11.18.18

 Use the following thoughts and questions to have a spiritual conversation as a family. Don’t emphasize having the right answer, but focus on spending time discussing the Word as a family.

Scripture

Genesis 29:21-35

Session Summary

Jacob returned to his father’s people to find a wife. He saw Rachel taking care of the sheep, who was “his uncle Laban’s daughter” (Gen. 29:10), and she ran back to tell her dad who she’d met. Laban offered Jacob a choice in wages and Jacob requested Rachel’s hand in marriage. They agreed on seven years. But Laban didn’t exactly keep his word, because he also had an older daughter (Lead) and it wasn’t the custom for the younger daughter (Rachel) to be married first. Instead of giving Rachel to Jacob on his wedding night, Laban snuck Leah into Jacob’s tent. Jacob had already worked seven years for Laban and would have to work another seven for Laban to agree that he could marry Rachel as well. Jacob loved Rachel, but not Leah. God saw Leah’s pain; saw that she was unloved by her husband and God gave her children.

Conversation Questions

As a family, discuss how each person feels about Laban’s deceit, Leah’s pain, and the unfairness to Rachel in not being able to marry Jacob as initially promised. 

How does our family see God’s love toward Leah in this story? How does this encourage us?

What ways does our family’s understanding of God’s love for us help us to love one another and others well?

Allow each family member time to describe why love is a gift.

Family Challenge

Allow each family member time to go to www.5lovelanguages.com and take the assessment to find out what their love languages are. Once each family member has completed the short quiz, discuss what each person’s love language is. Then, talk about the ways you all can love each other better by using what you’ve learned through this assessment. For additional discussion, talk about which family members’ results surprised you and why, as well as specific examples of ways others have made you feel most loved in the past.