"Fearfully and Wonderfully Made" Bible Lesson

This Bible lesson will help older elementary children better understand what it means to be a creation of God. You will find learning activities and detailed directions below.
Memory Verse: “How precious to me are your thoughts, Oh God! How vast is the sum of them! Were I to count them, they would outnumber the grains of sand.” Psalm 139:17-18a NIV
Learning Aim: After this lesson, students will understand that they are a creation of God and that all of God’s creation is good. They will be challenged to live a life that is pleasing to God.

Lesson Title: We are Fearfully and Wonderfully Made
Bible Reference: Psalm 139:13-14, 17-18
Target Age Group: Age 10-15
Learning Context: Sunday School or Kids Church
Target Time Frame: 1 hour
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Gospel Connection: As humans we are a creation of God. Everything that God has created is wonderful and so He believes that we are wonderful. We are precious to Him and He wants us to be near to Him because He loves us. He deserves our praise because we are wonderfully made. Make sure to emphasize to the children that we are a creation of God and should live our lives in a way that is worthy of God’s praise. This lesson will help students understand that God cares for us individually and will help them understand the need to have an individual relationship with Christ.
Target Age: This lesson plan is fit for children aged 10-15, however could be easily adapted for younger or older children.
Basic Supply List:

• A dry erase board or chalk board, the appropriate writing utensils and an eraser. These will be used to display the memory verse and during the Hide-A-Word extension activity.
• Bibles for the students to use while reading and referencing Psalm 139.
• A large bowl of sand. Colored sand is fun and can be purchased at most craft stores. If colored sand is not available regular sand is fine. Salt or sugar can be substituted for sand if that is easier to obtain. This will be used in Unending Grains of Sand and Sand Art relay.
• Small baggies. Jewelry sized bags are best but sandwich bags are also fine. This is used in Unending Grains of Sand.
• A teaspoon. This will be used in Unending Grains of Sand and Sand Art relay.
• A small glass vase. A cup is fine if that is what you have. This will be used in the Sand Art Relay.
• Construction paper with the title God thinks I am… This should be prepared before the class and will be used for the God Thinks I am… Collage.
• Magazines, scissors and glue. These will be used for the God Thinks I am… Collage. (Note: Make sure all magazine stories and ads are appropriate for children to see. You may want to use Christian or children’s magazines.)
• Camera or pictures of the children for the God Thinks I am… Collage if you desire to add pictures to the collage.

Note: In the teaching plan below the words in italics are meant to be read aloud. The regular text is simply directions for the teacher.
> > > > Basic Teaching Plan < < < <
Open the Lesson: Greet the students by name and spend one minute talking about the weekend and what is going on in the lives of the students. Students won’t know it, but this is actually part of the lesson.
Say, Today we are going to be talking about God’s thoughts towards us. For the past few minutes we have been chatting about the things going on in our lives. While we were doing this you probably had many different thoughts going through your mind.
Now challenge them to be honest and share some of the thoughts that they had while the teacher was talking in the first few minutes of class. Maybe they thought out their families, friends, school, the possibilities are endless. List a few things on the board and point out that our thoughts are seemingly endless. In just one minute many different thoughts crossed their minds.
Now say, We were able to think about all of these things in just one minute. How many thoughts do we have in one day? One year? Allow the students to reply. If we are able to have all of these thoughts then how many more thoughts must God, our all-knowing Heavenly Father, have?
Biblical Evidence: Let’s look at a piece of scripture that deals with the thoughts of God. Have the students look up and read Psalm 139 as a class. Say, let’s take a closer look at verses 13-14, (For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.) Spend some time discussing the verses.
Emphasize that God created our inmost beings, our heart, our habits, and our thoughts.  Tell the students that God knew who we would be before we were even born. You may want to talk about how we act as babies and how no one knows who we will be when we grow up. We can guess what a baby might be like but we cannot know for sure. God knows for sure. Turn the student’s attention to the second verse. Say, Think about all the wonderful things that God has made. If all of God’s creation is wonderfully made then we are wonderfully made also. I think that God thinks that we are wonderful!
Now, ask the students to look at the memory verse, Psalm 139:17-18a. (How precious to me are your thoughts, Oh God! How vast is the sum of them. Were I to count them, they would outnumber the grains of sand.) Ask, what do you think some of God’s thoughts might be? Are these thoughts directed towards us as individuals, creation, other people, only Christians? Allow the students to respond. Explain that God’s thoughts are precious because they are good. He is completely without sin and as a result does not have any negative thoughts.
Say, when David wrote this psalm he said that God’s thoughts toward us outnumber all the grains of sand in the world. How many grains of sand do you think are in the world? How big is the ocean? Are there 10 million grains of sand? One billion? Talk to the students about the vastness of the ocean and all the grains of sand. Remind them that the oceans are very big. If any of the students have been to the ocean or a large beach ask them to share their thoughts on how much sand is there. Say, As we learned in verses 13-14 everything that God creates is wonderful and we are his creation so we are wonderfully made. Likewise, his thoughts towards us and about us are wonderful and good. In God’s eyes we are a wonderful and beautiful creation that He simply cannot help loving. He may not always love our sin, the bad things that we do, but he loves who we are and believes that we are good and has plans for our lives that good.
Unending Grains of Sand: Take out a large bowl of sand and give each student a small bag. Have each student use a teaspoon to measure one teaspoon into their small baggie. Monitor students, especially younger students, to make sure that they do not spill the sand. Make sure all the baggies are securely sealed. Ask the students how many grains of sand they think are in the bag. There are over 1,000 grains of sand in each little bag. If God’s thoughts towards us are endless then we must be very important to God. (Let students take these baggies home as a reminder of God’s innumerable thoughts towards them.)
God Thinks I am… Collage: Ask, What are some of the things that God thinks about you? Tell the students that you will be giving them magazines and asking them to cut out words that God thinks towards them. For example, they may cut out the words beautiful, good, awesome, etc. The possibilities are endless. It might be fun to challenge the students to see who can come up with the most unique words for describing God’s thoughts towards them.
Give them a piece of construction paper with the title “God thinks I am…” at the top to paste their magazine clippings on. If you have access to pictures of your students or a Polaroid Camera it would be fun to put the child’s picture in the middle of the page. Monitor the students are they are working.
When they have completed their collages, ask for volunteers to share some of the words that they found. Say, These are only a few of the things that God thinks about us. How wonderful that God takes notice of each of us and realizes that we are individuals and thinks all of these wonderful things about us.
Review: Use the following questions to review learning concepts with your students.  Possible answers are listed in italics.

