Teaching Job 42

Notes:

Everyone likes a happy ending, and this seems to be one. Job is given double what he began with and a new family. This is not justice and reward for Job's faithfulness but God's grace. It points to a day when, by grace, God will restore us to the full blessing of being with Him. In the mean time we keep trusting Him, looking to the day when we will be with Him.

Application: The Christian life is about looking forward to the time when God makes everything right, trusting that He has it in hand. 3-7s struggle with time, particularly long times of waiting so we need to help them look forward, possibly many years of trusting God through hard times.

3-5s

Theme: The day will come when God will make everything right

Aim: That they long for that day

Intro:

·        Have lots of toy animals or get them to colour/paint lots of animal pictures. Ask: What do you think these toys/pictures might be about?

Teaching:

Recap – see what they can remember from the term in a little quiz

[Have puppets out again] After God he spoke to Job’s friends and said that they had said things which weren’t right. They had to go and say sorry to Job and to God for what they had said. And Job prayed for them.

Then God gave Job twice as much as he had before. They gave him 14,000 sheep, 6,000 camels, 1,000 cows and 1,000 donkeys. God also gave Job 7 sons and 3 daughters. [place out on the table.] Read Job 42:14-17.

God made everything right for Job and one-day God will make everything right in this world too. Read ‘Jesus is coming’ from the Beginners Bible. One day Jesus will come back and He will make everything right. All these horrible, yucky things that make us sad and upset, like sin and hurt and sickness, Jesus will get rid of them all. And all friends of Jesus will live with Him forever.

What do you think will be amazing about being with Jesus forever? [take suggestions]

There will be so many wonderful things it is hard to imagine it. So let’s keep being Jesus’ friend and look forward to being with Him forever.

[Could listen to ‘No more tears’ from a Very, Very Big God at this point]

Pray

Craft:

·        Paper plate world craft

·        Filter paper world craft

·        Memory verse jigsaw craft

Songs:

·        No more tears (from a Very, very Big God)

·        God never says Oops!, 10,9,8 God is Great (both Colin Buchanan)

-----

5-11s

Theme: The day will come when God will make everything right

Aim: That they long for that day

Intro:

·        Guess how long a minute is – all the children stand still and quiet. When they think a minute is up they sit down. The closest to 60 seconds wins.

·        Get the children to make a list of what is wrong with the world. Cut up the list and split the children in two, separated by a line of masking tape. They need to get the ‘bad things’ out of their area. End by explaining that only God can make everything better and He will.

[Read story with pictures]

Teaching:

[This talk was written by Chris Joyce]
[Keep the children waiting when the talk is announced…]

Sorry to keep you waiting. I wonder if like me you find it hard to wait for things.

I wonder whether… examples of waiting

Well, all term we’ve been exploring the Bible book of Job and maybe you’ve been waiting and waiting to see what happens at the end. Will there be a happy ending for Job?

Well, I’m happy to explore the last bit of Job with you and I have great news… there is! There is a happy ending!

1)     Job’s happy ending

Do you remember today’s story? Let me read some of it again: After Job had prayed for his friends, the Lord (God) gave Job success again. Ooh, this does sound like a happy ending.

God gave Job so much success he owned twice the number of things he used to own before. He owned enough animals to fill a number of zoos much, much, much bigger than our town. There were 14,000 sheep, 6000 camels, 1000 donkeys and more!

Job was also given a new family, he had seven sons and three beautiful daughters. Job lived with his new family and got to spend time with his children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren, and great-great-grandchildren. [Graphic onscreen of family tree, clicked through as each is said]

Job also lived to a very, very old age, 140 years old, celebrating it all with his family. [Could parallel with the queen turning 90, perhaps best not to, adds confusion]

This is a very happy ending indeed!

[Could be asked in the form of a question, and perhaps better placed in section 2?] God has given Job everything he could ever want, and double what he used to have. God didn’t give Job lots of good things as a reward for Job being good. God didn’t give Job lots of good things because he had suffered.

