A Fulfilled and Purposeful Life

R - Repentance and Restoration, 6

What does this Psalm teach us about repentance and restoration? Psalm 6:1-4

Psalm 6:1–4 ESV

1 O Lord, rebuke me not in your anger, nor discipline me in your wrath. 2 Be gracious to me, O Lord, for I am languishing; heal me, O Lord, for my bones are troubled. 3 My soul also is greatly troubled. But you, O Lord—how long? 4 Turn, O Lord, deliver my life; save me for the sake of your steadfast love.

Why is it important to acknowledge our sinfulness and ask for forgiveness? Psalm 6:5-7

Psalm 6:5–7 ESV

5 For in death there is no remembrance of you; in Sheol who will give you praise? 6 I am weary with my moaning; every night I flood my bed with tears; I drench my couch with my weeping. 7 My eye wastes away because of grief; it grows weak because of all my foes.

How can we encourage each other to turn to God in times of need and seek His healing and restoration? Psalm 6:8-10

Psalm 6:8–10 ESV

8 Depart from me, all you workers of evil, for the Lord has heard the sound of my weeping. 9 The Lord has heard my plea; the Lord accepts my prayer. 10 All my enemies shall be ashamed and greatly troubled; they shall turn back and be put to shame in a moment.

E - Encouragement and Exaltation, 7

What does this Psalm teach us about finding refuge in God? Psalm 7:1-2

Psalm 7:1–2 ESV

1 O Lord my God, in you do I take refuge; save me from all my pursuers and deliver me, 2 lest like a lion they tear my soul apart, rending it in pieces, with none to deliver.

How can we trust in God's protection and provision, even when we face opposition or difficulty? Psalm 7:3-16

Psalm 7:3–16 ESV

3 O Lord my God, if I have done this, if there is wrong in my hands, 4 if I have repaid my friend with evil or plundered my enemy without cause, 5 let the enemy pursue my soul and overtake it, and let him trample my life to the ground and lay my glory in the dust. Selah 6 Arise, O Lord, in your anger; lift yourself up against the fury of my enemies; awake for me; you have appointed a judgment. 7 Let the assembly of the peoples be gathered about you; over it return on high. 8 The Lord judges the peoples; judge me, O Lord, according to my righteousness and according to the integrity that is in me. 9 Oh, let the evil of the wicked come to an end, and may you establish the righteous— you who test the minds and hearts, O righteous God! 10 My shield is with God, who saves the upright in heart. 11 God is a righteous judge, and a God who feels indignation every day. 12 If a man does not repent, God will whet his sword; he has bent and readied his bow; 13 he has prepared for him his deadly weapons, making his arrows fiery shafts. 14 Behold, the wicked man conceives evil and is pregnant with mischief and gives birth to lies. 15 He makes a pit, digging it out, and falls into the hole that he has made. 16 His mischief returns upon his own head, and on his own skull his violence descends.

What are some practical ways we can encourage each other to trust in God's faithfulness and seek refuge in Him? Psalm 7:17

Psalm 7:17 ESV

17 I will give to the Lord the thanks due to his righteousness, and I will sing praise to the name of the Lord, the Most High.

A - Acknowledgment and Adoration, 8

What does this Psalm teach us about God's character and majesty? Psalm 8:1-4

Psalm 8:1–4 ESV

1 O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth! You have set your glory above the heavens. 2 Out of the mouth of babies and infants, you have established strength because of your foes, to still the enemy and the avenger. 3 When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, 4 what is man that you are mindful of him, and the son of man that you care for him?

How can we find purpose and value in recognizing our role as stewards of God's creation? Psalm 8:5-8

Psalm 8:5–8 ESV

5 Yet you have made him a little lower than the heavenly beings and crowned him with glory and honor. 6 You have given him dominion over the works of your hands; you have put all things under his feet, 7 all sheep and oxen, and also the beasts of the field, 8 the birds of the heavens, and the fish of the sea, whatever passes along the paths of the seas.

