God provides for Elijah
key words
powerful, effective, provide, needs
Biblical reference1 Kings 17:1-16
memory verse
“The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective” (James 5:16b, NIV*).
lesson objective
To help children discover the different ways God provides for their needs.
prepare yourself to teach
There are three situations talked about in Chapter 17 of 1 Kings which show the triumph of God’s power. The problem they all have in common is the possibility of death. The solution, which was given through miracles, is life. This lesson focuses on the first two situations. God provided for the needs of Elijah in different ways. He combined ordinary things with extraordinary ones to keep Elijah alive. For Elijah, these events within his ministry served as a time of preparation.
Elijah’s disposition changes from being passive to active. In the first story, he simply obeys and God feeds him. In the second, he tells what God is going to do, remains under his protection and witnesses his great power.
Why would God send the crows to feed Elijah? These animals are distinguished by their lack of cleanliness, perhaps the food would have been unhealthy for him. It is also very likely that the crows would not have been so willing to give the food to Elijah; they’d want to eat it themselves. But God was in control of the situation and ordered the crows to bring bread and meat to his servant.
In contrast to the bread and meat that the crows brought him, God used a very natural resource to give him water. He told him to drink from a stream. After he had drunk from the stream for awhile, because there was a tremendous drought, the stream dried up. But the one who caused the drought arranged everything for Elijah to have a roof over his head and food on his table.
Then God sent Elijah to Zarephath of Sidon, to the house of a widow. Here, God again provided for Elijah to have food to eat, unbelievably multiplying the widow’s food while she cared for Elijah. Oil and flour are ordinary items, but the fact that they never ran out is extraordinary.
adaptation
Many children are not aware of how their daily needs are being met. They see the food on the table and have a house to live in and think it is very natural. Sometimes they are more concerned about the style of clothes they wear, than about the warmth and protection that a home gives them; they do not take into account the provisions of God.
Help your children recognize that God is the giver of life by having created the world and all that dwells in it. Many people see how the Lord provides for them so they do not need extraordinary circumstances or miracles to eat or have shelter.
Use this lesson to help your children understand that it is God who supplies everything they need, depending on how he chooses to do it: in ordinary or extraordinary ways.
introduce the lesson
What do we need?
Give your children Student Activity Sheet #150-A and tell them, “These drawings show us all kinds of things that people need and want. Circle what we need to survive and be healthy. Then, mark with an X the things we enjoy but we can live without.” Allow the children time to think about this activity. Remind them to circle only what is necessary, not what makes life easier.
Ask, “How do we get everything we need?”(Listen to their answers. They will try to explain how their family gets them.) Guide the discussion and ask the children where they get their food, where they get their water, etc. Help them to discover that God gives us all that we need because he created the earth and all that is in it.
Tell them, “Now we understand that God gives us water, air, sun, food, and plants, as well as the animals from which we get food, because he created everything. But sometimes we forget about his love and the way he cares for us. In today’s Bible story, we will meet a person whom the Lord provided for in an extraordinary way, but at the same time, in a simple way. Let’s see if you can figure out the difference between the two.”
teach the lesson
Consider inviting a member of your congregation to represent Elijah and tell the Bible story. Give them the Bible scripture passage (1 Kings 17:1-16) so that they can prepare properly.
If you prefer, narrate and illustrate the story using some pictures or drawings that you draw yourself, based on the development of the story.
activities
How did God care for Elijah?
Have your children turn to Student Activity Sheet #150-B and #150-C. They will need to cut out the shapes from Student Activity Sheet #151-C and glue them in correct places on Student Activity Sheet #151-B. Then review the lesson with these questions:
Where does Elijah appear in the drawing? (Near the stream of Querit.)
How did God help Elijah? (God gave Elijah water from the stream.)
What unusual way did God use to care for Elijah? (God had crows bring food to Elijah.)
Have your children follow the instructions on the worksheet.
Conclude this part of the lesson by saying, “God cared for Elijah in two different ways: one ordinary and one extraordinary. He also cares for us because he loves us and wants us to be happy.”
Project: “Let’s do something extraordinary!”
Remind your children of the special ways God cared for Elijah. Tell them that they too can help others, and have them think about how they can could take food to people who need it.
Have your children collect bags, cans, or boxes of food. They can ask their parents for imperishable foods to give to a family that needs them. (It would be a good idea to send a note home to their parents to tell them about your project.) Talk with your pastor about this project, and ask him about needs within your church and community.
Give several weeks for your children to collect these items. Set a designated place to put all the food together as it is brought in and set a special date to deliver everything the children have collected.
Look for ways in which your children can help you distribute the food. Emphasize that they can help in a very simple and ordinary way to meet the needs of someone in need. The people who receive this help will feel that it was something extraordinary.
practice the memory verse
On a white poster board, or a piece of good-sized paper, write in large letters the memory verse along with the Bible reference. Give your children the opportunity to decorate the poster. Provide colored pencils, markers and whatever you need to color and decorate it to your liking. When they have finished put it in a visible place in you classroom so that everyone can read the verse whenever they want to.
wrap-up
Pray
Lead the children in prayer thanking God for caring for them and for meeting their needs. Pray for specific requests within the group.
Encourage
This is the first of four lessons that talks about the prophet Elijah. Invite your children to become familiar with this Bible hero by reading about his life during the week. Encourage them to acknowledge God’s provision for them and their families every day and thank him for it.
Invite
Thank the children for having attended, and say something interesting about the next session to encourage them to attend. Tell them that they can invite friends too.
* Scripture quotations marked (NIV) are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.™ Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.zondervan.com The “NIV” and “New International Version” are trademarks registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office by Biblica, Inc.™