1. Introduction (5 minutes):
Who is someone in your life you can share your innermost thoughts, dreams and fears with?
Leader note: Have your group members think of a confidant, a best friend,a counselor. The idea is to have them feel what it is like to have someone know a lot about them and still love them as we move into studying Psalm 139.
2. Observation (15 minutes):
Read Psalm 139. What do you learn about God?
Leader note: There are a lot of observations so spend enough time on the question that you draw them out. Have your group put what they are reading into their own words, but don’t change the meaning of the text.
Commentary:
Some of the answers your group should come up with –
- He knows everything about me
- He knows every move I make
- He is familiar with every aspect of me
- He is discerning toward me
- He is all around me and actually lays His hand upon me
- His closeness and full knowledge is hard to even imagine
- There is no where I can go where He isn’t
3. Understanding (20 minutes):
What is comforting about God’s knowledge and closeness to you? What is kind of scary about that?
Leader note: It is comforting to know that God is so intimately involved, and knows everything about us there is definitely a relief knowing He is always with us, but it is also scary that he knows every thought – even the bad ones, the sinful ones, the ugly ones. And that He is with us in those places we shouldn’t be, doing things we wish He didn’t see.
4. Application (20 minutes):
Where in your life do you feel God isn’t there?
Leader note: maybe you have a circumstance, a sickness, a problem in your marriage, a kid who is having troubles, loss of employment, financial devastationa dn you feel alone, as if God has abandoned you.
Thee’s another side to this too. There may be times you think you leave God behind. Maybe you come to church and meet God and you have your veneer that everything is great there and then when you leave, you think He stayed back there and you can go and live as though He isn’t with you – your behavior changes, your language changes, the way you handle anger may be different than if you knew God was still with you.
What would change if you knew, and really believede, that He has been there the whole time?
Leader note: it may be hard for some to realize that God has been there the whole time as they are struggling. Why wouldn’t He fix it or answer their pryaers if in fact He is there? But his is a wonderful time to remember that we are not promised a life without struggle, or pain, just because we are in His presence 100% of the time. And he knows what we are going through. We can’t know His thoughts or ways, but He knows ours.
For some it may even be harder as they look at their circumstances and believe that God has been there the whole time – why isn’t He doing something? But what if He is? What if He is doing something int he midst of your struggle, illness, etc?
Maybe places you go and people you hang out with might change, or at the very least, the way you are when you are with them, when you consider God’s presence next to you the whole time.
PRAY: As your group reveals places they think God has abandoned them, pray for them to feel His presence, pray that God will reveal Himself to them and bring comfort, peace, mercy in their situation. Pray for them to live a life that acknowledges that God is in their every thought and move. He loves them even though…..He will never leave or abandon them even though he doesn’t eliminte every struggle, He is there to walk with them through it.
5. Live It Out:
Is there someone in our community who needs to know the truths of Psalm 139? How can we help reveal His presence to them?