Study Questions - Bible Discovery [21]

Date: August 122, 2004
Passage: Psalm 42
Message: How Then Shall We Worship
Series: Bible Discovery [21]

The Psalms are a reflection of the ancient worship of the people of God. You will find every human emotion in these books. You cannot read them without seeing your self in here.
They will challenge you, comfort you, bewilder you and inspire you.

1. What is the first thought that comes to your mind when you hear the word ‘worship’? Why did you think that? Does it reflect the true nature of worship?

2. Read Psalm 42. Clearly the writer was grieving the fact that he could not meet for corporate worship in the temple.
# How do you value the times we come together on Sunday for worship?
# How would you describe / critique the ‘worship phenomenon’ that has engulfed the Church in the last 20 years.

3. One person writes, "worship is not hysterical, it is historical. Many people, when they come to worship, do it in some kind of ecstasy that is not rooted in history. It is merely existential and emotional activity in which one works up a kind of giddiness that hardly relates to reality". Discuss.

4. Read Psalm 42:1-2 Share something of what you understand by hunger and thirst. What are you like when you have been treated unfairly and you hunger for justice? How do you feel when you are exhausted from demands at home and work and you are so thirsty for a break from it all? How would you describe your hunger and thirst for God?

5. Read v8-9 They give us two very different pictures of how the psalmist felt almost in the same breath. One moment God’s love is all encompassing, the next he feels deserted by God. How can this be so? How is our worship enriched by these conflicting emotions?