God gave Job lots of good things because He is a good and loving God. The main reason God gives Job lots of good things is to remind us of something else. An even happier ending.

Hang on one second. A happier ending?

2)     Job’s happy ending, is still to come

Job receiving a new family and lots of good things from God is very happy but there’s an even happier ending – the real happy ending - to come.

In our memory verse we heard about our redeemer, a redeemer who in the end will stand on this earth, a redeemer who lives.

A few weeks ago we saw this redeemer is Jesus. We saw that we need Jesus as our redeemer because we sin and tell God to shove off.

We saw that Jesus defeated sin and death, and suffered because of us.

All of the good things Job received before he died are tiny compared to the good things God will give to those who trust in him.

The Bible tells us that those who trust that Jesus died for them can look forward to the best day and the happiest ending ever. The day when Jesus returns to stand on this earth.

When Jesus does return to stand on this Earth God will make everything right with his people. There will be a new heaven and a new earth, a place where God will live with his people. In this place God will wipe away every tear from our eyes. There will be no more sadness, and all the bad things in this world will go away.

Everything will be perfect. It sounds perfect doesn’t it? A place we can live with God, with no more tears or sadness. I would like to be there now, but we’ll have to wait for it.

Apply

Nobody knows which day Jesus will return on. It could happen tomorrow, or it may be a long time away, after we’ve lived all of our life.

So here’s my question for all of you: What are we supposed to do while we wait?

As life goes there may some hard things and some sad things that happen to us, they may have already. Life might get really yucky!

When life gets yucky, we need to be like Job and remember that God has everything under control, and to continue trusting in him. So while we wait, if life is good we need to continue trusting God, and if life is yucky and hard we still need to trust in God.

Remembering that there is a new heaven and a new earth to come. On earth our hard times may not be as hard as Job’s, but they’ll still be hard. And our good times may not be as good as Job’s but we need to continue trusting in God all the time, making Him the most important person in our lives.

Pray

Table Time:

Knowledge

·        What happens to Job at the end of the story?

Understanding

·        What should Job’s happy ending remind us of?

·        What will happen at our happy ending? Why is it so wonderful?

Application

·        How good are you at waiting?

·        What should we do while we wait?

·        What should we do if life is yucky while we wait?

·        What should we do if life is good while we wait?

Funsheets

Memory verse

Pray for persecuted church

Teaching Job 38-42

Notes:

In 38 God reminds Job of His massive power and wisdom, He knows what He's doing better than Job. We then have a short, and rather meek response from Jonah (40:3-5). God carries on blowing Job's mind! But He seems to be saying, 'Look, I've got the crocodile and hippopotamus in my hand.' (This seems to be what the Leviathan and Behemoth are). This is a bit underwhelming compared with 'I've got the mountains and stars under control.' Bob Fyall suggests that these are actually Satan and death that God is speaking of. So God is reminding Job in very poetic language that nothing is outside of God's control, He even commands our accuser and has power over death. Although evil is incredibly powerful, we have one who holds these things in His hands.

In 42:1-6 Job recognises this and responds in humility.

Application:

The children may be tempted to think that good and evil are equal and opposite forces, or even that the world has been overwhelmed by evil. In the midst of yuckiness, God is in control and sees and knows everything. That means that they can trust Him, in fact it would be pretty silly not to! Job's reaction is right, we should bow before God and recognize that He knows what He's doing, particularly when we don't!

3-5s

Theme: God is so big; He has all bad things under His control

Intro:

·         Control game – eg can you blow a ping-pong ball across the table?

·         Have a toy crocodile – What is this? Is it nice or nasty? Is it weak or strong?

·         Leviathan’s footsteps – like Grandma’s Footsteps

·         Hungry Hippos

Teaching:

[print out a large picture of a hippo and a crocodile]

Recap – remind of what happened to Job, three friends. Now God has started to speak.

