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
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