• Who created you?

God created you.

• What are some of the characteristics of God’s creations according to Psalm 139:13-14, 17-18?

God’s creations are wonderfully and fearfully made.  When God creates something it is not by chance, but planned out perfectly.  All of His creation is wonderful.  God thinks that His creation is precious and has innumerable thoughts towards us.  God will never leave you, His creation.

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• When God created you, did He create you hastily or did He carefully plan your life?

God knit you together before you were even born. You were not created hastily.  Every detail of your life was carefully planned out for you.  God loves His creation, you, and planned your life before you were born.  

• Why does God deserve your praise?

God deserves our praise because we are wonderfully made in His image. 

• How does God feel about you?

God loves you and will never leave you.  He knows that you are wonderfully made because He created you that way. 

• Why is God with us always?  God is always with us because we are His.  He loves us and will never leave us. 

Closing and Gospel Application: Remind students that they are a fearfully and wonderfully made creation of God. As God’s creation we belong to Him and are drawn to Him.  Say, We can thank God for making us His most prized creation by living a life that is pleasing to Him.
End by praying, Lord, We want to thank you because we are fearfully and wonderfully made.  Not only did you plan our lives, but you planned good lives for us.  You knew us before our birth and have never left us.  Thank you Lord.  Amen.
> > > > Optional and Extension Activities < < < < <
The following are optional activities that can be used when there is extra time at the end of the lesson or if you want to emphasize an individual aspect of the lesson.
Hide-A-Word: Write the bible verse on the board and have the students repeat it as a class five times. (“How precious to me are your thoughts, Oh God! How vast is the sum of them! Were I to count them, they would outnumber the grains of sand.” Psalm 139:17-18a NIV) For younger students it would be beneficial to use just verse 18a. Erase one word from the bible verse and have the students repeat it again. Continue erasing the words and repeating until the entire verse is erased. By the time they are done most of the students will have the verse memorized!
Purpose: This Activity will help students memorize their verse in a fun and non-threatening way.
Sand Art Relay: Take the students outside or to a gym. Divide the class into two teams. Make a starting line with a large bowl of sand. Place a small, glass vase at the other end of the gym or outside area. When a student approaches the starting line they must use a teaspoon to scoop up some sand and then race to the vase and dump their sand in. The first team to fill their vase wins. Note: It may be helpful to have a very small vase as it could potentially take a long time to fill. If colored sand is available, have students use different colors while they are racing to create a sand art decoration. Place this in your classroom as a reminder of today’s lesson in the future.
Purpose: This activity is great for students who are wiggly and need to get up and move in the middle of the lesson. It could be done right before the endless grains of sand activity to emphasize how God’s thoughts are as numerous as the grains of sand that they have just filled their vase with. This could also be used at the end of the lesson as time allows.