God is Faithful Even When We Aren't...

This series of stories about Jacob buying the birthright, deceiving his father and receiving God's blessing anyway, shows us so much about God's gracious character. Many curriculums are at a loss as to what to do with deceitful Jacob getting the blessing anyway. We fail to see that in this story, we are Jacob. We all get the blessing that we don't deserve. Often, we are so intent on teaching children to behave and so afraid that God's grace will entice them to presume on it, that we often don't give them the message that is the very heart of the Gospel.

Jan. 27 - Esau Sells His Birthright: We opened by reviewing Psalm 56:3 with a puzzle. I used the game board and blocks from "Tipover", a game belonging to my kids. I had written each of the words in the verse on a string of blocks taped together, then had marked out the blanks on the gameboard. The children would choose a word, then try to match it to the blanks on the gameboard. They did very well with this and enjoyed it. Two of the words had the same number of letters, so we would read the verse each time we put a piece in place -- and they quickly were able to determine where to put the word from the context. Each time we added a word, we sang the jingle. Melanie liked the longer words!

In our classroom, we first took some time to review the requirements for the Devotions badge. I gave each of them a piece of sugarfree gum and let them chew it. I told them about how cows chew and chew and chew. That is how they digest their food and it becomes useful to them. I told them that in a way, that is what we do when we read God's word everyday and think about it over and over again in our minds. We keep thinking and thinking about it, until we understand it and it becomes useful to us. And God keeps saying different things to us through the stories in His Word. (Then I had them spit out their gum.)

Then I showed them several different kinds of Bibles: a child's story Bible with pictures, a regular adult ESV Bible, and even a comic book Bible. I told them that all of these are God's Word. I told them that if they look at the pictures in their story Bible or listen to a tape of a story, they will hear or remember what God has to say to them from His Word. This is the most common way that God communicates with His people.

Then we talked about praying. I told them that we want to tell God:

I love you
I'm sorry
Thank you
Please

This is an easy way to teach Adoration, Confession, Thanksgiving and Supplication. We will review this several times during the semester.

I gave them each a Treasure Chest chart and some jewel stickers and told them that every day that they "read" God's Word and pray, that they can put a jewel in the Treasure Chest. (The time can be very short, five minutes, or as long as they like.) When the chart is full, (30 days, they don't have to be consecutive) they will receive a Devotions Badge for their book -- but better than that, they will have the treasure of God's Word and presence daily.

Parents, obviously your five-year-olds will need some help with remembering to do this. The important thing at this age is not necessarily the quality of their time in the Word, but just establishing a habit of daily Bible reading that will be such a blessing to them as they grow. I gave my own children prayer journals for their personal devotion time, and they drew and later wrote out prayers that I treasure to this day.

After our table time, we moved over to our circle for our story. I opened using the gum again, saying how very hungry I was for this gum and I wanted to eat it right now, not wait for something better later. (I had planned to use an apple, but found I had forgotten it when I got to the classroom. The gum worked just fine.) Then I told them that we would hear a story about a young man who was really hungry and was not willing to wait for something that would REALLY satisfy his hunger.

We talked about the twins Jacob and Esau -- they were born on the same day, but Esau was born just a few minutes before Jacob. That meant that the birthright belonged to Esau. The birthright was something very special in Bible times -- the son who had it would someday be the leader of the family and get most of His father's land and cattle. He would also receive a special blessing as part of his birthright.

Since Esau was the oldest, the birthright would belong to him. But God had a plan from way before the twins were born. God planned for Jacob to be the leader of the family. The Bible tells us that "Though they were not yet born and had done nothing either good or bad" God picked Jacob to have the birthright. Why? Romans 9 says that the older son served the younger "in order that God's purpose of election might continue not because of works but because of His call." God wanted to be sure that we knew that He does not choose His people because they are so good or so wonderful -- He chooses whomever He decides to choose. And HE is gracious and wonderful to choose any of us at all!

