Use these for group work, or to assist your personal reflection.
- Can you apply this psalm to some instance in your own life, where God has worked in power to help you?
- How does the Exodus story help us understand the redeeming work of God through Jesus Christ?
- How do we go about doing the things of God, and are they ‘glorious and majestic? Should they be ‘glorious and majestic’?
Use the programme which can be found on the link ‘discipleship challenges’. The ‘worksheet’ will help you follow through anything you feel is right to take up. The following notes are for your interest and consideration.
Personal comment:
The psalms often work in the manner I have suggested above. This is what makes them so enigmatic. Personally, I believe that in their writing, the songwriters of the psalms knew that they had to generalise the themes with which they worked and whilst sometimes, incidents in the life of David or Moses are spoken of, most of the psalms are so generalised that their origins are quite hidden from our sight, and scholars rarely find common ground when debating what the origins of each psalm are! The result of the work of the songwriters, however, is that they produced a considerable range of songs and hymns that have stood the test of time as an expression of human feelings and attitudes to God. This is their glory and the reason why they ‘bridge’ the gap between the New and the Old Testaments.
Ideas for discipleship programme
- Read through one or two other psalms and see whether you can spot this process of generalisation. The psalm seems to come from some time in the past, and yet it also speaks about you and your experiences! Remember to read the psalms in this way to gain the most from them.
- Write down some thoughts about what verse 10 means to you, or how you react to what it says. If you are a speaker or preacher, then use these thought as the basis for a sermon or a talk.
Holy Spirit, come and fill my life again with Your power and love and self control. Power to follow through every aspect of my call; love to do this with compassion, care and purpose; and self control to make sure that I do not take credit for what You are doing. Come, Holy Spirit, come!
