Bible Studies

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The Songs
Psalm 80:1-7, 17-19 - Saved by Love
Key Verses: (NCV)

• 3: “God, take us back. Show us your kindness so we can be saved." - This psalm is a prayer by Asaph at a time when the people of Israel had been struggling through the bitterness of defeat by the Assyrians.
  
  
• 4: "Lord God All-Powerful, how long will you be angry at the prayers of your people?" - The difficult times they had faced were as a result of their sinfulness and drifting from following God's ways.
  
  
• 5: "You have fed your people with tears; you have made them drink many tears." - Struggles in life, especially those filled with pain and suffering, provide us with opportunities to learn and grow closer to God.
  
  
• 7: “God All-Powerful, take us back. Show us your kindness so we can be saved." - Regardless of the issues in life we face, this prayer resounds with the basic need to experience God's love.
  
  
• 17-18: "With your hand, strengthen the one you have chosen for yourself. ¹⁸Then we will not turn away from you. Give us life again, and we will call to you for help." - The first step towards renewed life and hope is recognizing that God is the source from which our salvation comes.
  
  
• 19: “Lord God All-Powerful, take us back. Show us your kindness so we can be saved." - Again, and in all things, when we worship God and pray for Him to save us we experience His love in amazing ways.
  

Points to Contemplate:

• Are you saved? What does salvation mean to you? Are you seeking a life raft that will lift you out of your present circumstances and carry you away towards a life of peace? Do you want God to fix things so that the strife and hardships you face will go away? Or, do you feel that the salvation God provides is only an issue for where you will spend eternity and has nothing to do with your present set of circumstances? The psalmist is crying out for God to lift the people of Israel from their suffering. Have you experienced God's help in every aspect of your life? Do you understand that His love and saving grace is available, now, to everyone who seeks it? Are you saved?
  
  
• Have you been "drinking many tears?" Does it seem that every time you turn around you have another hardship to overcome or another challenge to address? Has life been difficult and are you simply tired of crying? Do you think it is possible that God has "fed (you) with tears" for a reason? Are challenges and hardships in life simply opportunities to grow closer to God? If everything in your life had been easy, do you think you would have grown in faith? Or, would you have become more focused on your self? In difficult times do you seek to understand the lessons God is providing? Do you seek His presence? Do you feel His love?
  
  
• Have you ever felt refreshed and renewed? In what ways? Did God send someone to you who encouraged you? Did a specific Bible verse provide an answer to a nagging or challenging problem? Were you suddenly inspired by a devotional you read or from a sermon you heard? Have you experienced a time when several things fell into place that erased barriers and opened new doors? Have you discovered that times of renewal usually come after you have turned to God for help? Have they followed times in the wilderness when you have finally prayed: "God, take (me) back. Show us (me) kindness so (I) can be saved."
  

Promise of the Gospel:

Salvation is a topic that seems to be better suited for Easter than Christmas but as we read this psalm, we come to realize that God's saving love is the basis for our relationship with Him. "When you recognize God as Creator, you will admire Him. When you recognize His wisdom, you will learn from Him. When you discover His strength, you will rely on Him. But only when He saves you will you worship Him."¹ Without His love we can find ourselves adrift in the wilderness. The hardships we face in life become unbearable. Hope is lost. But when we turn to God and call for His help we discover an amazing gift of love - a baby in a manger - and we are suddenly renewed in spirit and strength. God's love came down to earth on that first Christmas morning and with it our salvation for all time.

¹Life Lessons - Psalms 79:1-80:19, Excerpt from "In the Eye of the Storm" by Max Lucado, "The Devotional Bible - Experiencing the Heart of Jesus," New Century Version, Thomas Nelson Bibles, ©2003 Thomas Nelson, Inc., pp 691.

FUMC Devotionals

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