QUESTIONS FOR INDIVIDUAL THOUGHT AND SMALL GROUP DISCUSSION

What Believers Believe, Week One: Who Is God?

If you want to get the broad picture, you might want to start by reading all of Exodus chapters 1-6. For this week’s lesson, however, we’ll focus on just a few passages from those chapters.

Before digging into the questions with your group, please take a moment to read or recite together the following words of the Apostles’ Creed:

I believe in God the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth,

and in Jesus Christ His only Son, our Lord. He was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was buried.

He descended to the dead. On the third day, He rose again from the dead.

He ascended into heaven, where He sits at the right hand of God the Father Almighty.

From there He will come to judge the living and the dead.

I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy Christian church, the communion of the saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting. Amen.

SECTION 1 – Read Exodus 1:15-21.

In Exodus 1, you learn that a cruel new Pharaoh has ascended the throne of Egypt, one who fears the growing number of Israelites in his land. Ironically, his plan to keep them from rebelling against his rule is to relegate them to slave status and treat them abusively. When the Israelites continued to thrive anyway, his next plan was order to the execution of every newborn Hebrew male.

What are two things this brief passage reveals about God?

Pharaoh ruled as a brutal, absolute monarch; yet the midwives defied his order because they feared God more than Pharaoh. The God in whom believers believe is a God who inspires holy fear, yet the fear of the Lord is not a common subject in many churches today.

Do you fear God? What does it mean – biblically speaking – to fear God?

Read Proverbs 8:13 and explain how it relates to this passage. This passage implicitly sets the fear of God in contrast with the fear of man.

In what ways do you struggle sometimes to operate more out of the fear of God than the fear of man? Are you generally more concerned with displeasing God or your spouse? God or your friends? God or your boss?

The solution to the fear of man is not to think less of men, but to think more of God. What are some practical things you can do to think of God more often and more accurately?

These midwives had no Bible, so how did they know to fear God? It’s likely the midwives had been taught to fear God by their parents and fellow Israelites.

How can you encourage others to fear God? If you have children, what are some of the ways you’ve trained them to fear the Lord? Can you give an example of a time you acted on the fear of the Lord even though you knew it might be unpopular or even get you into trouble?

The midwives acted as they did purely to honor the God they believed in, but God rewarded them for their faithfulness to Him. Read Hebrews 6:10 and Hebrews 11:6 and discuss what these verses reveal about who God is and what He’s like.

SECTION 2 – Read Exodus 3:2-10.

In Exodus 3, you read the famous account of God’s appearance to Moses in the burning bush; and there is much you can learn about God from this encounter.

In vv. 2-4, God seeks to get Moses’ attention before He ever calls to him by name. In fact, God waits for Moses to respond before speaking to him directly (see v. 4). Many people miss it when God reaches out to them because they are too inattentive, distracted, or busy to notice.

On a scale of 1-10, how would you rate your overall busyness? Are you ever concerned you may sometimes be missing God in the midst of your daily routine? Do you have any tips of things you’ve done to help you become more attentive to God or more sensitive to His Spirit? Can you think of a time God used a circumstance or something in your surroundings to draw your attention to Him and something He wanted to say or reveal to you? If so, please share it with the group.

The Bible reveals God to be a God who communicates with and leads His people. He is not aloof, and He is not disinterested. It is God’s desire and intention to make Himself and His will known to you, because it is His desire and intention that you live your life knowing, loving, and obeying Him.

What does v. 5 reveal about the God believers believe in?

It was the holiness of God and His presence that made the ground holy – there was nothing special about the soil itself. Everything touched or indwelt by God becomes holy because of His great holiness – and that includes you.

What do you think of when you think about the holiness of God? Does the concept of God’s holiness make you in any way uncomfortable? How does the holiness of God relate to the fear of God?

Christians recognize God simultaneously as holy Creator and loving Father.

Is it possible to approach God too causally? Too formally? How do you navigate that tension?

In v. 6, God tells Moses, “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” God is the real, personal God of history, who knows His people and calls them by name. He has been at work in the world since the very beginning and continues to work in it today.

Do you know God in a personal, interactive way? Do you even believe such a thing is possible? Why or why not? The Bible shares many accounts of God’s work in the world in the past, but where do you see Him at work in the world today? Please take some time in your small group to share a few “God stories,” brief accounts of things God has done with you or for you, or accounts of times and ways God has revealed Himself to you.

What do vv. 7-8 reveal about the God believers believe in?

Notice in v. 7a, that God refers to the people as “My people.” All people are God’s by virtue of creation, but only some people are God’s by virtue of adoption/election/new birth. God shows His care for His people in His emotions (“I am concerned”) and His actions (“I have come down to rescue them”).

Do you ever doubt God’s love for you? If so, why?

During their wilderness wanderings, the Israelites often doubted that God would take care of them; while Moses, on the other hand, does not seem to have had that problem.

Why do you think the Israelites were so quick to assume God had abandoned them? Why do you think Moses so consistently trusted God in the face of the very same challenges? Do you tend to respond to obstacles more like the Israelites or like Moses?

Section 3 – Read Exodus 3:11-15 and Exodus 6:2-4

Moses was greatly surprised to learn that God intended to use him in His plan to deliver His people from bondage. And his first reaction – shockingly – was to argue with God about it.

Read Exodus 3:11. Notice Moses’ words, “Who am I, that I should go...”

What do those words reveal about Moses’ focus and thinking? What is God’s immediate response in v. 12?

The God believers believe in is totally Self-sufficient. His Word is final. His involvement is determinative. Moses was focused on himself and his own abilities, but God wanted him focused on and trusting in Him.

Are there any situations in your life right now in which you’re more focused on yourself or on the problem or on the result you want than on the God who made everything and loves you like a Father? If so, will you consider sharing them with your small group and asking for their encouragement and prayers?

Moses’ remarks in v. 11 marked the beginning of a lengthy list of excuses and prevarications intended to help wend his way out of God’s assignment for him; but in each case, God more than sufficiently managed Moses’ objections.

Can you think of a time you’ve tried to argue with God – or perhaps tried to talk Him out of something you knew He wanted you to do? If so, would you be willing to share it with your small group?

One of the passage’s most remarkable revelations about the God believers believe in involves God’s willingness to share His name. In vv. 14-16 (and again in Exodus 6:2-4), the Lord reveals Himself as YHWH, the personal name thereafter rendered as “the LORD” in most English language translations of the Bible in recognition of the holiness of the name and in deference to the Jews’ unwillingness to speak or write the name directly.

What does God’s name reveal about Him? What does His willingness to share His name with His people reveal about Him? Have you ever thought about what a privilege it is to be on a first name basis with the Creator God of all things? And yet, it’s even more intimate to call Him Father.

My friends called my dad Mr. Miller. His friends called him Larry. But I called him dad.

Who is God to you right now? How well do you know Him? How closely are you acquainted with Him? Do you know, serve, and fear Him as Lord God Almighty? Do you love, trust, and follow Him as Father?