There Are Consequences For Not Trusting God's Plan

There Are Consequences For Not Trusting God's Plan Hero Image There Are Consequences For Not Trusting God's Plan Hero Image

What’s the most trouble you remember getting in? Did you know going into the situation that there would be consequences or were you caught off guard? The good news is, there’s nothing we can do to make God love us less than He already does. Even though nothing we do can change God’s perfect plan, there are still consequences for not trusting God’s plan.

TRUSTWORTHY: Being dependable without a doubt

MEMORY VERSE: “Let us hold tightly without wavering to the hope we affirm, for God can be trusted to keep His promise." Hebrews 10:23

This Week’s Finish Line: There are consequences for not trusting God’s plan

Genesis 27 tells a part of the story of Jacob and Esau, Isaac and Rebekah’s twin sons. Although Esau was the eldest, Jacob received Isaac’s blessing due to a tricky plan devised by his mother and carried out by Jacob himself. Because of their deceit, their whole family experienced consequences. Jacob and Esau now had a broken relationship. In fact, Esau was so mad at Jacob that he wanted to kill him, so Jacob ran away and didn’t get to live with his family anymore. That meant Rebekah didn’t get to have Jacob around anymore, and although he eventually came home, she died before ever seeing him again. Even though Jacob and Rebekah did not trust God and took matters into their own hands, He still proved Himself trustworthy. In fact, God used Jacob to keep the nation of Israel going…Jacob had 12 sons and those 12 sons became fathers of the 12 tribes of Israel!

Family Questions:

READ GENESIS 27:8-17

1. What was Rebekah’s plan? (She would make the food. Jacob would dress like Esau and take the food to Isaac so he would get the blessing instead of Esau.)

2. Were they trusting God’s way? Why do you think they chose to trick Isaac instead? (Instead of trusting God, they made their own plans. They wanted Jacob to get the blessing no matter what it cost.)

READ GENESIS 27:21-29

3. Did Rebekah and Jacob’s plan work? How? (When Jacob went to his father, Isaac believed their lie because Jacob felt and smelled like Esau. Isaac gave Jacob the blessing thinking he was Esau.)

READ GENESIS 27:41-45

4. See verse 41. How did Esau feel after being tricked? (He was so angry he wanted to kill his own brother.) How might you have felt?

5. Although every person in this family was sinful and made mistakes, did they mess up God’s plan? (Nope. No one can ever mess up God’s plan. All along God had planned to choose Jacob and make his family the one Jesus would come from!)

Bring it Home Conversations & Activities:

* Check out our vision for parents and how to use these activities each week.

Teacher: Meal Time

Review the story of Jacob and Esau from Genesis 27. Talk about what it feels like when a friend or family member tricks us. Is it easy for you to trust that person again? Why/why not? When are you most easily tempted to go your own way and not be trustworthy? Why? What are some consequences you’ve received?

Friend: Drive Time

One day this week (when you have time to spare), tell the kids your destination and give them a few options. They can either trust your directions, make the call themselves on when/where to turn, or try out one of those options and change their mind at any point during the drive. This will work best if you choose a location they’re not 100% sure how to get to, or if they choose to trust you, you can go a different route than normal and see if they second-guess their decision.

Questions to ask after you’ve reached your destination: What was the “consequence” of going your own way instead of trusting mom/dad while they were driving? (got lost, took a lot longer, etc.) Did you ever doubt that your parent knew the best way to get there? If you trusted your parent from the start, why was it so easy for you to make that choice?

Counselor: Bedtime

Ask God to help you trust His good and perfect plan. Thank Him that He can still use you even when you don’t trust His plan. Pray for any specific areas where it is hard for you to trust Him and ask Him to help you be dependable in those areas.

Coach: Anytime

Write each word of the memory verse on a post-it note and stick them somewhere where you’ll see them throughout the week (refrigerator, kitchen window, game room wall, etc.). Remove one sticky note every day and see if you can still say the verse! If you can, keep going until there are no post-its left!

Prayer

Thank God for family and forgiveness. Thank Him for how He’s used you despite your failures. Ask Him to point out where you may need to ask for forgiveness and how you can help leave a Godly legacy in your family.

Looking Ahead

Next week, we will continue the month of March with our character trait, TRUSTWORTHY. We will be talking about how god is trustworthy even when we are not.

Subscribe here to start getting our monthly email to stay in the know with everything going on with Watermark Kids!