Intermediate Level, Block 3, Week 22: Jacob’s Dream at Bethel

      Comments Off on Intermediate Level, Block 3, Week 22: Jacob’s Dream at Bethel

Intermediate Level, Block 3—Good Land to Egypt

Week 22
Jacob’s Dream at Bethel

Point to Emphasize: We need to be those who are ready to hear God speaking to us.

Reference Reading: Genesis 28, 35

Memory Verse: Blessed…are those who hear the word of God and keep it. (Luke 11:28)

Story Sample

Last week we were introduced to a person named Jacob. We heard that he tricked his twin brother Esau into giving up his birthright. In the end, he did receive the birthright, but he caused himself a lot of trouble by doing it his way. When Esau found out that Jacob had tricked him, he got very, very angry. Esau was very strong and he was a hunter. He was not someone I would want to be angry at me. Esau was so angry and Jacob was so scared that Jacob had to run away and leave his family and home. He fled and ended up in the wilderness as a wanderer, someone who didn’t have a place to go. He was not only homeless but he was probably also very lonely because no one else was with him. But he was not alone. Actually, God was with him and promised to always be with him.

One night, after traveling for a long time, Jacob needed to find a place to rest. He was tired and lonely, and when he lay down to sleep on the ground in the open air, he took a stone as his pillow. Have you ever used a stone as a pillow? I don’t think that would be very comfortable, do you? Well, that’s just what Jacob did. That night as he laid his head on a stone, God appeared to him and spoke to him in a dream.

In this dream, Jacob saw a ladder set up on the earth and the top reached to heaven. On the ladder the angels of God were ascending and descending. Jacob was amazed by this dream. When he woke up, he set up his pillow-stone as a pillar and poured oil on the stone. Why would he have oil with him while was running away and traveling by himself? Well, the Bible tells us that he had oil and he poured it on the pillar. So that’s what happened. Because of the dream, Jacob realized that God was in that place. So he called the name of the place Bethel, which means the house of God.

Did you know that God speaks to people? In the Old Testament, like in Jacob’s time, God spoke to people through dreams and taught His people by dreams. In those dreams, the person would see something that is not common, not an everyday thing. Rather, they would see an uncommon scene, something they’ve never seen before and something very meaningful. Their dreams were like visions that taught them something and spoke to them something about what God wanted.

Today, God may not speak to us in dreams anymore. What do you think are some ways that God speaks to us? [Discuss with the children that God speaks to us through our conscience or our parents; through a verse, or a song, or even through children’s meeting stories.]

One time when I was younger, I was complaining to myself that I didn’t have this and I didn’t have that. And I was just unhappy and ungrateful for the things I did have. I happened to be listening to some hymns and a song came on—it was a Bible verse from the book of Psalms: “It’s a good thing to give thanks unto the Lord and to sing praises unto our God.” When I heard that song, I stopped what I was doing. I realized that I was being ungrateful and that I should thank the Lord for all that He has given me. I never lacked anything and I had everything I needed. After that, I started singing along with the song, and it made my heart happy and full of thanks. That was the Lord speaking to me and reminding me through the verse and the song that I had so many things to be thankful for. [Storyteller, insert your own story about God speaking to you through your conscience, through your parents, or through a verse or a song. Then encourage the children to share if they’ve had an experience of this.]

Like Jacob, we must always be ready to listen to God’s speaking. Let us be those who are ready to hear God’s speaking at any time.

Week 21Week 22Week 23Week 24Week 25Week 26Week 27Week 28Week 29Week 30