Small Group Guide“Sing Your Pain”

Psalm 88

Message Summary

Continuing the Sing: Psalms for Life series, Psalm 88 is a psalm by Heman, one of the worship leaders in Israel, which expresses a time in his life when his pain had overtaken his theology. He was wrestling with the extreme tension between what he knew about God and what he was feeling in his life. Last week’s message on Psalm 62 invites us to sing our trust in God, and as a whole, the Book of Psalms is filled with the kind of singing that prepares us for living in a real world with an unshakable hope in God.

Psalm 88, in particular, explores the time when life is at its lowest point. In it, the psalmist cries out to God, noting the differences between what he knows and what he feels. Through feelings of desperation, argument, and isolation, he candidly questions God and what He’s doing in his life and in the world around him. Heman’s troubles were overflowing, and he felt on the verge of death, wondering why God was hiding His face from him.

Though the psalm itself ends with darkness, 3,000 years later, we see the bigger picture of how the story ends—how Christ Himself fully took on and defeated the anguish in Psalm 88. Jesus bore this anguish, so we could be restored and be with Him forever. We need this psalm because we still live in a fallen world with real emotions, and through this psalm, we see our need to help each other sing our pain before God by listening to each other, empathizing with each other, and praying for each other.

Discussion & Application Questions

After briefly reviewing the message summary, use these questions to further examine the sermon and to discuss how these truths apply to daily life, so we can “be doers of the word, and not hearers only” (Jas. 1:22). Based on your knowledge of the people in your small group, select the questions that will best help you frame the group’s discussion of this sermon and sermon text.

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DESPERATION: “I HAVE HAD ENOUGH TROUBLES”

1. How do you know that the writer of this psalm was desperate? What descriptive words does he use in the psalm?

2. What kinds of things do people do when they feel desperate? Why should prayer be our first response?

3. Why is there often a disconnect between what we know about God and how we feel and act?

4. Application: How do we connect our knowledge of truth to our feelings and actions? What does this need to look like for you this week?

5. Consider the psalmist’s exchanges with God—the “I . . . You” statements. How are these statements reveal what is happening in the writer’s soul? If you were to make a list of “I . . . You” statements, what would they be during this season of your life? During a dark season of your life?

6. Think about a time in your life when you felt like your troubles were brimming or maxed. Was prayer your response to them? Why or why not? How does this psalm encourage you to take even your most bitter feelings to God’s throne?

ARGUMENT: “DO YOU WORK WONDERS FOR THE DEAD?”

7. “Do you work wonders for the dead?” is a rhetorical question in this psalm, indicating the psalmist’s desire to live. What words does the psalmist want to live to declare?

8. In the sermon, Pastor Matt said, “God gets unique praise when He rescues His people in the sight of the world.” Think through the Old and New Testaments. Which stories come to mind that illustrate this truth?

9. The psalmist’s desire to live stemmed from his Old Testament understanding of the “blessed life”—in the Promised Land, seeing his children’s children. He wrote this Psalm apart from a big-picture understanding of Jesus. Read Philippians 2:5-11; 3:7-11. How did Paul’s extreme love for and surrender to Jesus shape his view of suffering and death?

10. Application: How has your outlook on life in the midst of suffering changed because of Jesus? Do His life, death, and resurrection take away your questions about suffering in life? Why not? What does it look like to “sing your pain” to God from the perspective of the cross?

ISOLATION: “WHY DO YOU HIDE YOUR FACE FROM ME?”

11. How was the deafening silence of God making life unsustainable for the psalmist? 12. Is it possible to have faith and feel that God is hiding His face from you? Why? Does

right knowledge about God always yield sustaining belief? What makes the psalmist keep asking when his prayers were going unanswered? (faith)

13. What happens when we use our feelings (instead of our knowledge of God through His Word) as an indicator of our faith and trust in God?

14. How have you seen your feelings deceive you?15. Application: When you feel like God has hidden Himself from you, what choices are in

front of you? Why should you choose to turn to Him in prayer even though you may feel like He is not listening? How does God desire for us as a Body of Believers to help each other when we feel like we don’t see or hear God?

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RESTORATION: HOW THE STORY ENDS AND HOW WE HELP EACH OTHER

16. How did Jesus experience Psalm 88? What was the purpose? How does Jesus’ being forsaken assure you that you never will be forsaken?

17. Application: Whom might God be calling you to pray for or encourage this week? How can you listen, empathize, and pray without minimizing your friend’s true pain and suffering?

18. Application: If your faith is weak right now, how does the truth that Jesus was forsaken so you never will be forsaken encourage you to pray? Is there someone with whom you can share what you’re going through so that he or she can pray with you over your suffering? When will you share your struggles with them?

Things to Consider

If you have people in your group who did not hear the sermon, read the sermon text (Psalm 88) together and briefly summarize the main points of the sermon. Recapping the sermon text and sermon outline can also be a helpful way to start the group, even if everyone did hear the sermon.

As a group, discuss how personal intense times of pain can be, noting the three truths of application at the end of the sermon—Listen, Empathize, and Pray. Encourage your group to not to be like Job’s friends, trying to give answers to those who suffer, but to empathize. Discuss how to practically do this, especially when the person you’re trying to encourage is walking through something you have not had to face.

In the same way that Pastor Matt opened the altar at the end of the service, carve out time in the group meeting to pray for those going through intense suffering, laying hands on them and praying aloud for them. Spend as much time in prayer as the Spirit leads you to spend.

Conclude your group time by reminding everyone of last week’s message that we find our refuge in God, especially when our circumstances are full of challenges. Encourage them to stay close to God’s Word, praying and trusting God even when feelings and theology do not seem to match. Encourage each other with God’s Word and consider singing some of the songs from the Worship Gathering. Be sure to follow up with prayer during the week, possibly by dividing into prayer partners (men with men and women with women) with whom you can share specific prayer needs for the week ahead.

Weekly Prayer Focus

Pray for Our Church: Praise God for His faithfulness to us, through both our joys and our struggles. Ask the Spirit to empower us to be honest in our suffering, that we will suffer well for His

glory

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Pray for Our City: Pray for Serve Week 2017, a united initiative among local churches and ministry

partners to love and serve the East Lake community in Jesus’ name.

Pray for Our World: Pray for the Global Cities team in Southeast Asia and for our Short-Term teams serving

in Dearborn, Atlanta, the Middle East, and Southeast Asia.

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