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!

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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