Saul's jeolousy (deeds of David)

In I Samuel 18 we begin to see King Saul's jealousy come out. The Bible tells us "David had success in all his undertakings for the Lord was with him." David was a mighty warrior, popular among the people, and even well loved by Saul's own family. One day as David was playing the harp and singing for Saul, Saul quickly grabbed his spear and threw it at David, attempting to kill David. David escaped but was now aware of Saul's hatred toward him.

Years ago we did this story, so we used the same activity this time around. We found long straight sticks to be "spears." We went outside and attempted to throw them javelin style towards targets. Our targets were simply large rocks but you can use anything in the yard.

the point? God protects his people. God doesn't promise everyone will like us. Unchecked jealousy grows like poison in us until we do what we would never expect.

David and Goliath (deeds of David day 7)

We have arrived to the most well known story in David's life. I Samuel 17 tells of David's miraculous defeat over the Philistine giant Goliath. We have done this story before of course so you can check out activities we have done in the past.

Today, we made slingshots. We found sticks that were shaped in a "Y." We tightly wrapped a pony-tail holder across the top two branches of the Y, and attempted to knock an empty cereal box over with a rock on the slingshot. Obviously this was not an ideal slingshot and we are inexperienced operators, so we were only able to knock the box over once or twice. Which shows even more how amazing (and miraculous) it was for David to not only hit Goliath, but to kill him with a stone!

If you have older children I found this game on familyfun.com. It is called toppling towers and it looks like a lot of fun.

the point? God's plans always happen. God can do anything!

The Servant King (deeds of David day 6)

I Samuel 16:15-23 is a beautiful picture of Christ-like humility. David had already been anointed by Samuel and knew he would be King one day. But he returned to take care of his father's sheep. In the meantime King Saul was having trouble calming down. His servants heard of a man who played amazing, peaceful music. They sent for him to play for King Saul. The harpist was none other than David! David, knowing he would be King, was content to serve King Saul in any form asked of him!

I first asked the kids how they could practice humbly serving. They decided to go find 3 things that their sibling would like around the house. They ended up going into each others rooms and picking up their toys, but they were both pleased with the things they received :) Honestly, I am not sure I even understood, but they did so yah.

Then we took turns serving cups of water to the family (and a few stuffed animals.)

The point: We are never too important to serve one another. Jesus, God himself, came to serve!

David annointed (deeds of David day 5)

1 Samuel 16:1-14 followed up on God's promise to replace Saul as King over Israel. Samuel was sent to the home of Jesse to anoint one of his sons as King. Samuel thought the older, stronger brothers would surely be King, but God tells Samuel "man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart." God chose David, the youngest in the family, because God could see David's heart for God.

This is another lesson so relevant to our children. The world may value appearance, power, fame, etc. God values what is on the inside of us. Do we desire to follow God, or to have our own way? We did two activities to help get the point across. The outside doesn't always reflect the inside. I first took a needle and sliced a banana through tiny holes along the peel. With only 3 tiny needle pricks, we were able to have the banana cut into 4 pieces. So, when the kids peeled the banana, it was already cut up!

The second activity we did was to play a modified "old maid" game with a regular deck of cards. I took the aces, Kings, Queens, and Jacks out of the deck. I added one joker. Therefore we had pairs for all the numbered cards but not for the joker. We passed out all the cards and each player took out the pairs in their hand. The object of the game was to take turns choosing a card from another players hand (without looking) in an effort to make pairs out of all the cards. However, if you unknowingly draw the joker, you will not be able to make it into a pair. But just as we don't always see the hearts of people, we are not able to see their cards either :)

the point: man looks on the outward appearance but the Lord looks on the heart

Total Obedience (deeds of David day 4)

Wow, I am so sorry for not blogging in so long. We were out of town a couple days and then have been having computer trouble a while now. I have a back-log of Bible Times to be blogged so I will do my best to get them up.

