Maadi Women's Bible Study

1. Participating in the Mystery of Prayer (Introduction)

1. How would you describe your experiences with prayer? Have you had conflicted feelings about prayers?
2. Do you think you expect too much from prayer or too little?
3. What do you understand the purpose of prayer to be?
4. What is a question or challenge you face on the topic of prayer?
5. Corrie Ten Boom famously asked “Is prayer your steering wheel or your spare tire?” What did she mean by this and how would you answer it?
6. What do you hope to experience in your prayer life?
7. Take a few minutes to write a “Breath Prayer” to use through out the week. Pick a name of God or an attribute that is meaningful to you and then follow it with deep God given desire. Example: “Son of David, have mercy on me a sinner.” Breath in and say “Son of David” and breath out and say “Have mercy upon me a sinner.” Practice through out the day saying it in quiet moments as you drive, standing and cooking. Take note of if/how it affects you and share next week.

11. Journey out of Egypt:Exodus (ch. 32-33)

Read Ex. 32-33

1. What observation do you make? What questions stand out to you? Any patterns?
2. Ex 32:14 uses an interesting word to describe God’s action. He relented from the disaster he had spoken of bringing on his people. How do you reconcile both God’s unchanging nature and the use of this word relenting?
3. In Ex. 33:12 Moses says to God “You have not let me know whom you will send with me.” What do you think Moses is asking for?
4. Why do you think Aaron and many of the Levites were allowed to live through the slaughter of 32:26?
5. What stands out to you about God’s character in ch. 32-33. What does 34:5- 6 add to this picture of God?

10. Journey out of Egypt:Exodus (ch. 28-31 For Beauty and Glory)

Before the Lesson read Ex. 28-29
What role did/does ritual and formalities  play in your worship (corporate and private) experience? How can rituals enhance your worship experience? What dangers can accompany them.
Twice in ch. 28 it says that the garments were made “for glory and for beauty.” How important is aesthetics to worship? Thoughts about beautiful cathedrals that cost lots of money? Money well spent?

After the Lesson
What thoughts do you have about God choosing Aaron and his sons for such a sacred and privileged position and role knowing that they will quickly and spectacularly fail?

Why do you think Aaron caved so quickly to the people’s demands to create an idol?

Do you have any little calfs that you bring alongside your worship of God?

 

 

9. Journey out of Egypt:Exodus (ch. 23:20-ch.24)

Before the Lesson

1. What are your preconceived feelings and thoughts when you hear or think about the slavery laws or instruction about Israel conquering the land?
2. Read Exodus 23:20-33. What reasons are given for the conquest? What specifically are the Israelites asked to do? Does what the text actually say differ much from what your preconceived ideas were? In what ways?
3. If someone said to you, “Whatever God’s law is, I am going to follow it perfectly!” what would you say to them?
4. Do you think the people's response in verse 7 was foolish? Why or why not?

After the Lesson Questions

1. Share about a time that you acted in obedience to God without understanding why? What did you learn from the experience?
2. After this intense ritual meal with God, Aaron and his sons descend the mountain back to the people. In Moses absence Aaron commits a heinous sin (Ex 32) and later his son’s are killed for improper worship.  (Lev 10) What thoughts do you have about this?
3. Have you had times of deep intimacy and then failure? How do you process this? In what ways have grown through these cycles?
4. What attribute of God did you see in this week’s passage that particularly struck you? How should it change the way you pray, think, speak or act this week?

8. Journey out of Egypt:Exodus (ch.20:22-23:9)

Before the Lesson

Individually Read Ex 20:22-ch.23:9 and write down any questions and observations that you note. Look for repeated words, and phrases or situations that sound familiar.

Before Lesson

Exodus 20:22-23:33 is commonly known as the “Book of the Covenant.”

1. What patterns do you see in these laws?
2. Whom do they protect? What do they celebrate?
3. How do they honor God? Where do you see God’s transcendence (majesty and authority) reflected in His commands?
4. Where do you see God’s immanence (intimate involvement in our lives) reflected in His commands?

After Lesson

1. Look at 24:6-8 again. Imagine what it would look, smell and feel like for all that blood to be thrown against the altar of God and upon yourself. How does that action put your personal and our collective sin and transgression of the law in perspective?
2. Have a group member read Matthew 26:26-29. How does Matthew help you understand Exodus 24, especially verses 9-11? How does it give you a hope for the future?
3. What is one take away from this week that you can chew on further?

7. Journey out of Egypt:Exodus (ch.17-19 "At the Foot of the Mountain")

Individually Read Exodus ch.17-19 write down any questions and observations that you note. Look for repeated words, and phrases or situations that sound familiar.

1. Did anything new stand out to you?
2. At the Red Sea, God fought Egypt FOR Israel (14:4). At Rephidim God fights Amalek THROUGH Israel (17:8-16) What can you derive from this as it applies in your own struggles and battles today?
3. 1 Cor 10:1-13 Adds a much fuller picture and meaning to Ex. 17 the “water from a rock rebellion” what insight can you  extract for life application?
4. Ex. 19:3-6 In these verses what do we learn about God and the gospel?
5. What is the expected response to such grace according to Exodus 19:5a? What does it mean to you to be God’s treasured possession?
6. What’s the difference between obeying from freedom rather than for freedom?
7. What is one take away from this week that you can chew on further?