There are lots of things which other people are in charge of. Who is in control? (On screen pictures of below)

·         Parent and child crossing road, policeman and criminal, someone driving a car

·         Waves on a beach, flowers growing [God]

All these yucky things had happened to Job, so Job thought maybe God is no longer in charge. But then God appears in a storm and speaks. And God tells him about two animals. Here’s the first:

Read Job 40:15-19 and 24 and hold up picture.

This is an animal you won’t have seen in real life. It’s a monster that we think is a bit like a hippo.

Put your hand up if you have ever been to walk a dog? What about a rabbit? What about a horse? What about a cow or sheep? What about a bird of prey – eagle or owl? What about a hippo?

That’s the question God asks! And God asks Job - can you catch the Behemoth? God says look at the Behemoth, I made him. God says to look at how strong he is, look at his powerful legs! God says the Behemoth isn’t afraid of other animals. God asks if anyone can capture the Behemoth? Can anyone trap him or put a ring in his nose to lead him like a cow or a dog?  The answer is no. Job can’t control the Behemoth. But God can. God is completely in control of the Behemoth.

God then talks about another animal. The Leviathan. Repeat Leviathan. [hold up crocodile picture.] Read Job 41:1-3. God asks, ‘Are you in charge of the Leviathan – an animal a bit like a crocodile?’

God asks can you tie him down? Can you make him into your pet or ask him to be nice to you? If you attack him will he be injured? No! The Leviathan is strong and has a thick skin which can’t be hurt! He has fearsome teeth and spikes on his back, he is so strong that strong metal snaps like straw or rotten wood! He says fire comes from his mouth and smoke from his nostrils! [add fire to picture] He is a scary beast that God has made and the Leviathan is not afraid of anyone else.

Can you catch these creatures? No, but God can! God is in charge of everything! There is nothing that He is not in charge of.

God is even in charge of sad things and bad things – all the yucky things that happened to Job, God has them all in His hands.

[Could tell the story of Jesus and the evil spirit with pictures here]

So what about the bad and yucky things that happen in the world? What should we do about the evil we see, the bad things that make us sad, the yucky things that hurt us sometimes?

We should remember that God is in control, that God has the power and that God will win. Evil might look BIG and scary like the Behemoth and the Leviathan but God will win because God is in control!

One of the best ways of showing that we know God is in charge is by praying – so let’s pray together.

Pray

Craft:

·         Crocodile clothes peg on a hand lily pad – stick on memory verse

·         Hippo plate craft

·         Prayer activity

Songs:

·         God never says Oops!, 10,9,8 God is Great and My God is so Big!

 ------

5-11s

Aim: God is so much bigger than us; He has all this evil under His control

Intro:

·         Quiz to cross crocodile infested swamp – recap questions

Teaching:

[Reading with pictures]

[This talk was written by Katy Johnson]

Often it seems like we aren’t in control.

Who is in control? (On screen pictures of below)

·         Teacher in class, judge in court, someone driving a car, Gru and minions,

·         Waves on a beach, flowers growing, inside out characters, football team…

Sometimes it’s easy to see who’s in control. Sometimes it’s hard to see who’s in control.

Recap - We’ve been looking at the story of a man called Job. Some bad things have happened to Job – lost family, lost house, lost children, lost animals, got ill. When bad things happened it’s hard to see who’s in control. We want to know why these bad things have happened!

A few weeks ago we met Job’s friends who were trying to help Job to understand why the bad things had happened to him. What did they say?

In today’s true story from the Bible we see who is in control.

Job has been talking to his friends and he hasn’t had a good answer from them, he asks God to answer him and God does answer him. Job wants God to tell him why these bad and yucky things have happened! Job knows that he hasn’t made the bad things happen so who has and why!?

Now God talks about two animals to help Job see who really is in control. First animal is the Behemoth…

Repeat Behemoth: Read Job 40:15-18 and 24

This is an animal you won’t have seen in real life. It’s a monster that we think is a bit like a hippo.

Put your hand up if you have ever been to walk a dog? What about a rabbit? What about a horse? What about a cow or sheep? What about a bird of prey – eagle or owl? What about a hippo?

