SESSION I AM WONDERFULLY MADE THE BIBLE MEETS LIFE Culture gives lip service to the value of life, but we deem some people more important because of what they contribute to society. Even on a personal level, we may feel more or less valued based on what we do in our church, workplace, or community. And society sends this skewed message about the unborn, disabled, and elderly. Psalm 9 points us to an all-knowing, all-loving God who values each one of us. THE POINT Every life counts including mine. THE PASSAGE Psalm 9:-,-8 THE SETTING Three thousand years ago, David ruled as Israel s king. He was a great psalm writer. The heading of Psalm 9 bears David s name, as do many other psalm headings. Many events in David s life from Samuel s anointing him for kingship in his youth to failed conspiracies against him in later years showed that his God knew and valued him. We can imagine David and countless others singing Psalm 9 and marveling at God s attentiveness to them. 88 SESSION WHAT DOES THE BIBLE SAY? PSALM 9:-,-8 For the director of music. Of David. A psalm. You have searched me, Lord, and you know me. You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar. You discern my going out and my lying down; you are familiar with all my ways. Before a word is on my tongue you, Lord, know it completely. You hem me in behind and before, and you lay your hand upon me. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too lofty for me to attain. For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place, when I was woven together in the depths of the earth. Your eyes saw my unformed body; all the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be. 7 How precious to me are your thoughts, God! How vast is the sum of them! 8 Were I to count them, they would outnumber the grains of sand when I awake, I am still with you. For free online training on how to lead a group visit MinistryGrid.com/ web BibleStudiesForLife. For free Midweek Options for your group, visit lifeway.com/ BSFLWIN8more
PREPARE LEADER LIVE IT OUT I Am Wonderfully Made Psalm 9:-,-8 If you decided to sell your car on an Internet classified site, and someone showed up to look at it offering only half your asking price, you d have a choice to make How much is this car really worth to me? When God created life, He entrusted it to people. You and I are responsible to take care of God s creation, including the earth, ourselves, and others. But unfortunately, sin has impaired our perception, and many fail to see the value God has intrinsically woven into every life. Some of us question our own purpose and value, and fail to appreciate our own personal worth. Others esteem themselves so highly, they devalue anyone that would infringe upon their own personal happiness or convenience. Y However, God made the ultimate statement about the worth of people. If an object s value is determined by the price someone is willing to pay, the price for our lives was the life of Jesus. Others may fail to value you. Maybe you haven t valued others, even yourself, the way you should. But God, who s perfect in wisdom and love, demonstrated that all people are worth the life of His Son. Prepare: While you prepare for this session, it is critical to allow the truth of Scripture to challenge your heart. God works in our hearts as we teach others His Word. ONE CONVERSATION Scripture: Psalm 9:-,-8 Topic: I Am Wonderfully Made THE BIBLE MEETS LIFE: Culture gives lip service to the value of life, but we deem some people more important because of what they contribute to society. Even on a personal level, we may feel more or less valued based on what we do in our church, workplace, or community. And society sends this skewed message about the unborn, disabled, and elderly. Psalm 9 points us to an all-knowing, all-loving God who values each one of us. THE POINT: Every life counts including mine. What is something you ve made with your own hands? How does it make you feel to know that God is aware of every aspect of your life? Where in our culture do we see life being devalued or disrespected? How does knowing we are fearfully and wonderfully made impact the way you see yourself and others? Discuss the following quote: Without a purpose, life is motion without meaning, activity without direction, and events without reason. Rick Warren. Rick Warren, The Purpose Driven Life: What on Earth Am I Here For? (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 0) 0. LIVE IT OUT: Your student has been encouraged to take practical steps to take his or her faith and Live It Out in the Personal Study Guide. Here are some ways you can encourage your students to live out their faith with Christ personally, in community, and in their culture: Y Christ: Discuss with your student the idea that long before they were loved by you, he or she was loved by God and was created by God for His purposes. Y Community: Help your student to memorize Psalm 9:- this week. Practice each night before bed and pray that the words would settle in your hearts and help you to better see the world around you. Y Culture: Consider ways you and your student can help people in your community to feel loved. Follow through on your ideas and spread love to those that feel unlovable. Follow Up: Don t forget to text a picture of the One Conversation section to parents or post it on Facebook and tag them after the session. This will equip them for further family discussion. BIBLE STUDIES FOR LIFE 89
ENGAGE ( MINUTES) THE POINT EVERY LIFE COUNTS INCLUDING MINE. Engage: Begin the session with one or more of the Engage Options on the next page (optional). Discuss: Ask students, What is something you ve made with your own hands? Guide: Call attention to The Point. Keep coming back to it throughout the session. Read: Summarize the Bible Meets Life for your group. Pray: Transition into the session by praying that God would help students to see others as He does all people are valuable and objects of His love. 90 SESSION