In 1 Samuel 15 we learn of another time that Saul did not obey God. God instructed King Saul to completely destroy King Amalek and everything in his land. God told Israel he would give them the victory, but they must not take anything as spoils. After Israel defeated the enemy, a disappointed Samuel confronted Saul. Saul claimed he did obey, but only kept some of the animals "to sacrifice to God." Samuel relays God's message that because of his disobedience, the throne would someday be taken away from him.

To emphasize the importance of total obedience we played the classic "mother-may-I" game. I gave each kiddo instructions like take three forward hops, skip 2 steps, spin 4 times, etc. They had to ask "mother may I" before they began the action. If they forgot to ask permission, they went back to the beginning. The first person to reach me got to be the "mother" next game.

The point: "To obey is better than sacrifice." God is not impressed with our "bright ideas" to do for him... he is pleased with our total obedience to him.

Jonathan fights (deeds of David day 3)

In 1 Samuel 14:1-23 we read a super cool story about God's power. Saul's son Jonathan decided to take his servant with him, and go check out the enemy Philistine camp. I love how Jonathan says in verse 6, "Perhaps the Lord will do a miracle for us. For it makes no difference to him how many enemy troops there are." In the end, God does chose to do a miracle and he makes the Philistine troops run away in terror from Jonathan and his servant. Read the story- it is super cool!

We formed the main characters out of clay, to the best of our ability. Jonathan, the servant, and 5-6 enemies would be sufficient. However, if your kiddos love forming people, they can make as many as they want! We used cups to be the cliffs and acted out the story. Von especially enjoyed smashing the clay during the battle.

The point? It makes no difference to God how many enemy troops there are :)

Saul disobeys God (deeds of David day 2)

God chose Saul as King over Israel but Saul proves to be a less than obedient man. We covered 1 Samuel 13:1-16 today. This was the time that Saul was preparing to fight the Philistines. Samuel, God's prophet, had promised he would come offer the prescribed sacrifice to God before the army began their battle. However, Samuel did not arrive at the time Saul expected him. Saul lost patience and offered the sacrifice to God himself. God had instructed Samuel to do it, and Saul to wait. When Samuel arrives and notices Saul's sin, Samuel delivers a message from God. God is not pleased with Saul, and Samuel informs him that he will not be king for long.

For our activity we played Simon Says to emphasize following God's instructions exactly. Then, we talked about having patience. We all have many opportunities during the day to practice patience :) We used the darling puff paint instructions on this simply adorkable blogsite. She has awesome photos and directions so I will refer you to her site. We tried to use the paint to make pictures of our story. Just waiting for everything to be ready and taking turns in making the paint proved a tough exercise on patience.

the point? To obey is better than sacrifice. When we rush ahead instead of waiting on God we get into trouble.

Israel's first King (deeds of David day 1)

We started our study of David, woohoo! To get some background for King David, we began by learning about Israel begging Samuel for a King, to be like all the other nations. The story is found in 1 Samuel 8-10. We learned that God wanted his people to be different, and for him to be their king. However, he granted them their request and chose Saul to be the first King.

For our activity we made crowns out of foil. Then we played a game (Knox didn't really play but enjoyed the foil part.) In a "rock-paper-scissors" style, we counted 1-2-3-go. On "go" each of the three of us either placed their crown on their head or simply in their hands. The object of the game was to be the "different" one. So, if Alyse and I had the crown on our heads, and Von was holding his, Von received the point. We continued this as long as they wanted.

Application: God asks his people to be different. Jesus should be our model in life, not other people. When we do things simply to be like other people, we often stray from God's BEST.

Summer 2011!

I am so excited to have my kids back (out of school!) This summer I am planning on going through the life of David with the kids. I hope to get a little more detailed than usual, and learn so much more about God and how he interacts with his people. I recently ordered The Action Bible, God's Redemptive Story. It is published by David C. Cook and has 200+ Bible stories all written and illustrated in comic book form. My 8 year old son especially loves this new storybook Bible, and the 5 and 2 year old like it as well. We will be using it a lot to read the stories about King David. I hope you enjoy this time with your kids, and make it count!