August 20, 2017 – Psalm 23 – From the lives of David and Jesus – Thy Rod and Thy Staff

“for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.” KJV Psalm 23:4b

2 Samuel 7:4-17 – New International Version (NIV)

⁴ But that night the word of the Lord came to Nathan, saying:

⁵ “Go and tell my servant David, ‘This is what the Lord says: Are you the one to build me a house to dwell in? ⁶ I have not dwelt in a house from the day I brought the Israelites up out of Egypt to this day. I have been moving from place to place with a tent as my dwelling. ⁷ Wherever I have moved with all the Israelites, did I ever say to any of their rulers whom I commanded to shepherd my people Israel, “Why have you not built me a house of cedar?”’

⁸ “Now then, tell my servant David, ‘This is what the Lord Almighty says: I took you from the pasture, from tending the flock, and appointed you ruler over my people Israel. ⁹ I have been with you wherever you have gone, and I have cut off all your enemies from before you. Now I will make your name great, like the names of the greatest men on earth. ¹⁰ And I will provide a place for my people Israel and will plant them so that they can have a home of their own and no longer be disturbed. Wicked people will not oppress them anymore, as they did at the beginning ¹¹ and have done ever since the time I appointed leaders over my people Israel. I will also give you rest from all your enemies.

“‘The Lord declares to you that the Lord himself will establish a house for you: ¹² When your days are over and you rest with your ancestors, I will raise up your offspring to succeed you, your own flesh and blood, and I will establish his kingdom. ¹³ He is the one who will build a house for my Name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. ¹⁴ I will be his father, and he will be my son. When he does wrong, I will punish him with a rod wielded by men, with floggings inflicted by human hands. ¹⁵ But my love will never be taken away from him, as I took it away from Saul, whom I removed from before you. ¹⁶ Your house and your kingdom will endure forever before me; your throne will be established forever.’”

¹⁷ Nathan reported to David all the words of this entire revelation.

What came to Nathan in the night (verse 4)?

Who was Nathan to tell “this is what the Lord says” (verse 5)?

What has the Lord been dwelling in as He moved from place to place (verse 6)?

Who did the Lord move with (verse 7)?

In your opinion, why did the Lord tell Nathan to tell David “I took you from the pasture, from tending the flock, and appointed you ruler over my people Israel” (verse 8)?

What will the Lord do with David’s name (verse 9)?

What has the Lord provided for “my people Israel” (verse 10)?

In your opinion, what is the Lord promising with this statement “The Lord declares to you that the Lord himself will establish a house for you” (verse 11)?

Who will succeed David (verse 12)?

How long will the “throne of his kingdom” last (verse 13)?

How will David’s successor be punished (verse 14)?

What will never be taken away from David’s successor (verse 15)?

How long will David’s throne be established (verse 16)?

What did Nathan report to David (verse 17)?

In your opinion, what is the basic message of this passage?

John 11:30-44 - New International Version (NIV)

³⁰ Now Jesus had not yet entered the village, but was still at the place where Martha had met him. ³¹ When the Jews who had been with Mary in the house, comforting her, noticed how quickly she got up and went out, they followed her, supposing she was going to the tomb to mourn there.

³² When Mary reached the place where Jesus was and saw him, she fell at his feet and said, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.”

³³ When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come along with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in spirit and troubled. ³⁴ “Where have you laid him?” he asked.

“Come and see, Lord,” they replied.

³⁵ Jesus wept.

³⁶ Then the Jews said, “See how he loved him!”

³⁷ But some of them said, “Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man have kept this man from dying?”

³⁸ Jesus, once more deeply moved, came to the tomb. It was a cave with a stone laid across the entrance. ³⁹ “Take away the stone,” he said.

“But, Lord,” said Martha, the sister of the dead man, “by this time there is a bad odor, for he has been there four days.”

⁴⁰ Then Jesus said, “Did I not tell you that if you believe, you will see the glory of God?”

⁴¹ So they took away the stone. Then Jesus looked up and said, “Father, I thank you that you have heard me. ⁴² I knew that you always hear me, but I said this for the benefit of the people standing here, that they may believe that you sent me.”

⁴³ When he had said this, Jesus called in a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!” ⁴⁴ The dead man came out, his hands and feet wrapped with strips of linen, and a cloth around his face.

