Suggestions for leading a study:

• Familiarize yourself with the passage in context, including the book itself.  Who wrote it to whom, and why?
• Read through the study guide a couple times to get the “big idea” as well as the flow of the argument
• Have the group read through the passage in it’s entirety before beginning the study.  One of the goals is to try to get your members to learn how to study Scripture methodically, and this is an important step.
• Be prayed up
• Have fun!
  

Text: Psalm 23 (NIV)

Discussion Questions:

-What sort of image does this poem portray of what it means to journey with God:  that of following, walking alongside, or being pushed from behind?

-Does this contrast with what some people think will happen if they commit to a spiritual journey with God?

-What is the initial promise?  Why is understanding that an important first step in a healthy spiritual journey?

-Do verses 2 and 3 make this journey sound like nothing but business and work all the time?  Why is it important to be restored along the way?  How does that happen in your life?

-What paths are we guided on?  Does he force us upon them?  How does this relate to the picture the Psalmist paints of journeying with God?  What is important about it being “for his name’s sake?”

-In verse 4, does the Psalmist assume that everything is always going to be wonderful along the way?  If not, what promise does he hold on to?

-According to verse 5, does the psalmist assume that God will get rid of all the bad guys?  If not, what does he count on?

-The Lord is our shepherd.  Rather than being driven as cattle would be by a rancher, sheep follow their shepherd.  In verse 6, if we are following the shepherd, what is following us? 

-What kind of picture does that paint regarding our situation while on the journey?

-How can we live in such a way that these will follow us, rather than trying to “herd” them, or coerce them into being a part of our journey?

 Leaders Guide

This lesson looks at some of the aspects of a spiritual journey with God through the lens of this classic poem.

-What sort of image does this poem portray of what it means to journey with God:  that of following, walking alongside, or being pushed from behind?

            This study is based on a Psalm, which is a poem.  As such, it uses imagery and metaphor to paint pictures of spiritual realities for us.  In discussing a Psalm, don’t try to pick apart specific words or phrases in the same way you would in an epistle or a gospel.  Discuss the impressions that the poem gives in broad context.  You can ask, “what image comes to mind,”  or, “how would you paint this?”  This Psalm clearly portrays a walk with God that is gentle and loving, sometimes leading and guiding and sometimes alongside caring for us.  The thing it does not do is paint any kind of picture of herding us, or coercing us to go in certain directions.

-Does this contrast with what some people think will happen if they commit to a spiritual journey with God?

            Many people think that God is out to control them and coerce them along various paths in life.  That is not the picture that Scripture paints of what it means to walk with God, a dynamic relational journey with someone who loves and cares for us.

-What is the initial promise?  Why is understanding that an important first step in a healthy spiritual journey?

            Worrying about getting what we want and need is a primary source of stress in our lives, and a major barrier to developing the kind of quiet, trusting relationship with God that this Psalm describes.  This could also speak not just to stress, but competing claims on our loyalty.  In the New Testament Jesus routinely assumes that material desires will keep us from truly walking with God. 

-Do verses 2 and 3 make this journey sound like nothing but business and work all the time?  Why is it important to be restored along the way?  How does that happen in your life?

            Obviously, the picture that is being painted is one that includes times of rest and restoration.  Here again, some people assume that walking with God necessarily means always being busy doing things for him.  God created us with a need for restoration along the way.  The most obvious way that the Scripture teaches this is through the Sabbath rhythm that God designed for our lives.  Do your people have a day for resting and relating to God in a special way?  Are there other ways that they find to be meaningful for spiritual restoration?  Retreats?

-What paths are we guided on?  Does he force us upon them?  How does this relate to the picture the Psalmist paints of journeying with God?  What is important about it being “for his name’s sake?” 

            Here again, make sure your people see the issue of righteousness not as a legalistic path that God forces us down, but a place where he guides us to.  And it is for his name’s sake.  No room here for unrighteousness that feeds our selfish desires, but also no room for legalistic righteousness that feeds our spiritual pride.

-In verse 4, does the Psalmist assume that everything is always going to be wonderful along the way?  If not, what promise does he hold on to?

            We will walk through dark valleys, even ones that are dimmed by the shadow of death.  The promise God makes to us is not that we will not face those times, but that he will be walking with us through them.

-According to verse 5, does the psalmist assume that God will get rid of all the bad guys?  If not, what does he count on?

            As in difficult times of hardship and grief, so God does not promise to remove the difficult people from our lives.  The promise is a picture of provision by God—nothing they can do to us will ultimately harm us if God is for us.  Anointing with oil could even refer to being anointed as a king, indicating we have authority and power that this world cannot see, so we should not be threatened by the people of this world.

-The Lord is our shepherd.  Rather than being driven as cattle would be by a rancher, sheep follow their shepherd.  In verse 6, if we are following the shepherd, what is following us? 

            Goodness and love.

-What kind of picture does that paint regarding our situation while on the journey?

We are sandwiched between the Shepherd in front and wholesome values behind.  Not a picture of being harried by evil behind, but calmly walking along with God. Again, focus on images and mental pictures—that’s what poems do.      

-How can we live in such a way that these will follow us, rather than trying to “herd” them, or coerce them into being a part of our journey?

Again, the whole tone of this poem is light and carefree, not stressful and difficult as some would make the Christian journey out to be as we attempt under our own power to live in ways that we by nature seem to drift from.  The Apostle Paul, in particular, makes a point of “walking in the Spirit”, (see Eph. 5, Romans 8), a life of daily surrender to the good shepherd. 

-What is the final promise?  How is it similar to the first promise?  Why do you think the Psalmist put these promises at the beginning and end of his poem about journeying with God?

            This psalm is “bookmarked” by two wonderful promises: we will not be in want, and will eternally dwell in the Lord’s house.  The security and safety that these two promises speak of are essential to walking the kind of journey that this psalm speaks of.  Our destiny is assured forever, our needs are guaranteed day to day, so open yourself up to a journey with God as he guides you through the bumps and turns of a life that can be difficult and dangerous, but never without his presence.