Suggestions for leading a study:
Soaking it Up
1 Blessed is the man
who does not walk in the counsel of the
wicked
or stand in the way of sinners
or sit in the seat of mockers.
2 But his delight is in the
law of the LORD,
and on his law he meditates day and night.
3 He is like a tree planted
by streams of water,
which yields its fruit in season
and whose leaf does not wither.
Whatever he does prospers.
4 Not so the wicked!
They are like chaff
that the wind blows away.
5 Therefore the wicked will
not stand in the judgment,
nor sinners in the assembly of the
righteous.
6 For the LORD watches over
the way of the righteous,
but the way of the wicked will perish.
Discussion Questions
-Describe each of
the following things to avoid from verse 1 with one example of each:
-where we shouldn’t be walking:
-where we shouldn’t be standing:
-where we shouldn’t be sitting:
-Verse 2 gives us
our alternative. What should we do
instead, and how can that address each of the issues you just discussed (try to
be as specific as possible)?
-How can we
accomplish the suggestion which the Psalmist gives us in verse 2?
-Carefully read
verse 3. What is it that enables us to
be “fruit-bearing trees whose leaves are not withered” and how do we accomplish
that?
-The Psalmist
equates “bearing fruit” with “prospering,” something we normally think of as
financial or material success. Do you
think that is what he had in mind? If
not, what sort of fruit does a healthy Christian life bear?
-Verses 4 and 5
create a contrast with what we just discussed.
Put into your own words what kind of a picture the Psalmist is painting
with his description of the two kinds of people in this psalm. Do you think keeping this image in mind can
help when we’re tempted to “walk, stand or sit” in the places we discussed in
verse 1?
-The last verse
speaks of the “way”, or the journey that we are on. How does being planted by the stream in order
to become healthy, fruit-bearing trees also help us move forward on our
spiritual journey?
Leaders' Guide
Soaking it Up
This Psalm looks at the how we can go deep with God in order to help us be truly useful followers of his.
-Describe each of the following things to
avoid from verse 1 with one example of each:
This is an exercise in interpreting the
symbolism of the Psalms and drawing from them principles that apply to your
life. Try to hold out for specificity
rather than generalities.
-where
we shouldn’t be walking:
“In the counsel of the wicked.” Where have members of your group ever gotten
advice from a source that wasn’t in tune with God’s desires? At the very least you can always go back to
the peer pressure you had as a kid. In
today’s world, however, there are plenty of sources to get bad advice from,
even sometimes including secular media and educational institutions. Living in today’s world will always require
discernment and wisdom that comes from the knowledge of what God desires.
-where
we shouldn’t be standing:
“In the way of sinners.” Rather than just the
obvious issue of bad behavioral choices, you can focus on the term “way,” which
has to do with direction and a journey.
When have people been tempted to “go along” in a direction that, if followed to its conclusion, would take them
somewhere they didn’t really want to go?
-where
we shouldn’t be sitting:
“In the seat of mockers.” This
one is a little more obscure, perhaps, but speaks to the issue of belief. We mock things that we don’t consider to be
valid. When have members of your group
been tempted to “join the crowd” when Christians and what they stand for are
being criticized?
-Verse 2 gives us our alternative. What should we do instead, and how can that
address each of the issues you just discussed (try to be as specific as
possible)?
This Psalm looks at the how we can go deep with God in order to help us be truly useful followers of his.
Here again, you want to get beyond just a
simple validation that the Word of God is a good thing to affirm. How would that apply to:
Walking in the counsel of the
wicked. The Word of God would be the
source for better counsel—information that comes from God himself.
Standing in the way of sinners. The Word of God reveals for us what it is
that violates God’s intentions for us, otherwise how would we even know that
were going down the wrong path?
Sitting in the seat of mockers. The Word of God affirms in many ways that our
faith is based on verifiable truth that we can trust. It is not just a “blind faith,” but one
anchored in such things as history,
fulfilled prophecy, and the miraculous intervention of God in human affairs,
particularly through Jesus Christ. Encourage your group to become conversant
in being able to defend the validity of the Word to those who would deny that
it can be reasonably believed.
-How can we accomplish the suggestion which
the Psalmist gives us in verse 2?
Meditation on the Word goes beyond just
reading it and knowing what it says. It
speaks to the things we have to do to let it soak into our hearts in a way that
effects who we are and what we do at a really deep level. This is where many Christians need to be
really challenged in areas of memorization, taking time to meditate and
contemplate, etc. There are other
disciplines such as journaling that help some go deeper.
-Carefully read verse 3. What is it that enables us to be
“fruit-bearing trees whose leaves are not withered” and how do we accomplish
that?
Don’t be too quick to give the answer here. Make your group look at this passage and
consider what it is really saying for a bit.
What this question is trying to get to is the fact that bearing fruit is
something that happens naturally in healthy trees when they have been “planted
by streams of water.” This is a picture
of being constantly nourished, similar to what Jesus was referring to in John
15 in his classic discussion on being the vine.
See also Jeremiah 17:7,8 for a good parallel. The point is to help people understand that
the bible doesn’t focus on trying to go out and bear fruit, but on staying
rooted and nourished in God so we become the kinds of people who naturally do
that. What exactly that refers to is
addressed in the following question.
-The Psalmist equates “bearing fruit” with
“prospering,” something we normally think of as financial or material
success. Do you think that is what he
had in mind? If not, what sort of fruit
does a healthy Christian life bear?
Here we get to a discussion of what we really
mean when we talk about bearing fruit.
In this case, the parallelism in this Psalm causes fruit bearing to be
equated with prospering, which is something we normally interpret as financial
success in our culture. In Scripture,
however, the image of fruit can be used a couple of different ways. One is our basic character (the “fruits of
the Spirit” in Galatians 5 for instance).
The other way that the image of bearing fruit is used has to do with
what we accomplish: probably more what will first come to people’s mind. To God
that doesn’t have to do with what we accomplish for ourselves, but what we do
for others and/or kingdom ministry and mission.
-Verses 4 and 5 create a contrast with what
we just discussed. Put into your own
words what kind of a picture the Psalmist is painting with his description of
the two kinds of people in this psalm.
Do you think keeping this image in mind can help when we’re tempted to
“walk, stand or sit” in the places we discussed in verse 1?
Here is another exercise to just work through
the imagery of the psalms. The contrast
here is vivid: a healthy tree being nourished by the stream vs. dried up chaff
that blows away in the wind. Painting a
mental picture of that when we are tempted to let loose of our commitment to
the Word of God and to go along with the world can be a useful tool to help us
stand firm. Encourage your group to use
the kinds of imagery that the Psalms give us to be a practical help in their
own spiritual journey, not just a nicely constructed poem.
-The last verse speaks of the “way”, or the
journey that we are on. How does being
planted by the stream in order to become healthy, fruit-bearing trees also help
us move forward on our spiritual journey?