Scripture: I Samuel 15-16
Learning Objectives:
- Students will learn God sometimes chooses seemingly unlikely people to do special things for Him.
- Students will learn there are often earthly consequences for disobeying God.
- Students will learn God may give us a hint about something special He wants us to do for Him, but He may take years to prepare us, just like He did David.
- Students will learn about how to deal with life when it seems unfair and participate in the Unfair Game – Bible Trivia.
Guiding Question: When life seems unfair, why is it important to turn to God?
Materials: Bibles
Procedure: Review the story of how David was anointed by God from the scriptures above. Emphasize how God can use anyone to do good for His Kingdom. Explain that sometimes life can feel unfair. Remind the students that David was the youngest of seven and it surprised many that David was chosen instead of his older brothers. Ask the students how they would have felt if they were the oldest brother and were not chosen by God to be king. Probably like life was pretty unfair – how would they deal with it?
Tell the students they are going to play the Unfair Game – Bible trivia. Have them take turns naming someone in the Bible. See which team can name the most things each person in the stories associated with the person might have felt were unfair. For example, Esau probably felt it was unfair Jacob cheated him out of his birthright and blessing. Point out to students that sometimes what seems unfair at the time can make sense later and sometimes only God really understands what happened and why. Make sure students understand that most bad things in life come from living in a broken and sinful world, but that sometimes God can use those things for His purposes. For example, it wasn’t fair that a Joseph went to prison for something that he didn’t do, but God was able to use his proximity to important people in Pharaoh’s court to put Joseph in a much better situation that also helped many others later. Older students may be able to give examples from their own lives of when they have seen God turn something that seemed bad into something good.
Additional Support: How does staying close to God help us feel confident in His plans for us?
Supplemental Activity: Have the students pick one gift or talent they have/something they really enjoy doing. Ask the students how they think they could use it for God’s Kingdom. Have the students create a plan or goals for using their talent for God and a plan for leaning on God as they share their talent.