How would you articulate the main theme of this psalm?

What is Asaph praying for?  What are the attitudes and motivations that are beneath his prayer?

Asaph says that the people of God are surrounded by their enemies (83:6-8), who are working together (83:5) to oppose and annihilate them (83:3-4).  How does this inform how Christians should understand their relationship with the world?  How should Christians live in and engage with a world that is often hostile to God, and to his people?

What is Asaph referencing in 83:9-12?  (See also Judges 4-8.)  How do those historical events inform Asaph’s prayer?

How does God’s faithfulness in our lives in the past help us to trust God, and pray, and persevere through suffering in our lives in the present?

Do you think that it is okay for Christians today to pray imprecatory prayers like these - praying for God’s judgment to come against their enemies?  Why or why not?

Asaph prays that his enemies would experience shame (83:16-17).  Do you think that shame is fundamentally a good thing, or a bad thing?  Are there times when shame can be good and helpful in a person’s life?  Why or why not?

83:17-18 seems to imply that God can be (and is) glorified - even through the eternal judgment and punishment of his enemies.  How can this be?  How is God glorified through the salvation of his people?  How is God glorified through the judgment of his enemies?

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