Welcome to Sunday Fuel! This series of questions is designed to assist your personal reflection and fellowship with others about the sermon from this past Sunday.
Go to This Sunday’s Sermon (Starts at 21:46)
Suggestion: invite a friend to join you in this reflection.
- Prepare your heart to receive God’s care and help.
a. What trouble are you dealing with today? What is not okay in your life?
b. Instead of minimizing your hardship, take time to
- 1. lament before the Lord about the reality and pain of your trouble.
- 2. Confess the way you pridefully try to solve your own problems instead of trusting Him.
c. Read Psalm 121:1-2 as a prayer of confident hope.
d. Pray: Praise our Creator God whose greatness dwarfs all other cares and worries. Declare your trust in Him who has the power and desire to help you. Ask God to help you to battle the temptation we have to look to ourselves. Pray we will learn how to handle our sufferings in faith, not sinful fear.
2. Meditate on God’s powerful care.
- a. Read verses 3-8 and note the six times the word “keep” (or its forms) are found in the psalm.
“Keep” means to continually watch over something that is valuable and vulnerable, like a shepherd over his sheep or a watchman on guard over a city; it does not mean God will prevent trouble from coming to us but He will walk through every moment of it with us.. As an example, you may wish to listen to the Kamimuras’ testimony, starting at 25:20.
- b. Consider the three portraits of the Father’s care in verses 3-8. Choose one that is most fitting for you to meditate on.
- He watches over our sleep (vv. 3-4): Where are you most vulnerable or fearful? What keeps you up at night? How might this picture of an ever-alert Father watching over all of your life bring you peace? Will you rest in His strong and loving care in these areas?
- He secures our steps (vv. 3, 8): Where are your steps uncertain? Where do you long for stability? How might this picture of a Father who firmly plants our steps, even when we feel like we’re sinking, and is able to use these as He orchestrates the story of our lives for his good purposes, bring comfort to you? Will you put your hope in His wisdom and guidance in these areas?
- He shades us from every threat (vv. 5-6): Where does your problem or sin seem to define, threaten or shadow your perspective on how you see yourself or your life? How do you try to escape or find relief from this? How might this picture of a God who is even closer to you than this problem help you redefine how you see yourself or your life? Will you find rest in the relieving shade He provides?
- c. Optional: how might you write an “anti-Psalm 121” as a confession, like Pastor Tim did, describing how you have doubted God’s care or relied too heavily on your own ability to resolve your own problems and come up with your own solutions.
- d. As you reflect on your story, what glimpses of grace can you identify? Start with past remembrances, but don’t stop there. How might you see evidence of that grace even now, in the midst of your sufferings, sorrows, and sins?
3. Rehearse the reality of God’s care together.
- a. If you are doing this with a friend, consider turning to the Lord together with musical worship in song.
- b. Then turn your care and attention to one another: Lament your difficulties together, then pray for one another, that you might behold the Lord’s loving care in the midst of it.
- c. Close with thanksgiving for what God is doing in their lives.
