PSALM 41 Reading Guide October 13-19, 2013
PSALM 41 2 PSALM 41 1 Blessed is the one who considers the poor! In the day of trouble the LORD delivers him; 2 the LORD protects him and keeps him alive; he is called blessed in the land; you do not give him up to the will of his enemies. 3 The LORD sustains him on his sickbed; in his illness you restore him to full health. 4 As for me, I said, O LORD, be gracious to me; heal me, for I have sinned against you! 5 My enemies say of me in malice, When will he die, and his name perish? 6 And when one comes to see me, he utters empty words, while his heart gathers iniquity; when he goes out, he tells it abroad. 7 All who hate me whisper together about me; they imagine the worst for me. 8 They say, A deadly thing is poured out on him; he will not rise again from where he lies. 9 Even my close friend in whom I trusted, who ate my bread, has lifted his heel against me. 10 But you, O LORD, be gracious to me, and raise me up, that I may repay them! 11 By this I know that you delight in me: my enemy will not shout in triumph over me. 12 But you have upheld me because of my integrity, and set me in your presence forever. 13 Blessed be the LORD, the God of Israel, from everlasting to everlasting! Amen and Amen.
PSALM 41 3 DAY 1 Read through Psalm 41 once writing down what you find interesting, what you find helpful, and what you don t fully understand. Psalm 41 is most likely a prayer of thanksgiving in which David recounts suffering and thanks God for delivering him from it. Read through the notes on Psalm 41 in the ESV Study Bible*. Write at least one paragraph highlighting what you learned from the study notes. Reread Psalm 41, personalizing the Psalm as your own prayer. Write out that prayer. DAY 2 Read Psalm 41 again. Contrast the way David treated God (verse 4) with the way David treated his close friend (verse 9). Now contrast the way God treated David (verses 10-12) with the way his close friend treated him (verse 9). Write a few sentences explaining the difference between David s close friend and our God. Write out some of the specific ways God has responded to your sin in a similar way as he did to David s sin. This amazing display of gracious love and our response to that love is captured well in Charles Wesley s hymn, And Can It Be, That I Should Gain? And can it be that I should gain An int rest in the Savior's blood? Died He for me, who caused His pain? For me, who Him to death pursued? Amazing love! how can it be That Thou, my God, should die for me? He left His Father s throne above, So free, so infinite His grace; Emptied Himself of all but love, And bled for Adam's helpless race; Tis mercy all, immense and free; For, O my God, it found out me. Long my imprisoned spirit lay Fast bound in sin and nature s night; Thine eye diffused a quick ning ray, I woke, the dungeon flamed with light; My chains fell off, my heart was free; I rose, went forth and followed Thee.
PSALM 41 4 No condemnation now I dread; Jesus, and all in Him is mine! Alive in Him, my living Head, And clothed in righteousness divine, Bold I approach th eternal throne, And claim the crown, through Christ my own. Write out a prayer of thanksgiving to God, thanking him for the gracious love he s shown to you. DAY 3 Read Psalm 41 again. Read verses 5-10 and write a sentence or two summarizing the situation David recounts to God in prayer. Now, write a sentence or two explaining a way that is similar to a current situation in your life. When his friend Judas betrayed him, Jesus used verse 9 to describe his situation (see John 13:18). Jesus knows what it is like to be betrayed by a close friend. He understands your present situation. Therefore, he can help you in your time of need (see Hebrews 4:14-1). Both David and Jesus followed a similar pattern when betrayed by close friends: Each continued entrusting himself to him who judges justly (1 Peter 2:23). They entrusted their vindication to God. Now read verses 11-12 again and again until you understand the confidence David expresses in those verses and the reasons you have a similar confidence, even in the face of interpersonal conflict and betrayal. Write a few sentences explaining the confidence you have in God. Based on what you ve written on verses 5-12, write out a prayer that starts with O Lord, be gracious to me (verse 4) and ends with I know that you delight in me (verse 11). DAY 4 Read Psalm 41 again, focusing on verses 1-3. Read the notes in the ESV Study Bible on verses 1-3 to sharpen your understanding of these verses. Spend some time meditating on verses 1-3 (for more information on meditating on Scripture, see the reading guide for Psalm 7, Day 3.) As you meditate on those verses, try to answer these four questions: How does this show me something about God to praise? How does this show me something about myself to confess? How does this show me something I need to ask God for? How does this show me something I need to do in response to God s mercy?
PSALM 41 5 Read through what you ve written, and based on that, write out a prayer to God. DAY 5 Read through Psalm 41 twice. Write out at least two paragraphs reflecting on what you ve learned about God, yourself, and others from Psalm 41. Write out at least one thing you hope to apply to your life from Psalm 41. Spend at least 15 minutes sharing what you wrote with a trusted friend or family member. If they read Psalm 41 this week, ask them to do the same. End your time in prayer, thanking God for what he taught you this week. * Purchasing an ESV Study Bible (Wheaton, Ill.: Crossway Bibles, 2008.) will aid you in your understanding of the Psalms. The first day s reading each week assumes you will have access to the notes in the ESV Study Bible. The ESV Study Bible is the most comprehensive study Bible ever published. It will help you understand not just the Psalms, but also the rest of the Bible in a deeper way. You can either buy the Bible (amazon.com, search: ESV Study Bible) or purchase online access to the notes at www.esvbible.org.
PSALM 41 6 Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version (ESV ), copyright 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved. 2013 Elliot Grudem.