Small Group Resources
Small Group Discussion Questions
June 14 - 20
Sermon Series: Birth of a Nation
Week 2: Leah & Rachel
Ice Breaker if Needed
When was the last time you tried a new-to-you food? What was it and would you eat it again?
Discussion Questions
1. We know the end of the messy, heartbreaking story of Laban, Jacob, Leah, and Rachel --- Jesus! Talk about or write down the story, focusing on Genesis 29:16-30. What were the motivations of each person? What did they endure? Why wasn’t the path to Jesus simply straightforward: Jacob loves Rachel, he marries her, they have 12 sons who become the 12 tribes? Was/is your path to Jesus simply straightforward? Why or why not?
2. Read Genesis 29:31-35. The Lord didn’t make Jacob love Leah. What did He do instead? What was Leah’s response? How was she comforted? What dream did she persist in holding onto? Identify what shifted in Leah’s language as she describes what the Lord was doing for her.
3. The Lord sees (v. 32) and hears (v. 33). In your struggles, are you quick to look to the Lord? Are you quick to pray with expectation He hears you? Take a few moments to remember or reflect on the lowest, loneliest circumstances you have faced or are facing. How was/is God seeing you, hearing you, tending your broken heart? Read Psalm 34:18 and allow it to minister to you.
4. Read Genesis 29:34. What did Leah misunderstand about the birth of Levi? She understood God sees and God hears, but she wasn’t quite at the end of leaning on her own understanding. Leah no longer seems to want Jacob’s love. She simply wants him to be “attached.” What does that signal about her growing understanding of her circumstances? What did it free her to do? How does coming to the end of yourself set you free? What does it look like to thrive in a barren season?