That’s the question God asks! And God asks Job - can you catch the Behemoth?

[Two team to open the life size hippo picture and tape to chair on one side of the room.]

God says look at the Behemoth, I made him. God says to look at how strong he is, look at his powerful legs! God says the Behemoth isn’t afraid of other animals. The Behemoth lives in streams and if the river is wild and wavy and stormy. The Behemoth isn’t afraid.

God asks if anyone can capture the Behemoth? Can anyone trap him or put a ring in his nose to lead him like a cow or a dog?  The answer is no. Job can’t control the Behemoth. But God can. God is completely in control of the Behemoth.

God then talks about another animal. The Leviathan. Repeat Leviathan. [Two team to tape the Leviathan picture to chairs on the other side.] Read Job 41:1-3.

God asks can you control the Leviathan – an animal a bit like a crocodile?

God asks can you tie him down? Can you make him into your pet or ask him to be nice to you? If you attack him will he be injured? No! The Leviathan is strong and has a thick skin which can’t be hurt! He has fearsome teeth and spikes on his back, he is so strong that strong metal snaps like straw or rotten wood! If you throw swords or clubs or spears they will just fall off him! He says fire comes from his mouth and smoke from his nostrils! He is a scary beast that God has made and the Leviathan is not afraid of anyone else. Nothing on earth is equal to this beast.

Nothing on earth. God can control this scary beast. God can control the Leviathan and the Behemoth.  Job realises that he doesn’t need to know the answers to why bad things have happened because God is in charge and God knows best. God has control over those two beasts the Leviathan and the Behemoth.

There are two other things God is in charge of and has control over. They are Satan and death. [tape signs over Behemoth and Leviathan that say Satan and Death]

God has control over our two enemies – Satan and death. God has beaten our two enemies – Satan and death. Often we think that good and evil are in an equal battle, where either side could win. But that’s not true. There is a battle of good and evil but they aren’t equal forces. 

When Jesus was alive he was visiting a town called Capernaum and he went to the Jewish Synagogue to teach the people, when a man who had an evil spirit came and started shouting at Jesus! He said “Jesus of Nazareth! What do you want with us? Did you come to destroy us? I know who you are God’s Holy One!”

Here we have Jesus up against an evil spirit. Who do you think will win? Jesus!

Do they have a big fight where it’s really close between Jesus and the evil spirit? Does it look like Jesus might lose? Is it really hard for Jesus to win? Does it take a long time? No.

Jesus simply says to the evil spirit “Be quiet! Come out of the man!” That’s it! All Jesus has to do to beat evil is to tell it to stop. Who is in control? JESUS

God is much stronger than evil and God will win over evil. God has proved he has power over death through Jesus. Jesus died on a cross and came back to life. God showed he has power over life and death when Jesus rose from the dead.  Who has power over death?  Jesus!

So what about the bad and yucky things that happen in the world? What should we do about the evil we see, the bad things that make us sad, the yucky things that hurt us sometimes?

We should remember that God is in control, that God has the power and that God will win. Evil might look BIG and scary like the Behemoth and the Leviathan but God will win because God is in control!

Job in the Bible story today realises that God is the one in control not Job. And Job acts the way we should act too, he bows before God and remembers that God is in control and God knows what he is doing even when to us we don’t know what God is doing.

Table Time:

Knowledge

• What is God in control of?

• What is God not in control of?

• How did Jesus show He was in control?

Understanding

• Why does it matter that God is in control?

• Who can tell God what to do? Why not?

• Does God know when bad things happen?

Application

• What do you need to remember when bad things happen?

• What could you say to a friend who is having a tough time?

Funsheets

Memory verse

Pray for the persecuted church

Teaching Job 32-37

Notes: This is the trickiest part of Job so far, and that’s saying something! Elihu accuses Job of sinning as a result of his suffering (rather than suffering as a result of sinning). There are 4 speeches:

1)      God does speak (and Elihu claims to speak for him) resulting in salvation

2)      God is just, because He is God (so to say God is unfair is to say He is not God)

3)      Being good should not be to get a better life, but because of how great God is

4)      God is huge, only He can bring justice

Then Elihu calls on Job to tremble before God, to have a right sense of his place!

