Sticks and Stones...

So we are meeting once a week with some of the girls from our cabin at camp for a bible study. We are just reading 5 Psalm and 1 Proverb a week. I'm putting together study guides from devotionals, commentaries and other study guides online...just condensing them and putting them in 'teen-ese'.

Here's one from next week...

Psalm 12

Sticks and stones may break our bones, but can words really hurt us? How can we be God’s people in an unfaithful, lying culture? Psalm 12:1 (NIV) says, “Help, LORD, for the godly are no more; the faithful have vanished from among men.” David feels alone, and craves the help of God. Sometimes the situations we are in, the troubles we have dealt with, the thoughts we have had make us feel that we are alone. The words of others can be confusing, misleading, or other times seem to be spoken with the intent of harm. Too many times we may feel that these ‘tongues’ are right and that we are in control of our lives. But God has the only words that are flawless. "Because of the oppression of the weak and the groaning of the needy, I will now arise," says the LORD. "I will protect them from those who malign them." And the words of the LORD are flawless, like silver refined in a furnace of clay, purified seven times,” Psalm 12:5-6. David understood that people can betray each other with their lies, their self-serving nature that can lead them to glorify and honor what is wicked. David says in Psalm 12:7, “O LORD, you will keep us safe and protect us from such people forever.”

THINGS TO THINK ABOUT: Do you feel like you have, or should have control over your own life? Can words ever hurt us?

Verse to Ponder: Psalm 12:7-8 Therefore, Lord, we know you will protect the oppressed, preserving them forever from this lying generation, even though the wicked strut about, and evil is praised throughout the land.