Week 299 · about 45 minutes
1 Samuel 24
1 Samuel 24 · Memory verse 1 Samuel 24:5
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Queues the lesson plan, this story’s coloring page (1 Samuel 24), the matching word search and answer key (1 Samuel 24 word search), the memory-verse tracer, and a parent slip.
Five-minute object lesson
Prop: a key
Hold a key. Read 1 Samuel 24 in about four minutes, stopping at 1 Samuel 24:5: “Afterward, David’s heart struck him, because he had cut off Saul’s skirt.” Ask, “What does this prop have to do with 1 Samuel 24?” Let two children answer, then say the memory verse together.
Story script
1 Samuel 24 is a real chapter from the Old Testament. It starts, “When Saul had returned from following the Philistines, he was told, “Behold, David is in the wilderness of En Gedi.”” That is not a motto invented for a poster. It is the first sentence a family hears when this page is opened at night.
Keep going a little further. The chapter also says, “May Yahweh judge between me and you, and may Yahweh avenge me of you; but my hand will not be on you.” 1 Samuel 24 opens with these words: “When Saul had returned from following the Philistines, he was told, “Behold, David is in the wilderness of En Gedi.”” The line to keep is 1 Samuel 24:5: “Afterward, David’s heart struck him, because he had cut off Saul’s skirt.” Carry the word “afterward” from that verse into the rest of the day.
The line worth learning out loud is 1 Samuel 24:5: “Afterward, David’s heart struck him, because he had cut off Saul’s skirt.” If the rest of the chapter feels crowded, hold that one sentence until the room is quiet.
What happens first in 1 Samuel 24? Then try this: Read “Afterward, David’s heart struck him, because he had cut off Saul’s skirt.” once more. What does it show you about God? You do not have to finish every verse. You can close the book after the memory verse and still have read the Bible together.
Group game
Walk the room as if you are moving through 1 Samuel 24. Every time you freeze, a child says one word from 1 Samuel 24:5. The last child says the whole verse.
Craft
On a US Letter sheet, draw one picture from 1 Samuel 24 and write 1 Samuel 24:5 under it. Send it home as tonight’s reminder, not as a decoration contest.
Memory verse
1 Samuel 24:5
“Afterward, David’s heart struck him, because he had cut off Saul’s skirt.”
Take-home prayer
Father, thank you for 1 Samuel 24. Help us remember 1 Samuel 24:5 when we wake up, and teach us to notice you in an ordinary night. Amen.