How can we encourage each other to acknowledge and adore God in our daily lives? Psalm 8:9

Psalm 8:9 ESV

9 O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth!

P - Protection and Provision, 9

What does this Psalm teach us about God's justice and mercy? Psalm 9:1-8

Psalm 9:1–8 ESV

1 I will give thanks to the Lord with my whole heart; I will recount all of your wonderful deeds. 2 I will be glad and exult in you; I will sing praise to your name, O Most High. 3 When my enemies turn back, they stumble and perish before your presence. 4 For you have maintained my just cause; you have sat on the throne, giving righteous judgment. 5 You have rebuked the nations; you have made the wicked perish; you have blotted out their name forever and ever. 6 The enemy came to an end in everlasting ruins; their cities you rooted out; the very memory of them has perished. 7 But the Lord sits enthroned forever; he has established his throne for justice, 8 and he judges the world with righteousness; he judges the peoples with uprightness.

How can we trust in God's protection and provision, even in times of trouble or despair? Psalm 9:9-10, 13-14

Psalm 9:9–10 ESV

9 The Lord is a stronghold for the oppressed, a stronghold in times of trouble. 10 And those who know your name put their trust in you, for you, O Lord, have not forsaken those who seek you.

Psalm 9:13–14 ESV

13 Be gracious to me, O Lord! See my affliction from those who hate me, O you who lift me up from the gates of death, 14 that I may recount all your praises, that in the gates of the daughter of Zion I may rejoice in your salvation.

How can we support and care for those who may be oppressed or vulnerable in our communities? Psalm 9:18, 20

Psalm 9:18 ESV

18 For the needy shall not always be forgotten, and the hope of the poor shall not perish forever.

Psalm 9:20 ESV

20 Put them in fear, O Lord! Let the nations know that they are but men! Selah

S - Supplication and Salvation, 10

What does this Psalm teach us about the power of prayer and supplication? Psalm 10:1, 12-15

Psalm 10:1 ESV

1 Why, O Lord, do you stand far away? Why do you hide yourself in times of trouble?

Psalm 10:12–15 ESV

12 Arise, O Lord; O God, lift up your hand; forget not the afflicted. 13 Why does the wicked renounce God and say in his heart, “You will not call to account”? 14 But you do see, for you note mischief and vexation, that you may take it into your hands; to you the helpless commits himself; you have been the helper of the fatherless. 15 Break the arm of the wicked and evildoer; call his wickedness to account till you find none.

How can we turn to God in times of need and trust in His salvation? Psalm 10:16-18

Psalm 10:16–18 ESV

16 The Lord is king forever and ever; the nations perish from his land. 17 O Lord, you hear the desire of the afflicted; you will strengthen their heart; you will incline your ear 18 to do justice to the fatherless and the oppressed, so that man who is of the earth may strike terror no more.

How can we pray for those who may be experiencing hardship or injustice, and support them in practical ways? Psalm 10:2-11, 14-15

Psalm 10:2–11 ESV

2 In arrogance the wicked hotly pursue the poor; let them be caught in the schemes that they have devised. 3 For the wicked boasts of the desires of his soul, and the one greedy for gain curses and renounces the Lord. 4 In the pride of his face the wicked does not seek him; all his thoughts are, “There is no God.” 5 His ways prosper at all times; your judgments are on high, out of his sight; as for all his foes, he puffs at them. 6 He says in his heart, “I shall not be moved; throughout all generations I shall not meet adversity.” 7 His mouth is filled with cursing and deceit and oppression; under his tongue are mischief and iniquity. 8 He sits in ambush in the villages; in hiding places he murders the innocent. His eyes stealthily watch for the helpless; 9 he lurks in ambush like a lion in his thicket; he lurks that he may seize the poor; he seizes the poor when he draws him into his net. 10 The helpless are crushed, sink down, and fall by his might. 11 He says in his heart, “God has forgotten, he has hidden his face, he will never see it.”

Psalm 10:14–15 ESV

14 But you do see, for you note mischief and vexation, that you may take it into your hands; to you the helpless commits himself; you have been the helper of the fatherless. 15 Break the arm of the wicked and evildoer; call his wickedness to account till you find none.