Life Group Questions – 5/21

Summer in the Psalms

Read: Psalm 1:1-6
1  How happy is the one who does not walk in the advice of the wicked or stand in the pathway with sinners or sit in the company of mockers! 2  Instead, his delight is in the LORD’s instruction, and he meditates on it day and night. 3  He is like a tree planted beside flowing streams [a] that bears its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither. Whatever he does prospers. 4  The wicked are not like this; instead, they are like chaff that the wind blows away. 5  Therefore the wicked will not stand up 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 leads to ruin.

Transformation Questions:

  • Before we dive into Psalm 1, do you have a favorite psalm? What makes it your favorite?
  • How does the knowledge that the psalms functioned as the Israelites hymnbook change how you understand them?
  • What are the two ways that are seen in Psalm 1? How does the psalmist describe these two paths?
  • What are practical ways to delight in the Lord’s instruction?
  • In Proverbs, a tree is a metaphor for wisdom. What does the tree represent here in verse 3? Why is that significant?
  • Why is the fact that the tree has man-made irrigation channels an important detail pointed out by the psalmist?
  • What fruit should we bear if we are living godly lives?
  • What are the long-term ramifications for the two different paths laid out in this psalm?
  • Why are the wicked like chaff? What does that signify?
  • God intimately knows the way of the righteous. How does his intimate knowledge inform
    your everyday actions?
  • How can we keep an eternal perspective in the midst of our hectic lives?