ENGAGE OPTIONS LEAD WITH ACTION Pick four students to play The Price is Right. Place an expensive item in front of the students and have them guess the correct retail price. The closest guess without going over wins. Say, It can be a challenge to measure an item s value. People have an immeasurable value to God and His plans. LEAD WITH ATMOSPHERE Place objects around the room representing different careers, sports, or hobbies. Say, God measures our value not by what we do, but in that He created us and we bear His image. LEAD WITH MEDIA Search the Internet for Value - Motivational Video. Play the video as you begin the session. Say, God has created everyone with a purpose in life. Are you fulfilling God s will for your life? NOTE: Always make sure you preview any video clip you show students and ensure that it is appropriate for your church and ministry. FOR YOUNGER STUDENTS Place five household items on a table for everyone to see (soap, bottled drink, food, etc.). Display three items that are worth less than $, and two items worth more. Pick three students to come up front to guess which items are worth less than $. The student who gets all three right wins. Say, It can be a challenge to measure an item s value. Because we re created by God and in His image, people have an immeasurable value. SECOND OPTION Show pictures of objects on a screen (or pass them out on paper) and have students vote on the correct price from a list of options. Make it fun and challenging by picking unusual or unheard of items. Say, It can be a challenge to measure an item s value. Because we re created by God and in His image, people have an immeasurable value. LEADER PACK ELEMENTS If you have the optional Leader Pack, consider one of the following: DVD: Play the Unit Session DVD opener to draw everyone to the main point of the session. Item 8: Engage students in the session by incorporating the Made for More poster to help introduce the Scripture. BIBLE STUDIES FOR LIFE 9
IMPART (0 MINUTES) THE POINT EVERY LIFE COUNTS INCLUDING MINE. Read: Ask a student to read the passage. Discuss: Share these introductory thoughts then invite students to respond. Highlight: Emphasize these points about God s knowing us. Ask: Read the question and encourage students to respond. Connect: Help students understand what it means that God knows us and loves us. Engage: Encourage students to engage via social media. 9 SESSION
COMMENTARY PSALM 9:- You have searched me, Lord, and you know me. You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar. You discern my going out and my lying down; you are familiar with all my ways. Before a word is on my tongue you, Lord, know it completely. You hem me in behind and before, and you lay your hand upon me. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too lofty for me to attain. PSALM 9:- Verse. God knows us intimately and values us. Psalm 9 has a powerful message for all of us: our lives count to God. The Bible says God chose us in Christ for adoption (Eph. : ). David was chosen. We have been chosen. God knows us so well even the hairs of our heads are numbered (Matt. 0:0). Further, the high value God places on us is forever confirmed by the cross of Christ (Rom. :8). God knows us as One who has searched us. He studies His creatures closely. He has known us in detail, intimately and better than we know ourselves. Verses -. God s knowledge extends to our daily actions. He knows when we sit down and when we stand up. God knows what we re doing. If we stand up to serve a spouse, a friend, or a stranger in need, God knows. If we stand to walk away from a task we really should be doing, God knows that also. He also understands our thoughts. If we re planning something that would take us far away from His commandments, He knows those plans. God is able and faithful to search out [our] path (travels) and our times of rest. God s knowledge of us is so thorough we will never surprise Him with a word we speak. He may be pleased or displeased with our words, but He will not be caught off guard by them. Verse. Neither will schemes against us ever surprise God. As a warrior, King David was a target for enemies. Rivals intensely coveted the throne on which he sat. Though he had many loyal friends and servants, he also had people who were out to get him. Ponder how profoundly thankful David must have been to say to God, You have encircled me. Hemmed in, protected behind and before, guarded from all angles, David was confident in God s protection. You and I don t need to look anxiously about us as if we can find no source of help when we feel we are in danger. Indeed, we can say to God, You have placed your hand upon me. God s hand was on David when Samuel first anointed him. God s hand guided and protected David in battle, in decision making, and in times of trial. If you and I are believers in Christ, God s hand has been on us to guide us toward personal faith. God s hand is on all believers to guide us, protect us, and accomplish His purpose in us. Verse. God s wondrous knowledge is far beyond our capacity to understand. It is expansive. God is all knowing regarding every quarter of His great universe. Likewise, He is all knowing regarding each of us. This is a lofty thing and we cannot attain it. We can t get our minds around it. When we think seriously of God s knowing us intimately and valuing us deeply, isn t it right to bow in awe and worship before Him? BIBLE STUDIES FOR LIFE 9
IMPART (0 MINUTES) THE POINT EVERY LIFE COUNTS INCLUDING MINE. Read: Invite a student to read the passage for the group. Discuss: Introduce this section and encourage discussion. Highlight: Emphasize these points. Connect: Make sure students understand the main point. Ask: Read the question, then allow students the opportunity to respond. Do: Have students complete the activity, then discuss as a group. 9 SESSION
