Scripture: 2 Samuel 24 and 1 Chronicles 21
Learning Objectives:
- Students will learn Satan can still convince godly people to disobey God.
- Students will learn David’s pride and perhaps lack of faith in God caused him to sin. We too can let our pride and lack of faith cause us to make poor choices.
- Students will learn it is important to listen to godly people and take their advice when it too is godly.
- Students will learn how to follow correct writing rules.
Guiding Question: How does disobedience affect our faith?
Materials: Paper, pencil, pre-made sentences, paragraphs, letters with errors
Procedure: Review the story of David counting his fighting men. Read Exodus 30:12 to students. It wasn’t just that David was proud or frightened and wanted to count his fighting men. It was also that he disobeyed a direct command from God. God was supposed to order any census or counting done in Israel. As part of the process, a “ransom” was also supposed to be paid for each person who was counted. God did not order the census David wanted and it doesn’t appear any “ransom” was paid to God for each person counted. This disobedience can lead to a lack of faith. It is important to surround ourselves with godly people who will help us stay on track with our faith when we make mistakes and sin.
Introduce students to the activity. Explain that they are going to play a writing game. Review when to use numerals versus words when writing, how to write correctly, spelling, hyphen/no hyphen, etc. Split students into two teams. Give each team a sample writing (sentences, paragraphs, or page) and whoever fixes all the mistakes first (and correctly!) gets a point.
Additional Questions: How can students recognize errors in writing?
Supplemental Activity: Have students write a letter with incorrect spelling, grammar, punctuation, etc. Then have a student swap with another student and see if they can correct their errors.