God gives David a special friend
key words
bible reference
1 Samuel 18:14; 19:17
lesson objective
To help the children understand that God shows his love through friends.
memory verse
“My help comes from the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth” (Psalm 121:2, NIV*).
prepare yourself to teach
This story begins after David had defeated Goliath and his popularity had grown. All the townspeople and the king’s court cheered David for his victory, so Saul began to feel jealous and he attacked the young shepherd. However, although the situation became difficult for David, God blessed him by giving him a good friend, Jonathan.
David and Jonathan began a close friendship and made a covenant with God, promising their loyalty to one another.
The friendship between them grew to the point that Jonathan had to defend David from the attacks of his father, Saul. Through this relationship, God blessed David and showed him his provision and care.
adaptation
Friendship is something that young children are beginning to experience. For now their friendly relationships are based on external factors, such as games in common or time spent together in school.
For example, if two children enjoy playing ball, it is certain that they will spend a lot of time in this activity without there being a deep bond that unites them. The biblical story will help them understand that friendship is more than just sharing your toys or having a nice time. It is a blessing from God for his children, and through it we learn, love, and grow.
introduce the lesson
Friendly hands
For this activity, you will need a large poster board and pencils or colored markers.
Place them on a table. On the top, write: “These are the hands of my friends. Thank God for them! “
Ask each child to draw their hands on it and color them. When finished, write their name below. Tell them: This week’s Bible story tells us about David’s best friend. His name was Jonathan. God gave David a special friend to bless him. We have a whole group of friends in Sunday school and we must thank God for them.
teach the lesson
Use some of these activities to help children start the learning process.
Who is it?
Ask the children to form a circle. Ask for a volunteer. Cover their eyes and send them out of the room, accompanied by another child.
The rest should change places silently. Bring in the child who left the room. Guide the child to sit in the middle of the circle. Then another boy or girl will come forward and describe himself/herself. For example, “I am tall, I wear glasses,” etc. By paying close attention to the person’s tone of voice and their description, the volunteer must guess who it is. Try to get everyone, or at least the majority of children, involved.
I present my friend to you
Invite a friend of yours to participate in this activity. Let the children take their place to hear the Bible story and tell them: “This is my best friend. I thank God for my friend (say the name_____________) because he/she is always with me and helps me. If you wish, tell a brief description of your friendship.
If you have visual aids, use them to illustrate this Bible story. Otherwise, use the tone of your voice to emphasize important aspects and encourage children’s interest while listening to the Bible story. Wear a cape or coat to illustrate Jonathan’s gift to David.
Jonathan, David’s best friend
God loved David and David loved God. God chose David to be the new king of Israel. While Saul continued to be king, David was with him and helped him in the palace.
David knew the son of King Saul. His name was Jonathan. The two became good friends and spent time together. Jonathan gave his cloak and other valuable things to David to show him that he loved him very much. They promised before God that they would always be friends.
King Saul did not like David because he was very jealous of him. He thought that people like David deserved to die and wanted to get rid of the young man.
One day, Saul called Jonathan and his servants and said, “I do not want David around me. Get rid of him.”
This made Jonathan feel very sad. He did not want anything bad to happen to his friend David. That’s why he decided to talk to him to let him know what the king wanted to do.
“My father wants to hurt you,” Jonathan told David. “Hide while I try to convince him not to hurt you.” David did what his friend asked him. Meanwhile, Jonathan went to see the king and begged him not to hurt his friend. Jonathan reminded the king of all the important things that David had done for the kingdom, and how he had defeated the Philistines by killing the giant Goliath.
Saul remembered all the good things David had done and promised Jonathan that he would not hurt him.
Jonathan went running to give the good news to David. Then he took him to the palace to see the king. David continued to serve in the palace and was Jonathan’s best friend.
connect the lesson
Good friends
Hand out Student Activity Sheet #59-A and #59-B. Take time for each child to write his / her name and trace the unit’s words of faith. Hand out colored pencils to color the figures of David and Jonathan.
As the children work, remind them of some important aspects of the Bible story they learned.
Ask them to think of one of their friends and draw a picture of the two of them together in the blank space at the bottom of the worksheet.
Encourage the children to take home their activity sheets and share today’s lesson with their family and friends.Did you think ahead about planting seeds?
Because several of these lessons talk about David growing up and developing as a king, did you consider the group planting some flower or vegetable seeds and to watch them grow for a few weeks? If you are using this activity, provide an update to the children. Be sure to continue thinking ahead to Lesson 9 and prepare to include this. Keep in mind your group’s particular circumstances. Care for the growth of the seeds/ plants.
practice the memory verse
Holding hands, form a circle. While the group is moving in a circle, repeat the text together a couple of times to memorize it. When they stop, one of the children has to say the text by himself. Then, keep turning and repeating it together; when they stop, another child must say it alone. Keep playing until everyone has participated.
wrap-up
Pray
Remind the group that God gave David a good friend, and he gives us good friends. Say: “Let’s pray for our friends. Invite everyone to intercede for one of their friends and then conclude with a prayer.
Encourage
Encourage the children to share today’s story with their friends.
Invite
Tell the group something interesting about the next session and encourage them to attend.
* 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.™