Lesson Objective:
The children will learn that it is OK to trust God, even when you do not know or understand what will happen.
Scripture:
Genesis 12
Arrival:
Greet the children as they arrive and have some time singing together. Be sure to include “God Is So Good” into your singing time.
Craft/Game Time:
Begin today’s lesson with a game. Have one child volunteer for the game. Have this child choose a friend that he/she trusts, then take him/her out of the room. Have the rest of the children hide a small ball or other hand-sized item in the classroom. Then, place a few chairs in the normal walking path to serve as obstacles. Blindfold the volunteer before brining him back into the room. Then, have the trusted friend guide the volunteer to the hidden item using only his or her voice. Have the rest of the class give wrong directions. The volunteer will have to trust the advice of his friend, even though the rest of the class is telling him otherwise. He has no idea what is the end result (the toy), but he is trusting his friend’s advice. When he finds the toy, let him keep it (his reward). You can repeat the game with other children at the end, provided you have enough small toys. Consider having a small toy for every child so that they do not feel left out.
Prayer Time:
Pray for the lesson and any prayer requests the children have. Be sure to thank the Lord for being trustworthy.
Lesson:
Tell the children that a man named Abram lived in a land called Ur. He lived there with his wife Sarai, nephew Lot, and father Terah. When his father died, he was left in charge of the family. One day, God spoke to Abram and told him to leave. Read Genesis 12:1-3. After reading the passage, ask the children what God ask Abram to do (leave his home). Ask them if Abram knew where he was going (no, God would show him when he got there). Ask them what the result would be (the promises in versus 2 and 3).
Relate this to the game. Remind the students that the player did not know where he was headed (to the ball). He had to trust his friend to get him there, and there was a reward (the ball) but he did not know how it would work out until he found it.
Ask them what they thought Abram did. Tell them that Abram obeyed. He packed up his family, including Lot, and left home. Ask them to think about how difficult this would be for Sarai and Lot, who did not hear God’s command. They had to trust Abram and follow his words.
This was not easy for Abram. This was like the first test he would have to determine whether or not he was going to truly trust God. He passed, with flying colors! Abram did what he was told, followed God even when it was not easy, and was blessed for it.
Tell the children that in the next few lessons you are going to show them how God blessed Abram for his obedience. Tell them that next week you will show them how Lot chose not to obey, and what his consequences were.
Memory Verse:
The next few lessons are going to be spent learning the Books of the Old Testament. Start this week with all of the books on the board and have the children quote them together. Then split the class into two groups (boys/girls could work) and have them alternate saying them (Boys: Genesis, Girls: Exodus,) and so forth.
Dismissal:
This is a shorter lesson, so spend some time at the end in review. Ask these questions:
* What did God ask Abram to do? (leave home)
* How do you think that made him feel? (scared, excited)
* How do you think his family felt? (scared, worried)
* Did Abram know what God was going to do? (no)
* Do we always know what God’s plan is? (no)
* What did Abram do? (obey)
Remind the children that obeying God’s commands, such as obeying our parents when we don’t want to, is not always easy. Sometimes we don’t understand the reason behind the command, but we need to obey so God can bless us.