3-5s

Theme: God is very big and so always does what is right

Intro:

·         Paint or colour very big things and put them in order of size.

Teaching:

Recap story of Job – emphasise that part of Job’s response was to say that God wasn’t doing what was right.

Introduce Elihu [new puppet]. Elihu has listened to all that the friends have said and now he speaks. This is what he says.

[have two things – a tape measure and a thumbs up]

Shall we measure some of the things we painted? [do some measuring]. How big do you think God is? This big, etc. God is much, much bigger. We can’t measure God because He is so huge. Listen to what Elihu says – read Job 37:1-6.  Elihu says to Job, ‘God is so big and powerful and mighty and strong, don’t forget that when you’ve been shouting at him!’

So, is God bigger than an elephant? Etc.

And because God is so big and mighty and powerful and strong he always does what is right. [hold the thumbs up].

Job has been saying that God has not been right and that’s why life has been so horrible, but Elihu says Job is wrong. God is always fair and He always does right. Read Job 34:5-11.

So does God ever tell lies? No!

Does God ever stamp his feet or push and shove? No!

God is always right and fair. God always does things that are true and good. We can be absolutely sure of that. God is always good.

So what do we know about God? [hold up both objects]

God is ….

This is really good news, we can talk to Him and he will listen. We can trust Him, we know that He is always looking after us and caring for us, whether life is happy or sad. Let’s talk to Him now.

Pray

We can also praise Him for being so big and so good!

Songs:

·         Our God is a great Big God

·         My God is so Big

·         Our God is a very, very big God

Craft:

·         Measuring tape craft (‘God is big’ stuck on)

·         Thumbs up craft (‘God is right’ stuck on)

5-11s

Theme: God is fair because He is God

Intro:

Play a really unfair game, changing the rules regularly – but be careful who you pick on. Have them cry out ‘that’s not fair!’ whenever they feel badly treated.

Teaching:

Recap

In comes another friend, Elihu, and he has been listening to all that has been going on. [dress one up as Elihu]. Elihu makes 4 speeches. 

Let’s see if we can make sense of what Elihu says. [Elihu holds up a card with a speech bubble]

‘Job, you’ve been demanding that God speaks to you. Well, He does speak, He speaks through your suffering calling you to trust Him.’

Then Elihu speaks again: [hold up card with referee on]

‘God is fair; if God wasn’t fair then He wouldn’t be God!’ Read Job 34:5-11.

God is always right and true and fair. What God does is always right.

Then Elihu speaks again: [card with ‘you’ scored out and ‘God’ ticked]

‘We don’t do good things so that life would be better. We do good things because God is so wonderful!’ Read Job 35:2-7.

Then Elihu speaks a 4^th time: [hold up picture of a measuring tape]

‘God is so huge, only He can be fair.’ Read Job 36:5-7.

We can’t be fair and just because we don’t know everything and we can’t do everything, we’re too tiny! But God is so big and mighty and powerful and can do everything and knows everything. Read Job 37:1-6.

So Elihu says the friends have got things the wrong way round. They say that Job has sinned therefore he’s suffering. [put out ‘sinned’ arrow ‘suffering’]. Elihu says it’s the other way round [‘suffering’ arrow ‘sinned’] In his suffering Job has said things about God that aren’t true and instead he needs to recognise that God is God and is always true and right and fair. The only response is to tremble before Him. Read Job 37:19-24.

When do you think God is unfair? When things don’t go right for you? Do you think you could run the world better than God?

Table time:

Knowledge

·         What did Elihu say about Job?

·         What did Elihu say about God?

Understanding

·         Why is God always fair?

·         Why is it so good that God is fair? What would the world be like if He wasn’t?

Application

·         What difference does it make to you that God is so big and huge?

·         What difference does it make to you that God is always fair?

·         Why do you do good things?

Funsheet

Persecuted church