Children’s Lesson for May 6, 2020
Samuel 17
In the book of Samuel, chapter 17, we read about the story of David and Goliath. David was a shepherd boy. He took care of his father’s sheep. The Bible tells us that once he had to kill a lion, and another time, he had to kill a bear who were attacking his father’s sheep. Think about that! Killing a lion, and then later, killing a bear! What kind of weapon would you use? What kind of weapon would you want? I’d want a big weapon, but David had a slingshot.
David would put smooth rocks in the slingshot and use them as a weapon. He didn’t have large swords or weapons to use.
David was the youngest of Jesse’s 12 sons. Because David was the youngest, he stayed at home to help his father with the sheep while all 11 of his brothers went to fight the Philistine army. The Philistine army was big, and fighting in the army was a giant named Goliath. Goliath stood over 9 feet tall. (The ceiling in your bedroom is probably around 8 feet tall, so if Goliath stood up in your room, his head would pop through your ceiling! He was huge! ) Every day for 40 days, the Philistines made fun of and mocked the Israelite army, trying to get them to come and fight. The Israelites, King Saul’s army, were too scared of Goliath!
One day, Jesse sent David out to the front lines to bring back news of the battle. As David got near to the battle line, he heard Goliath mocking and making fun of the Israelites and their God. Goliath said that they were too scared to fight him!
David would have been around 15 years old. He was still a kid, but he was brave and he volunteered to fight Goliath! He persuaded King Saul to let him go fight for the Israelite army. King Saul wanted David to wear his armor for protection, but it was too heavy for David. He wasn’t big enough or strong enough to wear it. All David did was pick up 5 smooth stones from the ground to use with his slingshot.
Can you picture that?... You have a huge man with armor, fighting a small boy with a slingshot! When Goliath saw David, he laughed! He didn’t think David could do any harm to him, BUT David had an ally in God! David said “I will fight Goliath in the name of the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel!” David put a rock in his sling and swung one of the rocks at Goliath’s head. The rock sank into the giant’s forehead and he fell to the ground, dead.
David then used Goliath’s own sword to cut off Goliath’s head.
When the Philistines saw that their giant hero had been killed, they turned and ran. Israel won the battle because of a small boy who had faith and trust in his God! David was a hero. He proved that he could do anything as long as God was on his side. David trusted in God, and God helped him win the battle.
God helps us too! Think about all the people who are helpers in our world: the firemen, the policemen, the doctors, and nurses, all the people who bring us food. God helps us by providing these people to take care of us and help, and God helps those people while they work.
I want you to think about how you can pray this week for the people who work to keep us safe. How can you pray to God to thank him for always taking care of us?
You are loved, Ms. Shantelle
Ask a parent to help you print off the activity sheets for this lesson. You can find them here.