He had prayed for them that when they were tested, their faith would not fail. The goodness of God limits what Satan is allowed to do. God has promised that nothing will come to us which we cannot bear, for He will, with the temptation, make a way of escape so we will be able to bear it. Second, if God's goodness can be imparted to us in the fruit of the Spirit (as we believe it can), we can be good like God is good. Being finite and human, we will never be perfectly good as God is, but we are partakers of the divine nature. It is not just a fable to talk about being good. God actually intends for us to have His goodness as part of our experience.
Source: Studies in the Psalms: Adult Teacher's Insights, page 68.