God lets–even makes–people leave so that they’ll miss him. We began today’s lesson recounting a story about Ramona from Beverly Cleary’s books about this young girl. On one occasion, Ramona gets angry with her dad and decides to run away from home. Rather than scold or beg Ramona to stay, her mother surprisingly helps her…
Category: Teens and Children
Micah’s hard word against Judah
The children’s eyes lit up again this week when I told them more about Israelite history. I recounted King Ahaz’s crime, to call in the Assyrian army to defend Judah against aggression from the northern alliance of Israel and Aram. Just hearing this caused suspicion in the children; how would King Ahaz know that Assyria…
Anger, Sadness, and Disloyalty
The book of Micah required some background material. First, I wanted to explain how a prophet functioned as a messenger of God. I explained to the children the mechanics of communication in the ancient Near East. Since most people were not literate, and radio and phones had not been invented, communication was a problem. Kings…
I want to die!
I had the pleasure last Saturday of substitute teaching Dr. Benton’s church school class. After reviewing chapter three of the book of Jonah we moved into the fourth and last chapter which begins with Jonah being displeased and angry. “Why is Jonah upset?” I asked the class. “Because the king of Nineveh repented,” one child answered…
The crazy guy vs. the one who listens to him
Chapter 3 of Jonah illustrates Jonah’s second chance to give the Ninevites a second chance. God sets Jonah back on track to warn the Ninevites. Jonah complies this time, and the Ninevites are fairly warned. The king of Nineveh responds with extraordinary piety when word reaches him, committing himself and his entire land–including the livestock–to…
Jonah’s “Time Out”
Today we discussed Jonah 2, Jonah’s prayer from the belly of the big fish. Imagining the condition inside the big fish, we thought of Jonah’s possible reactions. How could he breathe? What would he eat? Wouldn’t it be scary to be eaten by a big fish? The tone of the poem, rather than fearful, struck…
Put in a Bad Position
God puts people in hard positions our class saw as we discussed Jonah, chapter 1. One problem we discussed affected the poor mariners. They seemed to have their heart in the right place. They wanted to please their gods–any god!–to survive the storm. When they found out that Jonah was at fault, they asked what…
An Entreaty
“I also always entreat you, and do not cease entreating you, not only to pay attention here to what I say, but also when you are at home, to persevere continually in reading the divine Scriptures. When I have been with each of you in private, I have not stopped giving you the same advice….