This lesson looks at three men in the Bible who obeyed God even though the promise He made them seemed impossible. Noah trusted God when he was asked to build an ark even through rain had never fallen from the sky before. Abram trusted God when he was told that He would have a child at the age of 99. Joshua trusted God when he was told that the city of Jericho would be defeated by marching and trumpets. In all of these stories God makes the impossible, possible. Through this lesson you will learn that God’s plans are indeed good even when they don’t make sense to us.
Lesson Title: God’s Plans are Good
Bible Reference: Genesis 7-8, 17, 2:1-7, Joshua 6:1-30
Target Age Group: Preschool
Learning Context: Sunday School
Target Time Frame: 1 hour
Coloring Page: The Story of Noah
Learning Aim: God’s plan is good even when it doesn’t make sense to us.
Bible Lesson God’s Plans
No Materials needed for this part of the lesson.
Tell the class that today is a special day because you are going to be learning about the promises that God made to three men in the Bible. Tell the class to pretend that they are going to build a city with the toys in the classroom.
Ask, What type of a plan would you need?
Tell the class that you have been working hard a plan to build an awesome city out of block and then make up a silly plan that wouldn’t actually help you reach this goal.
You could say, Step 1-Open the window, Step 2-Read a book backwards, Step 3- Draw a smiley face. Don’t you think that this is a great plan to build a city out of blocks?
At this point the kids will probably be confused. They might say that this plan won’t work or is silly.
Say, Does this plan sound confusing to anyone? Allow for responses. You’re right this is probably not the best way to build a city. I probably need to work on my city plans. Whenever you heard this plan you probably made a confused face. Show me your best confused face now. Good job! Today we will hear about promises that God made to Noah, Abram, and Joshua that didn’t really make sense. However, Noah, Abram, and Joshua listened to God and did exactly what He said and learned that God’s plans are always good and always work!
Noah’s Rain
No materials needed for this part of the lesson.
Read the story of Noah (Genesis 7 and 8) from a children’s Bible or use my retelling below:
A long time ago God looked at the Earth and saw that a lot of people were becoming evil. God decided that it was time to start over by destroying the Earth with water. He looked all over the Earth and saw Noah. God knew that Noah was a good man so God decided that Noah would be the one to save mankind and all the animals. God’s plan was this: Noah would build an ark (Make hammer noises by knocking on a table), which is a boat, two of every kind of animal would come and walk onto the boat (Pat legs to sound like animals walking), and then it would rain for 40 days and 40 nights (Rub hands together to make rain sounds). Once it stopped raining, Noah and his family and all the animals would be safe. Do you think Noah was confused by this plan? Everyone make your best confused face right now. Can you imagine so much rain that whole Earth is covered? I can’t. Noah could have easily said “Forget about it, that’s crazy!” But he listened to God and everything that God said would happen did happen. Noah built the ark, the animals came, it rained, and then finally the rain stopped and the land became dry again. God’s promises are always good even when they don’t make sense to us.
Let the kids get up and stretch their legs as you sing “Rise and Shine” together. Cedarmont Kids has a good version of the song on Youtube at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=56QWeYtHW0k or just sing the song with the lyrics below.
Rise and Shine
The Lord said to Noah
there’s gonna be a floody floody
Lord said to Noah
there’s gonna be a floody floody
Get my children (clap)
out of the muddy muddy
Children of the Lord.
Chorus
So rise and shine
and give God the glory glory
Rise and shine
and give God the glory glory
Rise and shine and (clap)
give God the glory glory
Children of the Lord.
The Lord said to Noah
you’re gonna build an arky arky
Lord said to Noah
you’re gonna build an arky arky
Build it out of (clap)
gopher barky barky
Children of the Lord.
Sing chorus
The animals, they came on
they came on by twosies twosies
Animals, they came on
they came on by twosies twosies
Elephants and (clap)
kangaroozies roozies
Children of the Lord.
Sing Chorus
It rained and poured
for forty daysies daysies
Rained and poured
for forty daisies daisies
Drove old Noah (clap)
almost crazy crazy
Children of the Lord.
Sing Chorus
The sun came out
and dried up the landy landy
Sun came out
and dried up the landy landy
Everything was (clap)
fine and dandy dandy
Children of the Lord.
Sing Chorus
Abram’s Son
Before Class: You will needs 99 star stickers for each child, and a piece of construction paper. Plus extra star stickers to count the kids ages. You will need a baby doll to tell the story. For the end of the lesson you will need a large piece of butcher paper, crayons and the star stickers. Before class, draw Abram in the middle of the butcher paper with a marker.
Bring the class together and give everyone as many star stickers as they are old. So if the kid is 3 they get 3 stickers. Put them on the child’s name tag or hand, somewhere they will see it.
Say, today we showed our age in stickers. In the Bible there is a man named Abram and God made a big promise to him when he was 99 years old! Abram and his wife Sarai didn’t have any children, but God told Abram that he would have a son. Abram’s son would have a lot of sons, and eventually Abram’s family would have as many people in it as there are stars in the sky. Abram and his wife were 99 years old and people don’t have babies when they are 99! Show me your confused face again. This plan didn’t make sense to Abram at first and like Noah, Abram had to find a way to trust in God’s plan even though it didn’t make sense.
Give each child a piece of paper and the sheet of 99 star stickers. Give them enough time to fill each sheet. If you have younger children you might want to work as a team because it might be hard for them to peel 99 stickers on their own.
Say¸ Let’s compare Abram’s age to your age. It looks like Abram was really old right!
Tell the rest of the story as you rock “Baby Isaac.”
Say, This is baby Isaac. He is Abram and Sarai’s son! So did God keep his promise this time? Allow for responses. Yes, God kept his promise and gave Abram a son. Isaac grew up and had many children and he followed God. God’s plans are good even though they don’t always make sense to us.
Extend the Lesson (Optional): Tape a large piece of paper to the wall and draw Abram in the middle of the paper. Have the class draw as many of Abram’s descendants on the paper as possible. Add star stickers to the top of the paper. Discuss how God kept his promise as you draw.
Joshua’s City
Before Class: You will need blocks, noise makers.
Sit in a circle around a city made of blocks. You will pretend that you are Joshua’s army and that you want to take over the city.
Say, Let’s pretend that the city in front of us is Jericho. God has promised Joshua and the Israelites that this city will be theirs. But, there is one problem. People already lived there and they were as big as giants! Also, the city was surrounded by big walls. What should the Israelites do? Well, God as a plan and as you might have guessed the plan seemed a little crazy to the Israelites. God told the Israelites to march around the city once a day for six days. On the seventh day they had to march around the city seven times then give a loud shout. If the Israelites did this, then the city would there theirs.
Act it out as a class. March once for days one through six. For day seven march seven times and give everyone noise makers to blow at the end as you knock down the city.
Say, Did God’s plan make sense? Maybe not, But it worked. Some of the Israelites were skeptical but they followed Joshua and after seven days they were able to take the city of Jericho. God’s plans are always good even when we don’t understand them.
Learn Through Play
Here are three different activities that you can use to extend the lesson.
- Write the child’s name on a piece of paper and have them cover the letters with star stickers.
- Build the Israelite’s new city out of blocks.
- Play with animal toys and pretend that they are getting ready to go on the ark.
Review
Use following questions to guide your discussion as you clean up, eat snack, or just get ready to go home.
- Which story was your favorite today? Why?
- How were all the stories different?
- How are they the same?
- What did God promise Noah? Abram? Joshua?
- Did God always keep His promise?
- Can God use you like he used Noah, Abram, and Joshua?
- Can you always trust God?
Close in prayer, thanking God for always keeping His promises.