Connect How can your deepest hopes & desires rest secure in the knowledge that the Lord is our greatest reward?

Warm-Up

1. Do you find waiting difficult? Is there a particular type of waiting that you find most challenging?
2. How—in an ultimate sense—are all Christians waiting for the fulfilment of God’s promise?
3. Do you ever find waiting for Jesus’ return challenging? How so? What helps you?

Read Genesis 16:1-6

4. What are Sarai and Abram waiting for? How old were they and how long have they been waiting?
5. How is Sarai’s frustration and anguish evident? How is this understandable? Have you ever felt this?
6. What is dependent upon Abram and Sarai having a child? God’s purposes aside, why was having children particularly important in the ancient world (and particularly for women)?
7. As Sarai appears to doubt that God will fulfil his promises, how does she blame God? Have you ever felt tempted to do this? When we experience doubt, what should be our immediate response?
8. Sarai seems more concerned with her unfulfilled longing rather than God’s purposes. What course of action does she now take? How is it evident that Abram is also culpable in these plans? 
9. Do you ever stop to ask God what he thinks as you make decisions? How could you do it more?
10. What is the immediate fruit of Sarai and Abram’s decision? What is the long-term fruit?
11. Do you spot any similarities between these verses and the fall in Genesis 3? How do Abram and Sarai’s actions (along with the consequences) reflect the fruit of sin/disobedience of God generally?
12. When tempted to ‘shortcut’ God, do you ever minimise the expected consequences? Why is it important for us to recognise the consequences? What helps to work through decision-making faithfully?

Read Genesis 16:7-16

13. Who was the angel of the Lord? How do you first feel about the instruction to go back?
14. How is it clear that God’s sending Hagar back is part of his purposes? How is it also unknown?
15. What assurances does the Lord give Hagar? What does it mean to you to know that God sees, hears, and is with us? How do we particularly know that to be true through Jesus?
16. Did Jesus make any shortcuts as he was part of God’s saving plans? How should this give us a ‘patient confidence’ as we live between the ‘now and not yet’ of God’s promises being fulfilled?
17. How does Jesus hear us, see us, and be present with us? How should this give us a ‘patient confidence’ as we live between the ‘now and not yet’ of God’s promises being fulfilled?

Apply Is there any area of waiting that you can take to the Lord this week with a patient confidence?

On Your Front Line this Week
How can you demonstrate generosity this week to someone on your frontline?
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For Families
• Download: some of the family resources to use at home: stbartskids.org
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Listen, Watch, and Read
• Listen: “Called to be a Blessing” by Hugh Palmer:
https://bit.ly/4cMGwZb
• Listen: “Genesis 11:27-12:20” by Andrew Sach:
https://www.st-helens.org.uk/resources/talk/53633/
• Listen: “The Patriarch (Abraham and Christ)” by John Stott:
https://bit.ly/3U9T4CY
• Listen: “The Cost of Mission” by Tim Keller:
https://gospelinlife.com/sermon/the-cost-of-mission/
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Series Resources
• Website: All of the resources from our earlier series on Genesis Part I: The Beginnings of Grace:
https://www.stbarts.com.au/sermon-series/genesis
• Watch: “Genesis 12-50” by the Bible Project:
https://bibleproject.com/explore/video/genesis-12-50/
• Watch: “How should we read the Old Testament? with Chris Wright” by Questioning Christianity:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZJtba-JyPVg
• Read: “Genesis - Kidner Classic Commentary Series” by Derek Kidner:
https://koorong.com/product/genesis-kidner-classic-commentaries-series--derek-kidner_9781789741001