This week's "Reflection" by Fuz RanaThis week, as part of our continuing trek through the Old Testament, we focused on the Psalms. One of the goals of the sermon was to encourage us make better use of the Psalms to enrich our time of individual worship and deepen our relationship with God. Do you use the Psalms in your devotional time? If so, how? If not, what keeps you from incorporating the Psalms into your quiet time?
We also spent a fair amount of time exploring some of the most salient features of Hebrew poetry and touched on some of the things to keep in mind when interpreting the Psalms. Do you think that this type of analysis helps you get more out of the Psalms? Does it get in the way of using the Psalms to worship God?
We also looked at two types of Psalms: Hymns (or Psalms of Praise) and Laments. We worked our way through Psalm 136—a Psalm of Praise—and Psalms 22, 42, 69, and 137—all Laments—as examples. Psalms 99, 103, and 104 are other examples of Hymns. Choose one of the Hymns and one of the Laments and identify the sense units, the types of parallelism, and language devices used by the Psalmists. What insights did you gain from reflecting and praying through the Psalms you analyzed?
Psalm 136 teaches us that God is to be praised for His work as Creator and Redeemer. What connection is there between God as Creator and God as Redeemer? In what way does this theme appear in John 1:1-18?
One of the features of Laments is an imprecation (a curse or calling down harm on someone) on the Psalmist’s enemies. Does this trouble you? How does this square with Jesus’ command to love and pray for your enemies (Matthew 5:44)?
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