God Balances Crosses And Comforts

Unit 9 – Family

Lesson 25 – A Family for Jacob – Gen. 29:1-30

Preparation for the Teacher

1. Aim: To lead the people to understand that God proportionally gives out a balance of crosses and comforts so that we do not become too elevated and proud or too depressed by difficulties.

2. Explanation of the Aim: God gives us great insights in the way He allows Jacob, Rachel, Leah and Laban to reap what they have sown. Our lesson today teaches us how God perfectly balances out hardships with blessings to keep everyone humbly dependent on Him for real satisfaction. In this chapter we learn how the Lord continued to fulfill His promises to Jacob. We learn how God brings Jacob safely through his journeys and directs him to relations. The Lord teaches us how He builds up Jacob’s family and gives him four sons through Leah. We come to a greater appreciation of how the “memory of the just is blessed.”

3. The Bible Story: Jacob goes on a journey to Haran as the Lord’s providential care is demonstrated throughout the entire experience. We learn how important it is to acknowledge divine Providence in the little circumstances as well as the bigger events of life. Only the Lord is able to give us the comfort, care and counseling that we need to successfully navigate through life’s journeys. It is Providence that leads Jacob to the exact field where his uncle’s flocks were to be watered and where he meets his future wife Rachel. The Lord’s guidance is nothing to be taken for granted in every aspect of our lifestyle, relationships and activities.

4. Prepare to Teach: The INTRODUCTION helps the people consider how fair the Lord is when he gives out gifts, abilities and blessings. Ask the people why they think the Lord can be counted on to allow exactly the best amount of blessings and difficulties? Ask the people why God blessed Rachel with beauty and the love of Jacob, but he blessed Leah with four sons? How does the Lord equally distribute spiritual gifts in the body of Christ so that we learn unity and equal reliance on God for our happiness? The BIBLE STORY teaches us how the Lord providentially cares for everyone regardless of their rank, status or role in life. The MEANING FOR OUR LIVES helps the people make applications to the Biblical principles found in our lesson. Ask the people if they need to be more grateful for all of the positive as well as difficulties that God allows to come into our lives? Let the people share with each other and the whole class how they need to gain a greater appreciation about God’s sovereign wisdom in balancing trials and triumphs in their lives as well as in their families.

CLASS TIME (Begin With Prayer)

Introduction

We can rely on the Lord to give pleasantness when we learn to count all trials as joy for the sake of God’s greater purposes to be fulfilled in our lives. Jacob is a good and honest man who wants to see God’s promises fulfilled in and through His life. However, in our study of Jacob’s journey and his quest to find a wife, we learn about the many hardships involved in starting a family. Help the people consider how fair the Lord is when he gives out gifts, abilities and blessings. Ask the people why they think the Lord can be counted on to allow exactly the best amount of blessings and difficulties? Ask the people why God blessed Rachel with beauty and the love of Jacob, but he blessed Leah with four sons? How does the Lord equally distribute spiritual gifts in the body of Christ so that we learn unity and equal reliance on God for our happiness?

The Bible Story

Jacob travels to Haran assured that God will fulfill His promises of “Your descendants will be like dust of the earth and you will spread out to the west and the east, to the north and to the south. All peoples on earth will be blessed through you and your offspring. I am with you and will watch over you wherever you go and I will bring you back to this land. I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you.” (Gen. 28:14,15) When God makes a promise, we can be completely confident that He will fulfill it as long as we trust and obey His will.

Jacob learns to acknowledge the kind Providence of God demonstrated throughout his life. Even at 77 years of age, he falls in love with Rachel and works seven years to earn the right to take her back to his homeland. We can count on God’s comfort, concern and protection whenever we are moving along the lines of God’s pathways. In contrast, Laban’s life is an example of one who lives by his fleshly desires and cunning, to his own regret. Whenever people try to deceive, cheat or manipulate people for their own selfish purposes, they will always fail in the end. Laban cleverly used Jacob for his own benefit but in the end learned that we reap exactly what we have sown.