Psalm 13 / Leader Guide for 10/26/08

Small Group Leaders Guide
October 26, 2008

Series: Honest To God
Message: Dear God, Sometimes I Feel Like You’ve
Forgotten About Me
Psalm 13

Getting Started:
1. Have you ever forgotten something very important? (birthday, anniversary, child, etc)


Going Deeper:
2. Read Psalm 13:1. What does it mean for God to “hide his face” from someone? What happens when He stops “hiding” it?

• Deuteronomy 31:17
• Psalm 30:7
• Psalm 44:24
• Psalm 88:14
• Isaiah 54:8
• Isaiah 57:17
• Ezekiel 39:23-24
• Numbers 6:23-26

3. In this psalm, David feels forgotten by God. What do you think David’s faith was like? Isn’t he showing a lack of faith by feeling this way? Why or why not?

• There is a balance in life when it comes to feelings. On one extreme, some people ignore feelings, and think that feelings should have nothing to do with our relationship with God. But, God has given us feelings as an expression of His image in us. We can feel anger, love, care, sorrow, and many other feelings, because God feels those feelings. In this sense, feelings are a gift from God and a sign that we are made in His image.
• At the other extreme, some live their lives ruled by feelings. They believe whatever “reality” their feelings present them. The problem with this is that though we have feelings because we are made in the image of God, our feelings are affected by our fallenness. We can’t always trust our feelings because of this. In this sense, it is all right for someone to feel this way, and good to seek God for answers, but we should always be aware that our feelings are not always a good representation of reality.
• I guess what I’m trying to say is that expressing your feelings to God is not a sign that you lack faith.

4. In verse two, David writes that he is wrestling with his thoughts. What do you think he means by that? Have you ever wrestled with your thoughts about God? What thoughts? What was that like for you?

• Many times when confronted with problems, I have found this to be true: The more I think about the problems, the more depressed I get. But when I pray about the problems, I sometimes experience a sense of relief. Thinking about our troubles is hard work. Trouble can be like a pill God wants us to just swallow, but we make it worse by keeping it in our mouths and chewing it.

5. In verse three, David asks God to give light to his eyes. What is David really asking for? Why? Read Ephesians 1:17-19

• I think he is asking for wisdom and understanding. The New Testament sometimes uses the phrase, “eyes that see and ears that hear,” to say the same thing.
• No matter what kind of problem we are facing, we need God to give light to our eyes so that we can respond well. Often, the problem itself has a way of darkening our “vision” and clouding our ability to make a decision and take a right course of action.
• Even worse, a problem can cause us to misunderstand or doubt God and His love for us.

6. In verse four, why is David concerned about what his enemy might say or do?

• Some people view the defeat of one of God’s chosen as a defeat of God Himself.
• Any enemy of God’s that achieves an apparent earthly victory of any sort only achieves it because God has allowed it. Moreover, it is part of God’s plan to use these seeming “victories” for the good of those who love Him. Nevertheless, we want to see God win each and every battle no matter how large or small even though in fact, He does.

7. In verse five, David writes that he trusts God’s unfailing love. Why do you think he focuses on that? Why not trust in God’s justice, law, righteousness or holiness? Do you think that in verse five, God has answered the prayer of verse three?

• David may not see justice. His foes or enemies may accomplish their ends. Whether in the middle of a problem we are guaranteed to see justice is not known. But we can always count on God’s unfailing love even in the midst of injustice.

8. In verse six, David says, “I will sing to the Lord.” Is this singing an uncontrolled reaction to a heart filled with the love of God or an intentional decision to worship God in spite of the circumstances? What does this teach us about the connection between faith and feelings?


Putting it into practice:
10. What does this psalm of David teach us about how we can respond to God when we are going through difficult times? Pray that God will give light to your eyes and for His power to overcome.

Quote Of The Week:
Whenever you look into David’s Psalms, you may somewhere or another see yourselves.
--Charles Spurgeon