AGE GROUP: elementary (ages 6-11)
TIME REQUIRED: 45 minutes
This is lesson 28 of 42 in our study on the Attributes of God called “Can you tell me what God is like?” Visit the series index to view all the lessons and get more ideas for using this curriculum in your children’s ministry.
LESSON 28: GOD PROTECTS HIS PEOPLE
- Key Verse: “Do not withhold your mercy from me, O Lord; may Your love and Your truth always protect me.” Psalm 40:11
- Teaching Passage: God protects baby Moses – Exodus 1-2
- Supporting Texts: Psalm 40:11, Proverbs 2:8, Proverbs 24:12, Deuteronomy 10:18, 2 Samuel 22:2
SUPPLIES NEEDED:
Bibles, previous attribute of God posters, a large piece of paper with the words GOD PROTECTS HIS PEOPLE written on it, key verse (Psalm 40:11) printed on a piece of paper, blank paper and markers or colored pencils for each child in the group.
LESSON OUTLINE:
REVIEW PREVIOUS LESSONS:
Ask one of the kids in the group to remind you what you’re learning this year. Remind them that each week we’ll be looking into the Bible to answer the question… “Can you tell me what God is like?” and will be learning one of the many truths about God that we see in His Word.
Play a quick game of ‘charades’ to review the attributes of God. Call kids up one at a time and whisper one of the attributes in their ear. have them act it out (do the motion or act it out in some other way) or give clues for the rest of the class to guess which attribute they’re thinking of. Be prepared to give suggestions of how they might act out each of the attributes. Play for 4-5 minutes.
- God is Almighty= He has absolute power or is all powerful
- God is the Alpha and Omega= He is the beginning and the end, the first and the last
- God is Awesome = He inspires awe and amazement
- God is Compassionate = He shows a deep concern for His people & a desire to meet their needs
- God is the Deliverer = He is the rescuer or savior
- God is Exalted = He is noble, elevated and lifted up
- God is Faithful = He is reliable, trustworthy, true to His Word & keeps His promises
- God Forgives = He grants pardon and cancels the debt of sin
- God is Glorious = He is full of glory (praise, honor & distinction)
- God is Good = morally excellent, virtuous or righteous
- God is Gracious = merciful, benevolent, kind & compassionate
- God Guides His People= He leads, accompanies, assists and gives direction/ guidance
- God Heals = make healthy & whole & free from ailments
- God is Holy = He is sinless, perfect and set apart
- God is our Hope = He is the One in whom our expectations are centered
- Jesus is Immanuel = God with Us
- God is Judge = He is the One who rules over and passes judgement on others
- God is Just = He is the One who is fair and does what is right
- God is King of kings & Lord of lords = He is The One who rules the rulers
- Jesus is the Lamb without blemish = He is the perfect sacrifice for sin
- God is Love = God has tender and caring affection for His people
- God is Majestic = God is stately, kingly, grand & raised up
- God is Merciful = God is full of compassion, pity, and undeserved grace & love for another
- God is Omnipotent = He is almighty or infinite in power
- God is Omnipresent = He is everywhere all the time
- God is Omniscient = He knows everything
- God is One = the Only God
TEACH- GOD PROTECTS HIS PEOPLE:
Ask kids to name things that protect us. Have them think through what protects us in the car (seat belts, baby car seats, brakes, etc.), what protects our feet when we walk (shoes), what protects us at home (smoke detectors, locks on our doors, etc.) and people who protect us (parents, teachers, police men, etc.).
Then, ask a couple of kids to share stories about a time when they needed to be protected. Talk about what they needed protection from, who protected them and what form the protection came in. After the stories, remind them that we need protection when we’re in danger.
Introduce the idea that God protects His people. Explain that throughout the Bible we see examples of how God has protected His people from lots of things. Ask kids to tell you stories they can think of where God protected His people (EX: Daniel in the lion’s den, Noah’s family in the ark, Rahab when the people entered Jericho, Jesus’ disciples in the boat in the storm).
