Morningview Family Worship Week of June 27, 2010
Psalm for Prayer and Praise: Psalm 139 (ESV)
1 O Lord, you have searched me and known me!
2 You know when I sit down and when I rise up; you discern my thoughts from afar.
3 You search out my path and my lying down and are acquainted with all my ways.
4 Even before a word is on my tongue, behold, O Lord, you know it altogether.
5 You hem me in, behind and before, and lay your hand upon me.
6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high; I cannot attain it.
7 Where shall I go from your Spirit? Or where shall I flee from your presence?
8 If I ascend to heaven, you are there! If I make my bed in Sheol, you are there!
9 If I take the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea,
10 even there your hand shall lead me, and your right hand shall hold me.
11 If I say, “Surely the darkness shall cover me, and the light about me be night,”
12 even the darkness is not dark to you; the night is bright as the day, for darkness is as light with you.
13 For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother’s womb.
14 I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well.
15 My frame was not hidden from you, when I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth.
16 Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them.
17 How precious to me are your thoughts, O God! How vast is the sum of them!
18 If I would count them, they are more than the sand. I awake, and I am still with you.
19 Oh that you would slay the wicked, O God! O men of blood, depart from me!
20 They speak against you with malicious intent; your enemies take your name in vain!
21 Do I not hate those who hate you, O Lord? And do I not loathe those who rise up against you?
22 I hate them with complete hatred; I count them my enemies.
23 Search me, O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts!
24 And see if there be any grievous way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting!
Scripture Memory for the Week: Psalm 139:13-14
For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well.
Praying through the Psalms
Day 1 ~ The Wonderful knowledge of God
Read: Psalm 139:1-6
Consider:
For Adults: This Psalm is all about God’s omniscience (His knowledge of all things) and what that means for His children. As you consider today’s verses, notice how God’ s knowledge not only encompasses where you are in geography(space), it also encompasses where you are in chronology (time). Consider verse 6 and meditate on all the reasons that this should cause the Christian to rejoice.
Older Children: Have you ever wondered if God knows your thoughts? Read verse 4 and then verse 2. What does the Bible teach us about how deeply God knows us?
Younger Children: Have you ever had your Mom or Dad tuck in your covers nice and tight on a cold night so that your bed felt especially nice? Read verse 5 again with your parents. How is God’s care of His people like being tucked into your bed?
Family Application: Talk together today about how God is intimately acquainted with the small details of our lives and how even in the smallest things, He cares for His people. How should this change the way we feel, think and act?
Pray: Talk together thanking God for His wonderful knowledge of our lives and His tender care. Pray together that God would help us to honor Him in the little things we do, the things we say and even the things that we think.
Meditate: Write this week’s memory verses on a white board in your home and/or on index cards that each family member can carry with them during the week.
Day 2 ~ The Inescapable Knowledge of God
Read: Psalm 139:7-16
Consider:
For Adults: In these verses we find the famous affirmation of the creator’s touch and tender forming of children even while still in the womb. Consider how this relates to God’s knowledge and think about how God’s knowledge not only pursues us wherever we go, but it actively forms us. Just as God shapes our bodies, scripture also affirms that God shapes our destinies (v.16). Consider the trials you face today in light of this. Is there any trial in your life that God has not designed for your ultimate joy in Him?
Older Children: Is there any place on earth that a Christian can be taken that is apart from God’s presence(v.7-12)? Is there any day or time in a Christian’s life when God is not working out His plan for them? How should this bring comfort to believers?
Younger Children: Have you ever seen what mothers look like and how their bodies are different the months before their baby is born? What does the Bible teach us that God is doing inside the mother? Why do you think babies (and people) are so precious to God? Why should they be precious to us?
Family Application: Talk together about how God’s knowledge isn’t passive, but how it is active and how God works to not only shape our bodies, but to shape our lives according to His good will. Read Romans 8:26-30 together.
Pray: Thank God for how He has made man in His own image and for how He tenderly cares for His people and shapes their lives for His glory and their greatest joy in Him. Pray that God would have you to rest in this wonderful knowledge and that He would increase your love for Him.
Meditate: See if anyone in the family can quote this week’s memory verse. Make new note cards of any of the cards from day 1 that may have been lost.
Day 3 ~ The Sanctifying Knowledge of God
Read: Psalm 139:17-24
Consider:
For Adults: In these final verses, we see the psalmist 1) delighting in God’ s omniscience, 2) declaring His loyalty to God’s decreed purposes and 3) inviting God’s further examination into his own life. Given that between our perspective and the perspective of the psalmist, the Cross stands high declaring the satisfaction of God’s justice and His free offer of mercy to sinners, how should you articulate your loyalty to God’s purpose and character today?
Older Children: Read verses 19 and 20 again. What types of things are the enemies of God doing in these verse? If they do not turn to Jesus in repentance and faith, what will happen to these people when Jesus finally returns to the earth as Judge? How should Christians pray for these people and show them pity even while hating their unrighteousness?
Younger Children: If a person loves God and loves God’s goodness, how should they feel about Satan and sin and unrighteousness? Since we know that Jesus died to save sinners from being prisoners to the power of sin and Satan, how should we pray for them today?
Family Application: Talk together about how God’s justice is fully satisfied in the cross of Jesus for all those who come to Him in repentance and faith. Talk about how we should pray for and pity those who make themselves God’s enemies by their unrepentant sinfulness.
Pray: Pray verses 23 and 24 together, asking God to give you hearts that hate sinfulness, but love mercy. Pray that God would restrain evil all over the world and that he would compel sinners to turn from their rebellion and to trust and follow Jesus.
Meditate: See again if anyone in the family can quote this week’s memory verse. Talk about any ways that this verse has encouraged or taught you this week.
Hymn of the Week
http://www.cyberhymnal.org/htm/a/m/a/amazing_grace.htm