COMMENTARY PSALM 9:- For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place, when I was woven together in the depths of the earth. Your eyes saw my unformed body; all the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be. PSALM 9:- Verse. God created us and has a plan for each of us. He created us in our inward parts, which probably refers to the inner person, at the level of emotion, affection, desire and conviction. In Job 9:7 the same word in the original Hebrew is translated heart. God created us in our inward parts to feel deeply, to love deeply, to have convictions, and to make value judgments. He knit us together in the mother s womb. He was active in the cells, organs, and fibers of our bodies growing and maturing in the earliest stages of our human existence and development. In verse, we read that the darkness is not dark to Him. In verse we are reading of the dark place of the mother s womb and hearing that God knows and sees and works out His purposes even there! God does not wait until after a child s birth to take interest in and begin His work in that child. God said to Jeremiah, I chose you before I formed you in the womb; I set you apart before you were born (Jer. :). Gabriel said of John the Baptist, He will be filled with the Holy Spirit, while still in his mother s womb (Luke :). Verse. Praise to God follows very readily from knowing that we are remarkably and wondrously made. Even in King David s day people could hold a new born baby and marvel at God s wonderful work. We also can marvel as we hold a new born baby. Months before, the same baby was so small that we wouldn t have been able to tell that the child s mother was pregnant. For a time, she herself probably did not know she was pregnant. God knew. From conception through birth, God presided creatively over that child s growth and development. Holding the newborn baby in our arms, we are gazing upon a little person who will grow day by day into a mature adult. Indeed, God s works are wonderful! Verses -. We were not hidden from God even in the secret place of the mother s womb. To say I was intricately woven together in the depths of the earth is probably a figurative way of continuing to describe formation in the mother s womb. In the womb, light does not shine, as it does not in the depths of the earth. God s eyes saw me when I was formless. When our bodies were as yet unformed, when we were embryos still undeveloped, before ultrasound technology could have detected our image, God saw us and knew us! More than this, all my days were written in your book and planned. Did God know in advance both the joys and trials that would come to the people whose lives unfold on the pages of Scripture? Psalm 9 testifies that God knew what their days held before a single one of them began. Was He working out His purposes in their lives through both triumph and tragedy? Indeed, He was. The Bible assures us that God works in all things for the good of His people who love Him (Rom. 8:8). BIBLE STUDIES FOR LIFE 9
IMPART (0 MINUTES) THE POINT EVERY LIFE COUNTS INCLUDING MINE. Do: Allow students time to finish the optional Action Point (p. 8) in the PSG. Ask: Read the question and discuss the students responses. Read: Invite a student to read the passage aloud. Discuss: Summarize this paragraph, then encourage students to share. Connect: Highlight the main point God places immense value on every person! Do: Direct students to complete the Action Point. Encourage authenticity. 9 SESSION
COMMENTARY PSALM 9:7-8 How precious to me are your thoughts, God! How vast is the sum of them! Were I to count them, they would outnumber the grains of sand when I awake, I am still with you. PSALM 9:7-8 Verses 7-8. God is with us! It s a good thing God s favor toward us does not depend on our capacity to grasp fully His mind. His thoughts are so vast that they are far beyond our ability to comprehend. They are many and far reaching. If we counted God s thoughts of us one by one, the effort would be as hard as trying to number the grains of sand on a beach. Could you count one by one the grains of sand that fill a large jar? Could you count one by one all the grains of sand on a coastal beach or in a vast desert? Likewise, God s thoughts of us and plans for us are simply too many to count. If you did set out to count God s thoughts, sleep would overtake you too soon and too often for you to finish. Maybe that is why Psalm 9 refers at this point to when I wake up. And what do we realize when we do wake up? We realize that God has been with us even while we ve slept. His thoughts have been toward us and of us. And each of us can say to Him, I am still with you. Our experience of the presence of God is like our love for God. We love God because He first loved us and because He loves us now. We are with Him because He is with us. David prayed in Psalm :, I fear no evil, for you are with me. Years ago a Christian family was in a terrible car accident. The father and two children died. The mother survived. When friends arrived to comfort the bereaved woman, they were amazed by her somber strength. The first thing that she said was, The Lord is with me and He is the strength of my life. Through her long, painful journey of grief she lived with that confidence: God is with me. Yes, He knows us. He works out His plans for us. He is with us. BIBLE STUDIES FOR LIFE 97
IMPACT (0 MINUTES) THE POINT EVERY LIFE COUNTS INCLUDING MINE. Discuss: Read and discuss the quote with students. Guide: The Christ portion of the Live It Out section encourages students to dig deeply into God s Word and examine their motives for serving others. Remember the Bible Reading Plan provides students with a custom reading plan to stay in God s Word and follows along with each session. 98 SESSION
IMPACT Guide: As you guide your students through the Community section, remember to emphasize the importance of community with believers outside of group. Guide: The Culture section equips students to apply this session to their lives every week. Help students see themselves and others through the lens of God s Word to develop a lifestyle of investing in others for the gospel. Pray: As you close, pray students would appreciate that God knew them even before they were conceived, and He has a purpose for their lives. Follow Up: Remind students of the challenge to memorize Psalm 9:- this week and encourage their efforts. BIBLE STUDIES FOR LIFE 99