Then say, “we’ve seen God protect His people in lots of ways in the Bible, but the fact that we still say that God protects His people must mean that we’re in danger and that as we go through the lesson we’ll talk about the danger that we all find ourselves in.”
Introduce the story from Exodus 1-2 and tell it in your own words. Some of the truths to discuss are:
- God’s people had been enslaved in Egypt. While they were there as slaves, they had grown into a great nation and the Pharaoh (the leader of Egypt) started to worry that there were too many of them and that they would revolt against Him.
- Pharaoh decided to get rid of God’s people. His first attempt was to tell the ladies (midwives) who would help the moms have babies that if it was a girl they should let it live, but that if it was a boy they should kill the baby. These women knew that it was wrong to kill the babies, so they let them all live and lied to the Pharaoh. Then, he passed a law that said that if you had a boy you had to throw him into the Nile river.
- A Levite man and his wife had a baby boy and hid him for 3 months because they didn’t want to throw him into the river.
- When he was 3 months old and they couldn’t hide him anymore, the boy’s mom made a basket and coated it with tar so it would float and put the baby in the basket and put the basket in the edge of the water.
- The baby’s sister (Miriam) stayed and watched to see what would happen.
- The Pharaoh’s daughter came down to the river to take a bath and when she saw the basket she had her servants bring it to her and she found the baby.
- Pharaoh’s daughter raised Moses as her own son and hired his actual mom to take care of him and feed him while he was still a little baby.
- God protected Moses because He had big plans for Moses‘ life.
DEFINE AND REMEMBER:
To help the kids remember this truth about God, take a few minutes to define the attribute.
PROTECTS = DEFENDS, GUARDS, COVERS AND SHEILDS
Since motions & actions help kids remember, choose an action for PROTECTS. A good motion might be to use one hand to cover or shield the fingers of your other hand – protect them.
MEMORY VERSE:
SAY: “This week’s memory verse is Psalm 40:11. In this verse we are reminded that God protects His people – specifically that God’s love and truth protect His people.” Talk about how love and truth can protect us. Explain that in a simple sense, the truth that the stove is hot protects us from having our fingers burned and our mom’s love in warning us about the hot stove also protects us. Help the kids to see that in a similar way, the truth of God’s Word (the Bible) is a tool that God uses to protect us. When we read that Jesus is the only way to be saved, that truth protects us from the trap of following false gods.
Read the memory verse (Psalm 40:11) a few times together and do the motion for protect while saying the verse.
CROSS CONNECTION:
In our story today, we saw God protect Moses using a little basket and the daughter of the Pharaoh. God’s reason for protecting Moses was that God had a great plan for Moses’ life. God planned to use Moses to rescue His people from slavery in Egypt. This story points us to another time when God protected another baby for a similar reason. When Jesus was a baby, another ruler (King Herod) would be afraid of loosing his power when he heard of the birth of a king, so he ordered that all of the baby boys less than 2 years old be killed. God warned Joseph through a dream to take Mary and Jesus and go to Egypt to be safe. God protected His Son, because the time wasn’t right for Him to die. Jesus had come to earth to die, but first He would have to be tempted and yet remain sinless, He would have to call the people to repent and return to God and then He would willingly give up His life to pay the price for the sins of all of God’s people.
The ultimate way that God has protects His people is through Jesus dying on the cross in our place. Jesus protected us from death and eternal separation from God by paying the price for our sin. Now that’s amazing protection!
REVIEW:
Give each child a blank piece of paper provide markers or colored pencils. Encourage them to write the word protects somewhere on the paper and then write or draw something to help them remember this attribute of God. They could write the definition for protects or the memory verse or they could illustrate either the story of Moses, or any other Bible story they can think of where God acted to protect His people. After a few minutes, bring the group back together and give kids time to share what they have drawn or written.
PRAYER:
Pray that the kids in the group would come to know God more and more each week through this study and that they would remember that all of us are sinners who need to be saved and that they would turn to this good God for salvation. Thank God for His hand of protection on His people throughout the Bible and ultimately protecting His people from sin and death through Jesus’ death in our place.