And guess what? Sure enough, Esau did not care about the birthright. Isaac did not really have land or importance. He only had the promises that God had made to his father Abraham. Esau did not value these, and Jacob did. One day, Jacob was cooking stew and Esau came home from hunting, very hungry! Jacob offered him stew in exchange for his birthright. Esau valued it so little that he quickly agreed.

After coloring and questions, it was already time to go!

Feb. 3 - Jacob Deceives His Father: We opened class with a rebus game to learn our new verse, the first two of Psalm 121. We will learn the whole Psalm, which I think is wonderful. I had written the verse on construction paper, leaving out key words. The children chose slips of paper with pictures on them and placed the pictures in the appropriate blanks. They were quick at getting these. Each time we added a new picture, we sang the verse jingle.

In our classroom, we first made cards for Mrs. Solomon, who is doing better. We talked about the service badge and how we try to help others because God helps us sinners who cannot help or save ourselves.

Next we gathered in our circle for our story. I showed the children a carpet sample that was very fuzzy. I had each of them feel it. Then I had them feel their own arms. I told them that today's story from the Bible was about a man who had very fuzzy arms and a man who had very smooth arms.

Then we went on with the story of smooth-armed Jacob deceiving his father Isaac by making his arms hairy like Esau's to get the special blessing. We emphasized that God had said all along that the blessing was to be Jacob's. God would have given it to Jacob. Jacob was wrong not to wait for God to do it in His way. It was sin not to trust God. Jacob's sin would have consequences, as all sin does. But God would still fulfill His promise and His purposes for Jacob.

We worked on a page for our attributes of God book, by making a mirror out of aluminum foil. We talked about what it means to be made in the image of God, that we have certain attributes that are like God's but they are all less than His. We will discuss how God is infinite, unchangeable and eternal in all His attributes -- while we are not. I am excited about this book! Children Desiring God does such a good job of always keeping the children focused on what the Bible tells us about the Lord and deepening our understanding of how worthy He is of our worship.

Feb. 10 - God Gives Jacob a Dream: We opened our class with a popping game. Together, we popped all the bubbles on a sheet of bubble wrap. I asked Melanie which she would rather use as a pillow: the popped or unpopped bubble wrap. She laughed and said the unpopped.

That led us into our story. We moved to our story circle and I showed her a pillow and a rock. She tried both and said she definitely preferred the pillow. I told her that our story was about a man who had to use a rock as a pillow. I reminded her that Jacob had deceived his father and had not waited for God to bless him in His own way. That is sin, and it always has consequences. The consequence was that Esau was very mad at Jacob, and so Jacob had had to leave home or his brother would have killed him. So he was all alone in a strange place with only a rock for his pillow.

But then I told her that he really wasn't alone. Because God was with him even there. And even though Jacob had sinned, God would still keep His promise to bless Him. He reminded him of this by giving him a beautiful dream -- showing him a ladder that went to the clouds with bright angels coming and going up and down it. God had promised to make a way for man to be with God forever -- that way, that ladder to God, was Jesus himself. God would keep that promise. Jacob would have consequences for his sin, but God would not change his vow. God 's promise to Abraham, Jacob's grandfather, had three important parts: God promised him land, many children and that all the world would be blessed through his family (i.e. the Messiah would come through his line.)

After the story, we reviewed the promises by pulling objects symbolizing each out of a bag. Melanie had to guess what part of the promise each stood for: a book of Bible maps for the land, four little dolls for many children, and a ceramic Nativity Jesus for the Messiah.

Then I told her that even when life is hard, when we make mistakes and have consequences because of it, we can remember that God still keeps His promises. And God has promised that Jesus makes a way for us to spend eternity in the loving presence of God in a perfect, redeemed world, in perfect redeemed bodies -- which will be glorious. To illustrate this, we had to manage our way through an obstacle course I had set up around the room. At the end, was a plastic crown sitting on a box of prizes. She got to choose a couple and we had fun enjoying them for a while.

Then we went back to the table and colored our picture and Melanie did a great job of answering questions about the story and singing our jingle for Psalm 121:2-3.