The Book of Psalms - 1st Quarter 2024
The Psalms: Where God and People Meet Heart to Heart
01. Lesson: 1 - How To Read the Psalms
Scripture: Luke 24:44-45
The Psalms are inspired prayers and praises of Israel, and so in the Psalms the voice is that of God intermingled with that of His people.
02. Lesson: 2 - Teach Us To Pray
Scripture: Luke 11:1
This week we will look at the role the Psalms played in helping God’s people traverse their life journey and grow in their relationship with God.
03. Lesson: 3 - The Lord Reigns
Scripture: Psalm 34:17
God has both the perfect knowledge of us and of our circumstances, and also the means to help us. Therefore, His promises of help and deliverance are not shallow platitudes but firm assurances.
04. Lesson: 4 - The Lord Hears and Delivers
Scripture: Psalm 34:17
We should remember that the proper response to the Lord’s nearness consists in a life of faith in Him, and of obedience to His commandments.
05. Lesson: 5 - Singing the Lord’s Song in a Strange Land
Scripture: Psalm 137:4
As we already have seen, the psalmists acknowledge God’s sovereign rule and power, as well as His righteous judgments.
06. Lesson: 6 - I Will Arise
Scripture: Psalm 12:5
The Lord is longsuffering and holds His wrath in His great forbearance, not wanting anyone to perish but to repent and change their ways (2 Pet. 3:9–15).
07. Lesson: 7 - Your Mercy Reaches Unto the Heavens
Scripture: Psalm 57:9-10
God’s people take comfort in the fact that the Lord is faithful to His covenant.
08. Lesson: 8 - Wisdom for Righteous Living
Scripture: Psalm 90:12
Wisdom for righteous living is gained through the dynamics of life with God amid temptations and challenges.
09. Lesson: 9 - Blessed Is He Who Comes in the Name of the Lord
Scripture: Psalm 118:22-23
In all the Psalms, through the psalmists’ laments, thanksgivings, praises, and cries for justice and deliverance, we can hear the echoes of Christ’s prayer for the salvation of the world.
10. Lesson: 10 - Lessons of the Past
Scripture: Psalm 78:3-4
Each generation of God’s people plays a small but significant part in the grand historical unfolding of God’s sovereign purposes in the great controversy.
11. Lesson: 11 - Longing for God in Zion
Scripture: Psalm 84:2
The blessings of Zion overflow to the ends of the earth because the Lord’s person and grace exceed the boundaries of any holy place. Zion is the joy of all the earth (Ps. 48:2), affirming that the whole earth belongs to God.
12. Lesson: 12 - Worship That Never Ends
Scripture: Psalm 104:33
The Lord’s people are identified with the righteous, who worship the Lord and whose hope is in Him and in His love.
13. Lesson: 13 - Wait on the Lord
Scripture: Psalm 27:14
If there is a final word that we can draw from the Psalms, it should be “wait on the Lord.” Waiting on the Lord is not an idle and desperate biding of one’s time. Instead, waiting on the Lord is an act full of trust and faith, a trust and faith revealed in action.