Big Idea

When you are remorseful, move toward God and receive his grace.

Scripture

Psalm 32, David’s Story: 2 Samuel 11-12, 1 John 1:8-10

Icebreaker & Opening Questions

1. We all messed up or did crazy things when we were children. What funny story from your childhood could you share?
2. It is a universal experience to feel remorse. Remorse is the “feeling of deep regret or guilt feelings for something wrong we have done.” What do you think of that statement about remorse? What makes you have feelings of regret and guilt? What are some of the reasons we might feel remorse?
3. Do you think our society is good at expressing remorse? Why or why not?

Bible & Life Discussion

4. Read Psalm 32. What do you notice?
5. Look at verses 1-2. What images are used to talk about God’s forgiveness? What do these images tell us about the nature of forgiveness?
6. Look at verses 3-5. How would you put these verses in your own words? Can you relate to the situation the Psalm describes?
7. Read the following quote from Lewis Smedes, Christian author, ethicist, and theologian: “All ordinary people have a penchant for sensing that things are in insufferable shape around them. And they often are. Life can be miserable, horrible beyond enduring, the pits. But the secret of grace is that it can be all right at the center even when it is all wrong on the edges. For at the center, where life is open to the Creator and Savior God, we are held, led, loved, cared for, and inseparably bound into the future that he has for every child whom he claims as his.” What do you think about this statement? Do you focus more on what’s wrong on the edges or what’s at the center?
8. How can we be more open to God this week?