Part of the HARBOR HAWAIʻI ʻOhana
HARBOR HAWAIʻI ʻOhana

Sermon Questions and Resources

Ascend with God’s Protection

Community Group Discussion Questions
Week of May 17
Psalm 124

OPENER

  • What’s something you’ve survived that, looking back, you genuinely have no idea how you made it through?

DISCUSSION
David wrote Psalm 124 after God delivered Israel from an enemy that should have destroyed them completely. His conclusion wasn’t “we fought hard,” it was “if the Lord hadn’t been on our side, we’d be gone.” This psalm is a call to stop confusing God’s grace with our own greatness, and to pursue His protection by remembering who’s fighting, keep singing, and keep trusting.

  • Read Psalm 124:1–3. David says it wasn’t his strategy or strength, it was the Lord. Where do you most naturally take credit for something that was probably God’s protection?
  • Read Psalm 124:3–5. David piles up three images — swallowed alive, swept away, caught in a net. Which one feels most like your life right now?
  • Read Psalm 124:6–7. The net is torn. The bird escapes. What’s a snare in your life right now that you need to remember has already been broken?
  • Read Psalm 124:1. “Let Israel say!”David won’t sing alone. How has singing together in a hard season actually strengthened you?
  • Read Psalm 124:8. Present tense- our help is in the Lord. What makes it hard to believe that in your ordinary, regular life right now?
  • Growing as a Worshipper: Worship in this psalm is a war cry from someone who almost didn’t make it. Where are you going through the motions instead of worshipping from a place of real remembrance? What’s one way to change that this week?
  • Fruit → Root: When the fruit is self-reliance or anxiety, what root might be underneath — a belief that God isn’t really for you, or a fear of being left alone in the hard place? How does Psalm 124 reframe that?

ACTION STEP

  • What is one thing you’ve been white-knuckling that you can physically, practically release to God this week, and what would releasing it actually look like?

DIG DEEPER
We study Scripture to understand what it says, means, and intends, patiently walking with the text instead of moving too quickly to application.

OBSERVATION – What Does It Say?

  • Read Psalm 124:1–5. The psalm opens with a repeated phrase — “If the Lord had not been on our side.” What does the repetition tell us about how the psalmist wants us to feel the weight of what God rescued them from?
  • Read Psalm 124:1–5. The psalmist uses three vivid images — a flood, a torrent, and raging waters. What do these images have in common, and what kind of threat do they describe?
  • Read Psalm 124:6–8. How does the psalm shift in tone from verses 1–5 to verses 6–8? What moves from danger to declaration?

INTERPRETATION – What Does It Mean?

  • Read Psalm 124:2–3. The phrase “when people rose up against us” points to a real, personal enemy. What does it mean that the threat here isn’t abstract — it’s people? What does that tell us about the kind of God Israel needed?
  • Read Psalm 124:7. The image of a bird escaping a broken snare is striking. What does it suggest about Israel’s own power to escape — and where the credit belongs?
  • Read Psalm 124:8. The psalm ends with a confession: “Our help is in the name of the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth.” Why does it matter that the psalmist anchors Israel’s confidence in God’s name and His role as Creator?

CROSS REFERENCE & CONTEXT(Connect the Bible to Itself)

  • Psalm 124 is a Song of Ascents sung by pilgrims going up to Jerusalem. Read Psalm 121:2 alongside Psalm 124:8. Why do you think this declaration — “Our help is in the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth” — appears in multiple Songs of Ascents? What does the repetition across the collection tell us?
  • Read Romans 8:31 — “If God is for us, who can be against us?” How does Paul’s declaration echo the logic of Psalm 124:1–2? What does the New Testament add to what the psalm already affirms?
  • Psalm 124 has strong echoes of Israel’s Exodus deliverance. Read Exodus 14:13–14 and Psalm 124:1–5 together. How does seeing Psalm 124 through the lens of the Exodus deepen our understanding of what kind of rescue the psalmist is celebrating — and how does the cross become the ultimate fulfillment of that pattern?

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