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| RESPOND: (12 minutes) Give each person a sheet of paper and pen and direct each individual to find a quiet place and write out a psalm of complaint to God. Ask them to stay in their places, writing to God, until they hear music. Encourage them to write about their feelings. Tell them it is okay to write anything to God, to even express anger. Show them your “sanctuary,” your prayer station where they may take their psalms to God when they hear the music. Give the youth 10 minutes to write and then put the music on. After the youth have presented their psalms to God, close in prayer. INSIGHTS FROM THE SCRIPTURE: Psalm 73 is a pivotal psalm for the entire book. The first psalm of Book 3, it challenges some of the assumptions made in other psalms, such as Psalm 1. Ironically both psalms start in a similar way, asserting that God is good to upright people. But then Psalm 73 immediately plunges into a critique against that assumption because the psalmist’s life experience doesn’t match up to that reality. To his or her mind, the wicked gain material wealth and fame and the righteous people suffer. This problem is called theodicy. Theodicy strives to deal with why good people sometimes suffer. One biblical theology (way of understanding God) that is prevalent in the Old Testament is a view called the Deuteronomistic Historical view or DH theology for short. Stated most clearly in the book of Deuteronomy (hence the name), this theology says this: God blesses faithful people and curses unfaithful people. Continued... |
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