Week #2: I Will Trust…
Go Answer: I will trust God even when I don’t know His plan.
Go Verse:
“‘For I know the plans I have for you,’ says the Lord.
‘They are plans for good and not for disaster,
to give you a future and a hope.’”
Jeremiah 29:11
Let us set the atmosphere. Open with prayer and then go into praise and worship. Holy Spirit is not limited to moving at church or children’s church. Be expectant for Holy Spirit to move in your home as you dive into the word with your children.
Introduction
Gather the kids around the table, or in the lounge. Start the following discussion:
Have you ever had a bad day? (Listen to some answers.) Have you ever had a day that went from bad to worse? (Listen to some answers.)
That is the situation Joseph currently finds himself in. You remember Joseph, right? We learned last week that life was going really well for Joseph. He’s the favorite son and his father has given him a beautiful, colorful coat. He also has these awesome dreams God gives him. Joseph was excited about these dreams and he told them to his brothers. Trouble was his brothers did NOT like what they were hearing about his dreams. Joseph’s brothers had a plan to destroy him and threw him into a pit…dun, dun, DUN!
Sometimes life just doesn’t make sense and we need to trust God. We don’t have the answers in life, but God does, and that is exactly what we are talking about today.
Last week we talked about listening to God, this week we’re talking about trusting Him. Let’s take a look at our Go Answer…
“I will trust God even when I don’t know His plan.”
Let the kids say it with you or repeat after you. Optional: Create actions/hand motions to help kids memorize the Go Answer.
“‘For I know the plans I have for you,’ says the Lord.
‘They are plans for good and not for disaster,
to give you a future and a hope.’”
Jeremiah 29:11, NLT
The Go Verse is the scripture verse that corresponds to the theme of our series for the children to commit to memory over the course of the 5 weeks.
Make this fun for your family, whether it is a repeat-after-me segment or an unscramble game. Feel free to get creative!
Like last week, you need a second person to play the part of the interrupter, or you will need to turn this dialogue into a story.
Interrupter: I was invited to a birthday party!
Presenter: Hey, that’s great!
Interrupter: Yeah, but the party was in China
Presenter: That’s a long way to go.
Interrupter: It’s okay I took an airplane to the party.
Presenter: Oh, that’s perfect!
Interrupter: Unfortunately the plane ran out of fuel so I had to jump out.
Presenter: Yikes, that terrible.
Interrupter: It’s okay, I had a parachute.
Presenter: What a relief!
Interrupter: It wasn’t… The parachute had a hole.
Presenter: That is the worst!
Interrupter: But it’s okay, there was a haystack below me.
Presenter: I’m so glad to hear that.
Interrupter: You shouldn’t be… There was a pitchfork in the haystack.
Presenter: Ouch! That would hurt!
Interrupter: Thankfully, I missed the pitchfork.
Presenter: Hooray!
Interrupter: Buuut I missed the haystack.
Presenter: This is getting worse and worse.
Interrupter: No, it’s fine… There was a pond near by.
Presenter: That would help to break your fall.
Interrupter: Yeah, but the pond was dried up.
Presenter: What?!
Interrupter: It’s okay… The mud was soft.
(Interrupter leaves the conversation.)
Sounds like that was a wild trip filled with ups and downs all over the place! Today, as we jump back into learning about the life of Joseph, we’re going to hear about his many ups and downs. Today, things aren’t going so well… Things are continuing with Joseph on a ‘down.’ Let’s jump in…
Message
Scripture Reference: Genesis 37:19-35
Objective: The goal during week two of our series is to pick-up from where we left off with Joseph’s brothers scheming against him. They have now thrown him into a pit and their plan is to kill him. The key element for children to understand this week is that Joseph trusted God even in dark and confusing times.
Message: Joseph’s brothers were very jealous of Joseph so they devised a plan to get rid of him. In fact, they wanted him dead. Now, if you remember, Joseph has now been thrown into a pit by his brothers, but his youngest brother, Reuben, felt bad and didn’t want Joseph killed. “Let’s not kill him,” he said, “Instead, just leave him here in this pit.” His plan was to come back later and rescue Joseph but, before he could do that, a group of Midianite traders passed by. They were headed to Egypt with many camels that carried spices, balm, and myrrh so the brothers had an idea…a horrible idea. If they simply killed their brother, they wouldn’t get any money for him, but if they sold him as a slave to the Midianite traders, they could cash him in for money! So, that’s exactly what they did. Before Reuben could come back to deliver Joseph, they had sold him for twenty shekels of silver (which would have been about $6 at that time) and he was taken away to Egypt.
Joseph’s brothers took his coat of many colors, ripped it, dipped it into goat’s blood and lied to their father about it. They brought it to their father and made him believe that Joseph had been attacked and eaten by a wild animal. Was this the truth? (No.)
Things are not looking good for Joseph! He’s been thrown into a pit, sold as a slave, and now his father thinks he is dead. Things are just going from bad to worse for him.
Joseph didn’t know what was going on or what kind of plan God had in mind. This didn’t seem to line-up with the dreams he had. (Do you remember Joseph’s dreams from last week?) What do you do when life doesn’t make sense?
It’s important to remember what our Go Answer says: “I will trust God even when I don’t know His plan.”
Conclusion and Cliff-Hanger for Next Week: Things are pretty bad for Joseph right now. He is on his way to Egypt as a slave, but things are about to change in his favor because a very important man is about to buy Joseph from the Midianites. This is where we hit ‘pause’ on our story so you won’t want to miss next week!
Build a puzzle together. Choose one that is appropriate for the ages and the amount of available time.
SAY: There are many times when things happen that we don’t understand or don’t know why they are happening. Sometimes our lives feel like the scrambled pièces of a puzzle. When this happens, it’s important to trust God. We don’t know His plan, but He’s got it all under control. The Bible tells us to “trust in the Lord with all your heart; do not lean on your own understanding” (Proverbs 3:5).
Our job is to trust God even when we don’t know His plan. It may not make sense in the moment, but He’s got everything under control.
We can trust God with whatever we are going through – big or small. He has an incredible plan for your life. In fact, Jeremiah 1:5 says that “before you were born” God knew you. Isn’t that awesome? We don’t have to have all the answers; we just have to trust the One who does.
Is this always easy? No. But God will help us every step of the way.
This is your opportunity to invite all the children to respond to what was just taught. Before service begins, make sure you’re prayed up and allow God to lead you during this time of response.
1.) Fill in the blanks from this week’s Go Answer: “I will trust God even when I _____ _____ ___ _____.”
a. can’t see the way.
b. don’t know His plan.
c. turn the wrong way.
d. don’t know the answers.
2.) True or False: Joseph knew exactly what would happen in his life.
a. True
b. False
3.) How did Joseph’s brothers feel about him?
a. They loved him.
b. They appreciated him.
c. They were jealous of him.
d. They wanted to throw him a birthday party.
4.) True or False: We can only trust God with the big things in our lives.
a. True
b. False. We can trust God in ALL things!
Craft Time – Make Joseph in the pit.
