Telling the Story:
Read the book of Job and tell it dramatically in your own words or read it to your children from a Children’s Bible. My First Study Bible tells and illustrates the story excellently.
Here’s a suggested telling of the story. “Job loved God and had been very blessed by Him with many animals, nice houses, 7 sons, and 3 daughters. He was very happy. But one day thieves stole all of his animals. Then a great wind destroyed the house that all of his children were dining in and they were all killed. Then Job became sick with sores all over his body. He was sad that God had allowed all these bad things to happen to him but he never stopped trusting God!!
His friends came to sit with him and told him that all these things had happened because he was a bad person. Job knew that wasn’t the truth. He cried out to God for answers. God came to Job in a whirlwind and reminded Job how big He is and all the things He can do. Job believed that God is greater than man (Job 33:12) God told him his friends were wrong and then God told Job to pray for his friends.
The Bible says that after Job prayed for his friends God began to restore all that had been taken away. He gave Job TWICE as much as he had before – (Job 42:10 When Job prayed for his friends, the Lord restored his fortunes.) Job was happy again. Job knew and loved God even more now.
Activities:
Use a circle cut from cardstock and covered in clear contact paper as Job’s face. Glue on wiggly eyes. Use play dough to show the different feelings Job had (glad, sad, and glad again) Show the sores on his face and then show his face after God healed him.
Lunch can be a sandwich made to look like sad Job.
Mark two jars, one with ‘God Can’ and the other marked ‘I Can’. Write on legos somethings that only God can do (ex. – make a fish, cause the sun to shine), and somethings that we can do (ex. – catch a fish, turn on a flashlight). Drop the legos in the appropriate jars.
Sing “My God is So Big”
Lead children to pray for their friends like Job did. Especially tell them about and pray for a friend your family might know who quit trusting God when something bad happened.
(Click here for another lesson on How Big God is.)
