Maadi Women's Bible Study

15. Genesis The Rest of the Story (ch 40 Judah not Joe is Really the Star of the Show)

1. When you look at your family tree, what are some traits and patterns you would like to continue? Which ones would you like to clearly leave behind?
2. Have you seen in your family God do an obvious act of life transformation that has encouraged you in your own walk with God?
3. We have all ridden this rollercoaster ride of success and disappointment and up and down again. Can you think of a story from your own “ride” that could encourage others when they are on the downside and can’t see God’s bigger picture? 

14. Genesis The Rest of the Story (ch. 32-35)

Questions

1. What thoughts do you have about the various complexities of these stories? Are you disappointed that God doesn’t work things out more clearly and straightforward or do you find a comfort in it?
2. Can you share about a time you feared a difficult encounter or conversation? How did you handle it and how did it resolve?
3. What are your thoughts on this idea that maybe the sin isn’t fully gone and forgotten until Heaven and that there is worth in our awareness of the sin and working out the shame and pain?

13. Genesis The Rest of the Story (ch.29-30 Jacob Loved Rachel More)

Questions

1) Can you recall a time when you had done something unfair, or unkind (consciously or not) to someone and then have it happen to you?

2) Did you make the connection that you had done this offense before?How did this teach you, or did it?

3) When have you striven to win the approval or affection of someone? What did you learn from that experience?

4) Leah tries to build her identity on Jacob’s love for her instead of on God’s love for her. It seems by the 4th son God mangos to break through to her with divine grace. In what ways can you identify with Leah?

12. Genesis The Rest of the Story (ch 28)

Questions

1) Do you think this dream is like a divine “seal of approval” on Jacob’s behavior up to now? Or is it an “in spite of”? Or something else? Why do we say this?

2) Do you think that Jacob has moved into a genuine personal relationship with Yahweh? Does this tell us anything about God, that would relate to us? What is that?

3) What application can you make in your own life from this story?

11. Genesis The Rest of the Story (26-27)

Questions

1. What do you think are the similarities and differences between doing God’s will and God’s will being done?
2. Can you relate to the idea or feeling of living in the sweet spot of God’s will and pleasure? Can you remember a clear example when you were outside of the sweet spot and you knew it? 

10. Genesis The Rest of the Story (ch.25)

9. Genesis The Rest of the Story (ch. 23-24)

Questions

1. Abraham insists on his servant finding a bride from his family and country. The servant goes about this request by specifically asking of God to reveal the woman in a specific way. How do you feel about praying in this fashion? Have you ever asked something of God in this fashion?

2. Read 24:21 What do you think the servant was considering as he looked at Rebekah?

3. Do you think Rebekah made her decision to go with the servant based on a sense of God’s providential call, or was she impressed by the gifts and the promise of a good life? Why or why not?

4. What personal application do you see in this text?

8.Genesis The Rest of the Story (ch. 22 The Binding of Isaac)

1. God is certainly testing Abraham, but He may also be seeking His own benefit by the pleasure He receives through Abraham’s active love and obedience. Have you ever considered that your faithfulness to God and obedience to Him gives Him pleasure? How might that be a motivating factor in your walk with God? 

2. With the sacrifice of Isaac, God is asking Abraham to give up everything – not just his son, but the promises of the covenant as well. All Abraham will have left is God Himself. Is that enough?  Would you give God your life if He gave back nothing but Himself? 

3. How much do the “benefits/blessings of God” motivate you in your walk with Him?

7. Genesis The Rest of the Story (20-21)

Questions

1. In this story of Sarah, Abraham and Hagar who is someone that you can relate to? What was God doing or saying to Sarah, Abraham, or Hagar that God might also be saying to you today?

2. Discuss how the sorrow of sending Ishamel away was the natural consequence of Abraham’s sin. How might the Lord use the consequences of our sin to refine us. When we suffer under the consequences of our sins does this mean that God is angry with us?

3. Where do we see evidence of God’s mercy in this passage? How has God been merciful to you in the midst of pain and suffering (of any kind, but even pain caused by your own sin)?

6. Genesis The Rest of the Story (ch. 18-19 God’s Justice and Anger)

Questions

1. Judging from Sarah’s laughing in unbelief at God’s promise, how do you explain the fact that Sarah is one of only two women mentioned in the Bible’s honor roll of faith? See Heb 11:11 and Gen 21:1-7. What does this tell you about God and how He works? About Sarah’s faith? Your faith?
2. The condition of Sodom and Gomorrah is so outrageous to most of our ears that it is easy to move on fail to apply anything. How does Ezekiel’s take on their sin affect your thinking?
3. Share a time of God’s expression of slow to anger in your life