A Lamp to My Feet: Psalm 119 Week 2

Click here for the free printable download of “A Lamp to My Feet: A Study of Psalm 119” Week 2

Week 2, Day 1:

Pray: Dear Lord, “When I am afraid, I put my trust in You. In God, Whose Word I praise, in God I trust; I shall not be afraid. What can flesh do to me? You have kept count of my tossings; put my tears in Your bottle. Are they not in Your book? Then my enemies will turn back in the day when I call. This I know, that God is for me. In God, Whose Word I praise, in the Lord, Whose Word I praise, in God I trust; I shall not be afraid. What can man do to me?” (Psalm 56:3-4, 8-11).

Hear: Let’s begin our study today by gaining context. Read Psalm 119 and highlight in orange everything you learn about the Psalmist’s circumstances. What was the Psalmist experiencing when he wrote this? What was being done to him? What was he feeling? Was he in a season of green pastures and still waters, or was it a season of walking through the valley of the shadow of death?

Do: Your memory verse this week is Psalm 119:3-4, “who also do no wrong, but walk in His ways! You have commanded Your precepts to be kept diligently.” As you practice, try saying it together with verses 1-2 (last week’s memory verse).

Week 2, Day 2

Pray: “I am severely afflicted; give me life, O Lord, according to Your Word! Accept my freewill offering of praise, O Lord, and teach me Your rules” (Psalm 119:107-108).

Hear: Yesterday we learned that the Psalmist was experiencing a season of affliction and suffering. In the left-hand column of the chart on page 17 of the free printable download, write what he was experiencing (you highlighted these in orange yesterday). Be sure to include the reference (this will help you later when you fill in the right-hand column). Please note, I provided more rows than you will probably need, just in case you highlighted some that I didn’t. I’ve done three as an example below.

vs	What the Psalmist was Experiencing	How the Psalmist Responded
22	He is experiencing scorn and contempt
23	Princes sit plotting against him

Do: Do you sympathize with the writer of Psalm 119? Have you ever felt like your soul was melting away from sorrow (Psalm 119:28)? Have the insolent ever smeared you with lies and wronged you with falsehood (Psalm 119:69, 78)? Have you been severely afflicted by man’s oppression (Psalm 119:107)? Read through the list of experiences given by the Psalmist and choose one or two which you are either currently experiencing or have experienced in the past. Write it on one side of a note card and set the note card aside (we will use it again later this week). As our study continues, we will learn to handle these experiences according to the Word of God, but for now take comfort in the Words of Jesus. Jesus said, “If the world hates you, know that it has hated Me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you” (John 15:18-19). “In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world” (John 16:33a)

Week 2, Day 3:

Pray: Dear Lord, Help me! “When the righteous cry for help, the Lord hears and delivers them out of their troubles. The Lord is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit. Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the Lord delivers him out of them all.” (Psalm 34:17-19)

Hear: How did the Psalmist respond to his difficulties? In the right-hand column of the chart on page 17 of the free printable download, write the Psalmist’s response/statement to each of his afflictions.

Do: Yesterday you wrote on a note card the affliction/afflictions you are currently experiencing or have experienced in the past. Take out the note card and on the other side write the response the Psalmist gives to the affliction. Put it somewhere you can easily find it and next time you experience that affliction take out the note card and read it, choosing to follow the Psalmists example and live according to the Word of God.

Week 2, Day 4:

Pray: Dear Lord, I believe that I shall look upon Your goodness in the land of the living! I will wait for You; I will be strong and I will let my heart take courage. I will wait for the Lord! (Psalm 27:13-14)

Hear: As believers, we know we will be persecuted in this world. 2 Timothy 3:12-13 says, “Indeed, all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted, while evil people and impostors will go on from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived.” However, Psalm 119 gives us life giving truths to cling to in the midst of affliction.

Read Psalm 119 and highlight in yellow everything you learn about affliction.
Now, it’s time to take notes. If you have studied with me before then you should already have a section for “Suffering and Affliction” in your Cross-Reference Journal. Add to this section everything you learned about affliction from Psalm 119. If this is your first study with me, then you will need to start a Cross-Reference Journal. First, read “A Note on Cross-Referencing” which can be found on the Surpassing-Worth.com website. Then, get a clean notebook with plenty of paper and write “Cross-Reference Journal” on the cover. Leave a blank page at the beginning of the notebook to use as a contents page later. On the top of the second page write “Suffering and Affliction.” Now write everything you have learned about Affliction from Psalm 119. These are the things you highlighted in yellow yesterday. Always take notes using the exact words of Scripture (don’t paraphrase), and don’t forget to include the verse’s reference so you can easily locate it later.

Do: Read slowly over what you just wrote regarding affliction. What is the key? What is both our sustenance and the purpose of affliction?

At the beginning of this lesson I wrote that “all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted, while evil people and impostors will go on from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived” (2 Timothy 3:12-13). In this passage Paul goes on to say, “But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have firmly believed, knowing from Whom you learned it and how from childhood you have been acquainted with the Sacred Writings, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work” (2 Timothy 3:14-17). How will what you have studied today change or strengthen the way you respond to affliction? Write your prayer below.

Week 2, Day 5:

Pray: Dear Lord, I praise You for affliction will slay the wicked, and those who hate the righteous will be condemned. But You redeem the life of Your servants; and none of those who take refuge in You will be condemned. (Psalm 34:21-22)

Hear: Let’s review what we have learned this week and correlate it to the rest of Scripture by answering the questions below.

What is the Psalmist’s comfort in his affliction? (Psalm 119:50)
If God’s law had not been the Psalmist’s delight, what does the Psalmist say would have happened to him? (Psalm 119:92)
Before he was afflicted, he went astray, but now what? (Psalm 119:67)
The Psalmist says it was good for him that he was afflicted, Why? (Psalm 119:71)
Does affliction mean God has abandoned us? Is He faithful even in affliction? Read Verse 75 and write what you learn.
Who does the Psalmist ask to deliver him from his affliction? (119:153)
Now read the following passages and write what you learn regarding affliction: 2 Timothy 3:10-17, James 1:2-4,12, Romans 5:3-5, Romans 8:18, 8:28-30, Matthew 5:11-12

Do: Years ago, I wrote a Cross-Reference Journal which I titled “Battle Plans.” A bit dramatic? Not at all. We are in a war. We do not fight “against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places” (Ephesians 6:12) Therefore, we are to take up the whole armor of God, that we may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm (Ephesians 6:13). The weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds (2 Corinthians 10:4) and our weapon of offense is the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God (Ephesians 6:17). So, I started a Cross-Reference Journal to address specific battles in my life. At the top of each page, I would write whatever battle I was facing (for example anxiety, doubt, discontentment) and beneath it, a flow of verses to read (and hopefully memorize) when I faced that battle. I didn’t write every verse which taught on the subject, as I do in my regular Cross-Reference Journal, but a curated list, usually no more than a page.

In your cross-reference journal start a page called “Battle Plan in Affliction.” Then, using what you have learned today, write a flow of verses to strengthen you and combat sin when you are facing affliction.

All Scriptures Taken from the ESV unless otherwise noted.