God Shows Himself Supreme Over Idols

We opened our evening by building a picture using numbered shapes of construction paper, with phrases from Psalm 1:3 written on the back. (The picture was of the tree planted by streams of water.) Then, we prayed with Mrs. Salsamendi and were dismissed to our classroom.

In our classroom, we continued working on our verse activity, completing the picture and explaining the verse, then singing each phrase to the tune of "London Bridge." I explained how this verse went along with our previous two and was comparing this godly man we have been talking about to this tree we were now describing -- not that he has leaves and a trunk but that he is strong and straight and healthy and able to do all that God had created him to do. A man who reads God's Word is like a tree that always gets water -- he will always be healthy and have something to give others. SarahClaire said, "We read the Bible every night!"

One of the verse phrases ("which yields its fruit in season") was written on a construction paper apple. That apple reminded C.J. of fruit in the Garden of Eden. He was able to tell us almost the entire story of the Fall. That was a good transition to our story, because I was able to say that because of that one sin, all of Creation is under a curse and we all are born sinful. That sinful nature was the problem that the Israelites had, because they were constantly going back to idols.

I showed the children a Beanie Baby bird, and said, "This bird has wings. Fly, bird, fly," and tossed it in the air. Of course, it fell to the ground. I asked the children why the bird didn't fly. Right away, they said it was because he wasn't real. I did that with several other Beanie Babies (a frog, a fish, a dog and a hedgehog) each time asking them why it wouldn't do what I had asked of it. Each time they responded that it was because they weren't real. I said, "That's right. Knowing what is real is very important. Because something that is not real cannot do anything. It can't fly, jump, swim, bark or roll up. And a god that is not real cannot help you. Today's story is about people who put their trust in gods that weren't real and how God showed that He is the only one true God."

So began our story of God using the Philistine army to discipline his people, allowing the Israelites to be defeated and the Ark of the Covenant to be captured. I particularly noted that Eli's two sons were treating the Ark as though it were a "good luck" charm that could be taken into battle to compel God to give them a victory. (Last week, we learned that Eli had been too gentle with his sons and that they were wicked men because of that.) Just as God had told Samuel, Eli's two sons died on the same day in this battle -- and Eli did, too.

The point I emphasized in this story was that God is supreme and that He is jealous for his glory. I stressed that the defeat of God's people did not mean God was not powerful. In fact, the defeat was part of God's design. He creates situations that seem hopeless to fix all eyes on His glory.

In this case, in kind of a humorous way, He showed that He did not need a single Israelite soldier to destroy the Philistines' false god Dagon. (You probably remember this story: where the Philistines display the Ark in front of the statue of Dagon, and in the morning it has fallen and broken to pieces on the Ark. Then God brings sickness to the Philistine people, until they finally tie the Ark to a cart and send it back to the Hebrews.)

After our story, I gave the children "tickets" that had numbers on them. We pretended to be getting on a train, and as I called the numbers, the children brought their tickets over and punched them with a paper puncher, then threw them in the trash and got on the pretend train.

After this, we sat at our table to color copies of the Dagon story and begin to make a book of God's character traits. This week's trait was "JEALOUS for His glory." I told them that Eli's sons did not love God, they only wanted to use Him as a way to get a victory. They loved pleasure and ease more than they loved God. In this way, pleasure and ease were an idol that they worshiped. But God will not have that. He knows that HE is what is very best for His people. I told them that God is not like a ticket that you use to get something else and then throw away, like we did with our "train tickets." God is what is most valuable! And the reason He is jealous for His name to be exalted by His people is because He knows you will never be so happy as when you are totally devoted to Him.

I kept the pages that the children made this week, and we will work on them more over the coming weeks, hoping to complete a book and earn their badge by end of the year. If you would like to make additional pages at home to bring in, that would be great. Just choose a trait of God, draw or cut out a picture that illustrates that trait and glue it on a regular sized piece of construction paper.