Psalm 119 Sunday School Lesson for Kids

This is lesson 32 of 32 in a series of lessons called “Praise God Through the Psalms.” 

“Praise God Through the Psalms” – Psalm 119:105-112

Lesson focus: Through the book of Psalms and the worship of the people of Israel, we get a glimpse into the character of God and how we should rightly respond to Him in worship. In Psalm 119, we get a glimpse into the psalmists’ love for the Word of God and specifically God’s law. Through this study, children will see the glory of the law and how the law points us to our need for salvation through Christ alone.

Passage: Psalm 119:105-112
Target Audience: Kindergarten-4th Grade (can be adapted for older or younger children)
Teaching Time: 45 minutes – 1 hour
Materials Needed:  Bibles, blank paper, markers, flashlight
Optional Materials: if you want to be able to send the kids home with something each week, you can print the text of the Psalm on one side of a piece of paper and on the back print “I should praise God because He is ____________” (leave the rest of the page blank for drawing.

Early Arriver/ Opening 10 minutes– have a few board games out and play with kids as they arrive. Don’t underestimate the conversations that happen while playing “Jenga” or “Uno” with a group of kids.

Intro–
Tell stories about being in the dark. Have kids tell stories about times when they’ve been outside and unable to find their way and talk about what helps them in those situations. Turn all of the lights of in the room and have them try to describe something random in the room that can’t be seen. Then, shine a flashlight/ torch on it and talk about how the light helps them to see clearly. Explain that our portion of a psalm this week starts out by comparing God’s Word to a lamp.

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Read the Text. . .Psalm 119:105-112
Before reading the text for the week, explain that Psalm 119 is the longest chapter in the Bible and that the whole chapter is about God’s law/ God’s Word. Tell the kids that it was written as a poem with each section representing one letter of the alphabet and the whole thing is meant to be a reminder of the importance of God’s Word. Explain that you’re only going to read one section of it in class, but that they may want to read all of it with their family during the week some time.

1. 1. Have each kid in the group read one verse, or have 3 volunteers do the reading (divided amongst them). As you go through the Psalm continually ask kids (1) what is this Psalm telling us about who God is?, (2) what is this Psalm telling us about what God does and (3) what is this Psalm telling us about what God expects of His people and how His people should respond to Him.Explain that even though this Psalm doesn’t speak directly about the character of God (like so many of the other Psalms have), we can still learn a lot about God by the value that the psalmist places on God’s Word. Just considering God’s Word we can understand that God communicates with His people, God is sovereign and has a plan for His people, God is Holy and desires His people to be holy and set apart for Him and so much more.
      
      

1. 1. Take a few minutes to talk about what truths this Psalm teaches us about God & His Word. ….. Have the kids remind you when God gave His people His law and what the purpose of the law was. (You might want to read Exodus 20:1-17 in way of review). Remind the kids that God gave His people the law as a way to remind them who He is (Holy & perfect) and that He expected His people to be holy (or set apart for Him). The law was a covenant/ deal between God and His people and was meant to show the surrounding nations who His people were.Look back at the Psalm and talk about how the psalmist describes Gods Word…. a lamp that shows Him the way, righteous, his heritage forever, the joy of his heart, something to be kept.

1. Cross- Connection– –  Ask the kids in the group if it’s possible for us to keep all of God’s laws for the rest of our lives. Remind them that we are all sinners and according to Romans 3:23, none of us is good enough for God. Then, have one of the kids read Romans 3:20. Explain that that verse gives us the other reason for the law….to show us our sin and our need of a Savior. Remind the kids that God calls His people to be holy and set apart by following the laws, but that because of sin we are unable to keep our end of the covenant and that’s why Jesus came and died in our place. He lived the perfect life that we couldn’t live and died the death that we deserve to die.

Worship Time– After discussing the passage, distribute the paper and markers or pages printed with the text for the week. Explain that each week you want them to do three things in response to the Psalm…

1. 1. write a verse from the passage that they want to remember

1. 1. write a reason to praise God that they see in the Psalm

1. draw of something from the passage that they think is important.
   

Give kids time to work on their pages and then have them share what they have drawn or written with the rest of the group.

Prayer– – Close in prayer by praying for the kids in the group that they would understand that the only way to be saved is through Jesus’s death in our place. Pray that they would see their own sinfulness and their need of a Savior.

Extra Time – – If you have any extra time at the end, play the name game again, or play OT/NT– – Have all the kids stand up in the middle of the room. Call out a book of the Bible. If it’s in the OT they have to go to your left side and if it’s NT they have to go to your right side. To make it even more challenging, you could call out names that aren’t books of the Bible and have them freeze for those.