Scripture: Genesis 42-50
Learning Objectives:
- Students will learn God has a plan, but sometimes bad things still happen.
- Students will learn God is always there working, even when things don’t make sense to us.
- Students will learn people can change and begin doing what God wants them to do.
- Students will learn God wants us to forgive those who sin against us.
- Students will practice putting words into alphabetical order.
Guiding Question: How does God want us to reflect Him when forgiving others?
Materials: Paper, pencils
Procedure: Review how Joseph endured many challenges such as being sold by his brothers into a foreign land and being unjustly sent to prison. Often difficult challenges happen in life and we do not always understand why they happen. However, God uses the difficult times in life to help make our lives beautiful and purposeful so that we can better serve Him. We must remember that people can change and begin following God’s path for their life. We can be there to help and support them but they have to make the choice to do so. God wants us to forgive others even when it is difficult just as God forgives our sins.
Introduce the activity. Remind students that when the people left Egypt, they could only take important things with them. Pair students up and have them each write list of things they would take with them if they left Egypt. Have the students switch lists and alphabetize the other persons list. Remind students that to look at the beginning letters of each word when alphabetizing – show examples if needed.
Additional Questions: How can students practice with alphabetical order?
Supplemental Activity: Have students pick people they would want to leave Egypt with them and alphabetize their names.