Background: The book of Job tells the story of a faithful man who feared God. One day Satan (the acccuser) came to God making accusations against God’s people. God suggested that Satan take a look at His faithful servant Job. Satan told God that the only reason that Job was faithful was because God was blessing him. God therefore gave Satan permission to test Job. And Satan did; he destroyed Job’s crops, livestock, servants, houses and even killed Job’s children and finally Satan destroyed Job’s health. What we notice is that when we lose all hope of deliverance, our courage goes too.
Ask the children…
How bad does Job feel about his circumstances?
“I wish he (God) would crush me.
I wish he would reach out his hand and kill me.” (Job 6:9)
What does Job conclude about his future?
“But I don’t have the strength to endure.
I have nothing to live for.” (Job 6:11)
Job has lost all hope that things would ever get better. He could only see endless suffering ahead and therefore lost all strength (courage) and the will to live. This is the plight of many who are in such difficulty that they can’t see any way forward. I have a friend who feels exactly this way. But all is not lost. For we do have the hope of heaven. God has a plan for our lives that is good even if things look horribly bad. The one thing we cannot lose is hope.
Ask your children if they have lost hope in any area? Ask them why and then pray God’s hope into that area and claim God’s promise of making good out of that circumstance. (Romans 8:28)
Feel free to share your own stories below in the comments section.
If you like what you read about ways to teach children the Bible, check out the children’s book, Hooked on the Book, on this website. It is great for parents and kids because it provides the Big Story of God’s miraculous plan for His children in all 66 books in the Bible. CHECK OUT A FREE SAMPLE OF CHAPTER ONE BELOW.
Hooked on the book -First Chapter from Liz and Jack Hagler on Vimeo.
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