6. Journey out of Egypt:Exodus (ch.15-16 Song of Moses and a God of Great Grace)

1. Did anything new stand out to you?
2. Look for the repetitive use of pronouns in certain sections of Moses song. Where do they occur and what do they convey?
3. Why did they spend so much of the song singing about the death of Pharaoh’s army?
4. Can you think and share of a time that God responded to your grumbling with grace?
5. In what ways do we try and take over and manage what God generously provides? How has that worked for you?
6. What is it that God desperately longed for from Israel?
7.  

5. Journey out of Egypt:Exodus (ch.12-14 Between a Rock and a Hard Place)

Individually Read Exodus Ex 12:33- ch.14 write down any questions and observations that you note. Look for repeated words, and phrases or situations that sound familiar.

As a group Answer these questions (15 min)

1. Did anything new stand out to you?

2. Many people like the idea of a God who saves but are uncomfortable with a God who judges. Yet the reality is that God saves through judgment. What do you think the phrase “salvation through judgment” means, and where are some places you see this pattern in Scripture?

3. What interesting item did Moses take with him when they exited Egypt? What was its significance to the story?

4. What reason did God give for taking the Israelites the long way around to the Promised Land (verses 17-18a)? What does this same about the human heart?

After Lesson

1. It seems as if God instructed opposing idea. On the one hand he tells the Israelites to “fear not and stand firm” he will do the fighting AND on the other hand he instructs them to walk forward into the sea. How do you understand this and how does it make sense in your own journey forward?
2. William Temple, Archbishop of Canterbury (1942-1944), is quoted as saying “The only thing of my very own I contribute to my redemption is the sins from which I need to be redeemed”. What does such a statement say to us about our part and God’s part in our rescue?
3. Is there anything going on in your life right now that God might be taking you on the longer route to get there so that the outcome in the end will be far better than taking you on a more direct route?

Father God we know your ‘desert’ – less as land, than pain within:
when you take away our comforts to release us.

You begin by this training, so to teach us how to live more free of sin.

In this ‘desert’ you command us when to act and when to rest.
You break down our suppositions, which assume that we know best.

For our holiness and wholeness you give us this ‘desert’ test.

Lord, we like to know your presence; feel you close – as if by right.
But to deepen faith not feelingsyou may give our souls ‘dark night’.

When your hand is not apparent - keep us safe, and hold us tight.

This experience of learning is, for many, years, not days.
It takes time to break, remake us in your image and your ways.
Feed us, therefore, guide us, heal us, so through all - it ends in praise.

—John Richards, “Hymn: The Wilderness”

 

4. Journey out of Egypt:Exodus (ch.11-12)

Before the Lesson

Individually Read Exodus 11-12:32 write down any questions and observations that you note. 

1. Did anything new stand out to you?
2. How is God portrayed as supremely sovereign in Exodus 11:1–3? What does he control? How does this inform our understanding of our own salvation?
3. Ch. 12:3-13 contains a series of instructions for Israel to follow in preparing the Passover lamb. What do these instructions reveal about the way God extends salvation to his people?

After the Lesson

As a group Answer these questions

1. Is there a significant date in your life that you celebrate and honor in a specific way? What do you do? Do you include others in that celebration?
2. 12:13 God says that placing the blood on door post “will be a sign for you…” Is there a time in your life where God asked you to demonstrate your confidence in his power to rescue or change a situation?
3. In what ways can this Passover account in Exodus shape how you approach the Lord’s Supper, and where you focus your mind as you eat and drink?

3. Journey out of Egypt:Exodus (ch.7:14-10 Nine out of 10 Plagues)

Before the Lesson
Individually Read Exodus 7:14-ch. 10 write down any questions and observations that you note. Look for repeated words, and phrases or situations that sound familiar. 
As a group Answer these questions (15 min)
Did anything new stand out to you?
What patterns do you notice in how the plague narratives unfold? Why do you think  God didn’t just send a single, decisive plague? What is the purpose of having so many plagues? 
Although this section is primarily concerned with God’s judgments against Pharaoh and Egypt, on several occasions Moses intercedes with God on behalf of Pharaoh (Ex. 8:12, 29; 9:33; 10:18). Why might these intercessions be recorded throughout this section? What do they contribute to this narrative filled with judgment? 

What are you thoughts about how Pharaoh’s magicians and sorcerers performed some of the same tasks that Moses did with God’s help? 


After the Lesson

As a group Answer these questions

1. Although there isn’t sufficient evidence that every plague is in response to a specific Egyptian god, Ex. 12:12 makes it clear that God is accusing and judging Egypt for their idolatrous lifestyle. What things did the Egyptians idolize and how different are they from idols in our own life?
2. Initially God instructs Aaron to cast down his staff so it becomes a serpent, and when he did so for the Israelites they believed, but later when he does it for Pharaoh he doesn’t believe.What do the different responses reveal about the effectiveness of miraculous signs for bringing about faith?
3. Several times Pharaoh attempts to bargain with Moses and dictate his terms of obedience. (8:25,28 10:11,24) All are rejected. What are some ways we attempt to bargain with God when it comes to obedience?