Wisdom and Might Belong to God

This week, our story was about the secret dream that God told Daniel, saving his life and showing the king the glory of the One True God. God is faithful to honor those who trust in Him.

We opened with a craft intended to remind us of how God's ways are so very different than ours -- that is why it can be a struggle to trust and obey. "A gentle word turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger." Our little craft was a gentle lamb, who would sweetly sing the first part of the verse. (A beanie baby lion growled the second half.) It might make sense to us that we should yell to "win" or overpower someone who is angry at us -- but God's way is different. We can trust His way is best because He knows everything.

While we were working on our projects, we prepared for the story by talking about some of their own dreams. Glory had a particularly interesting one, that was something about small drawers opening into big doors and rooms. She said, "I loved that dream. I wanted to stay there." Patrick finished his craft early, so he made a tent frame out of pipe cleaners and requested a paper towel to make a teepee. SarahClaire had lost her first tooth and showed it to us all. Jacob twisted a pipe cleaner into a ring, which I am still very proud to be wearing!

I told all the children to put their crafts on the table in the family room, while I finished clearing up. When I peeked in on them, they were all sitting in a circle, chatting with each other and waiting for our next activity.

We moved onto our Bible story time. I opened by sitting quietly for a minute, then asking them to tell me what I had been thinking. They said they couldn't! I agreed and said that only God could know what someone was thinking. This led into our story about our All-knowing God revealing a dream to Daniel that only the king knew -- and the king himself had forgotten. The story was long, but the children listened closely. When the dream was about to be revealed, they were very quiet. I described the statue with the head of gold and body parts of other metals being destroyed by the stone, which then grew into a mountain filling the earth. I stopped and asked if anyone knew what the dream meant. Patrick said, "I think I do but I don't want to ruin it." (It was pretty complicated.) I relayed what God told Daniel about the dream: various kingdoms would rise and fall in history, and the Kingdom of God, the stone, would overcome them all. The king was astounded that God had revealed the dream -- but we can be even more astounded: We know now that all that God told Daniel about those earthly kingdoms did come to pass! And we can take heart in knowing that the stone mountain, the Kingdom of God, began when Jesus came and will overcome all others and stand forever! We had our snack right after story time, and while we ate, the children answered questions about the story by choosing numbered pieces of paper. During this time I emphasized once again: God knows everything, so we can trust Him and do things His way.

After snack, we played a game using a Beanie Baby lion and a Beanie Baby lamb. We passed the beanies around in a circle while we sang the verse. Whoever was holding the lamb when we finished the song repeated the first part of the verse (sweetly), whoever was holding the lion growled the second part. Each child who ended up holding a beanie, also got to wear a sticker.

And right then -- the first moms arrived! They were gracious and agreed to join us for the lunch we hadn't yet started, and it was a chaotic and very fun time!

God's Word is Found: In our July 29th class, we saw how our merciful God honors a repentant heart in the story of King Josiah, the boy king who rediscovered the Law, which had gone unread for years among an idolatrous people. We opened class by digging in an indoor sandbox, searching for something hidden: Several smooth, clear pebbles were buried in the white playsand. Whenever a child found one, we cleaned it off with a wipie, then put it over one of several words written on a piece of construction. The clear pebble magnified the word, and we were able to read our verse for the week: ""Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good." (Romans 12:21) Everytime we put a new stone on, we would sing the verse. The children really enjoyed this activity. The sand was soft and clean, and as we hunted, we used measuring cups and spoons to make sandcastles and palaces.

We opened our Bible storytime, with another hands-on activity. The children gathered around a bin filled with shredded paper. They had to feel around until they found something. There was one very small Bible hidden, and eventually one of the children pulled it out. I told them that in our story, someone found the Word of God after it had been hidden for a long time. I emphasized that Josiah was only a little boy, but he loved God and wanted to please Him. When he found the Law, he knew it was right and good and he tore his clothes because he knew that the people had disobeyed it all these years. We talked about the word "repent," and I explained that it meant to turn away from sin and turn toward God. I tried to really make sure they understood this concept, that repenting isn't just being sorry. It's agreeing with God that sin is horrible and purposing to turn away from it, and to turn to Christ, who is our only hope if we want to please God and to really change and be good. And God is so merciful to forgive those who repent!

We took our snack break and answered questions written on little Bibles. C.J. surprised me with an answer to the question: Does everyone know about God? He said, "Everybody knows about God, but some people don't believe in Him. And I'm so thankful that I believe in Him." That wasn't the answer I was expecting, but he was right. The Bible says in Romans 1:20 "For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse." But wicked men suppress the Truth. And I also love that C.J. thinks to be thankful for the gift of belief.

After snack, we went outside to play a bubble-blowing game. Leah blew bubbles and the children had to pop the bubbles with whatever part of their body that we told them to use. While we did this we sang our verse about overcoming evil with good. We used one finger, one foot, our knees, our heads and our clapping hands. This got a lot of energy out, and my neighbor enjoyed watching them in the front yard.

We returned inside to work on the book we are making to earn one of the two badges available this summer. As we have studied prophets, priests and kings this year in our Old Testament survey, we have talked about out how each one points us to the perfect prophet, priest and king: Jesus. The book we are working on shows how Christ as our Redeemer executes these three offices. (This material is taken from the Westminster Shorter Catechism.) The book will be fun for them to keep, as it will include a hands-on matching game, in which they can identify the characters we have studied as prophets, priests or kings and put them in the correct envelope. The second badge that the children can earn is for memorizing five verses. We have been singing them in class and the jingles are found at the link to the right of this post. We only have two weeks left in our study, so I will try to have a CD for them to take home this week! I know there are some who already know all the verses! See you Wednesday!