Jesus said to them, “Take off the grave clothes and let him go.”

Where was Jesus (verse 30)?

What were the Jews with Mary doing (verse 31)?

In your opinion, why does Mary think that if Jesus had been there her brother would not have died (verse 32)?

Why was Jesus “deeply moved in spirit and troubled” (verse 33)?

How did they answer Jesus question “where have you laid him” (verse 34)?

What did Jesus do (verse 35)?

In your opinion, why did some of the Jews say “could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man have kept this man from dying” (verse 37)?

What was the tomb (verse 38)?

Why did Martha not want the stone to be taken away (verse 39)?

What was Martha to see if she believed (verse 40)?

Who did Jesus thank (verse 41)?

What did Jesus want the “people standing here” to believe (verse 42)?

What did Jesus call “in a loud voice” (verse 43)?

Who came out with “his hands and feet wrapped with strips of linen, and a cloth around his face” (verse 44)?

In your opinion, what is the basic message of this passage?

In your opinion, how is Jesus calling Lazarus back from the dead in John 11:30-44 a powerful beginning in the establishment of His kingdom as the Lord promised David’s descendant in 2 Samuel 7:4-17?

2 Corinthians 1:3-7 - New International Version (NIV)

³ Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, ⁴ who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God. ⁵ For just as we share abundantly in the sufferings of Christ, so also our comfort abounds through Christ. ⁶ If we are distressed, it is for your comfort and salvation; if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which produces in you patient endurance of the same sufferings we suffer. ⁷ And our hope for you is firm, because we know that just as you share in our sufferings, so also you share in our comfort.

What is the “God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ” the Father of (verse 3)?

What is the “God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ” the God of (verse 3)?

Why does the “God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ” comfort “us in all our troubles” (verse 4)?

In your opinion, why does Paul say that we “share abundantly in the sufferings of Christ” (verse 5)?

What does Paul’s distress and comfort, which are both for the comfort of the Corinthians, to produce in the Corinthians (verse 6)?

Why is Paul’s hope for the Corinthians firm (verse 7)?

In your opinion, what is the basic message of this passage?

In your opinion, how does the suffering that Jesus shared with Mary and Martha in John 11:30-44 help us understand how we can “share abundantly in the sufferings of Christ” but also expect our comfort to abound through Christ as Paul says in 2 Corinthians 1:3-7?

In your opinion, how is the Lord’s promise to David through Nathan in 2 Samuel 7:4-17 demonstrate that the Lord is the “Father of compassion and the God of all comfort” as Paul describes in 2 Corinthians 1:3-7?

1 Peter 1:3-9 – New International Version (NIV)

³ Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, ⁴ and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade. This inheritance is kept in heaven for you, ⁵ who through faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time. ⁶ In all this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. ⁷ These have come so that the proven genuineness of your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed. ⁸ Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, ⁹ for you are receiving the end result of your faith, the salvation of your souls.

Who has given us “new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead” (verse 3)?

Where is the “inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade” kept for us (verse 4)?

How are we “shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time” (verse 5)?

In your opinion, how can we “greatly rejoice” even though “for a little while you have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trails” (verse 6)?

Why have the trials come (verse 7)?

Who do we love, even though we have not seen Him (verse 8)?

Why are we “filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy” (verses 8 and 9)?

In your opinion, what is the basic message of this passage?

In your opinion, how does the comfort in suffering that Paul talks about in 2 Corinthians 1:3-7 become the great rejoicing even though there may be grief as Peter describes in 1 Peter 1:3-9?

In your opinion, how is Jesus calling Lazarus from the grave in John 11:30-44 a wonderful foreshadowing of the “new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead” that Peter proclaims in 1 Peter 1:3-9?

In your opinion, how would David’s understanding of the house “that the Lord himself will establish . . . for you” in Nathan’s message to of 2 Samuel 7:4-17 be different from what is revealed in 1 Peter 1:3-9?

In your opinion, what do these passages from 2 Samuel, John, 2 Corinthians and 1 Peter teach us about today’s passage from Psalm 23, “for thou are with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me”?

In your opinion, how do these passages guide us to understand how the same Jesus who wept at Lazarus’s tomb and endured floggings from human hands can comfort us in our griefs and trials?

(sprucewhispers.blogspot.com)