Connect Group Discussion Guide
Genesis 22:1-14 - Journey the Wall
Introduction:
Begin the session with a prayer asking for wisdom, understanding, and openness to God's Word
as you delve into God’s Word and discuss the topic of “Journey the Wall”.
Scripture Reading:
Select a group member to read Genesis 22:1-14 aloud for the group to follow along.
An opening Question from Emotionally Healthy Spirituality:
1. Name one significant difficulty in your life that challenged your view (or expectations) of
God?
For most of us, the Wall appears through a crisis that turns our world upside down. It comes,
perhaps, through a divorce, a job loss, the death of a close friend or family member, a cancer
diagnosis, a disillusioning church experience, a betrayal, a shattered dream, a wayward child, a
car accident, an inability to get pregnant, a deep desire to marry that remains unfulfilled, a
spiritual dryness or a loss of joy in our relationship with God. We question ourselves, God, and
the church. We discover for the first time that our faith does not appear to “work.” We have more
questions than answers as the very foundation of our faith feels like it is on the line. We don’t
know where God is, what he is doing, where he is going, how he is getting us there, or when
this will be over...It (the Wall) is not simply a one-time event that we pass through and get by
on. It appears to be something we return to as part of our ongoing relationship with God.
● If you have been through a wall, share one way it impacted you and your view of God.
**Read Genesis 22:1-14. This was Abraham’s greatest wall.
1. How would you hear the words in verse 2: “Take your son, your only son, whom you
love....sacrifice him”?
2. What aspects of “the dark night” might have been tormenting Abraham’s soul as he
bound his son Isaac and laid him on the altar? (ex: weariness, sense of failure, defeat,
emptiness, dryness, unbelief, guilt, disillusionment, abandonment by God)
3. In light of this story, how is your image (or idea) of God challenged?
4. What are some possible reasons you have a hard time accepting and moving through
Walls?
5. In order to grow in Christ, every believer must go through Walls, or “dark nights of the
soul.” This is God’s way of rewiring and “purging our affections and passions” that we
might delight in his love and enter into a richer, fuller communion with him. In this way he
frees us from unhealthy attachments, faulty images of who God is, and idolatries of the
world. How might this larger perspective serve as an encouragement to you today?
6. This Wall gave Abraham a revelation of God that would change him and his relationship
with God forever. He came to know God as Provider in even the most desperate of
situations. How might this encourage you in any current Walls you are facing?
Application:
1. When God takes us through a Wall, we are changed. The following are four primary
characteristics of life found on the other side of the Wall.
● A greater level of brokenness
● A greater appreciation for holy unknowing (mystery)
● A deeper ability to wait on God
● A greater detachment (from the world)
Journaling can be a powerful tool to help clarify areas of life where God desires to bring
transformation. It illuminates what is going on inside of us. Few tools get us to the “issue
beneath the issue” like journaling.
Choose one characteristic from the above list where you sense God is seeking to work in you
now. Use the space provided to journal your thoughts and feelings regarding how God is
birthing something new in you and/or helping you shed incomplete or immature ideas about him.
Pray and dismiss.