Week 395 · about 45 minutes
1 Chronicles 21
1 Chronicles 21 · Memory verse 1 Chronicles 21:7
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Queues the lesson plan, this story’s coloring page (1 Chronicles 21), the matching word search and answer key (1 Chronicles 21 word search), the memory-verse tracer, and a parent slip.
Five-minute object lesson
Prop: a piece of bread
Hold a piece of bread. Read 1 Chronicles 21 in about four minutes, stopping at 1 Chronicles 21:7: “God was displeased with this thing; therefore he struck Israel.” Ask, “What does this prop have to do with 1 Chronicles 21?” Let two children answer, then say the memory verse together.
Story script
1 Chronicles 21 is a real chapter from the Old Testament. It starts, “Satan stood up against Israel, and moved David to take a census of Israel.” 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, “David lifted up his eyes, and saw Yahweh’s angel standing between earth and the sky, having a drawn sword in his hand stretched out over Jerusalem. Then David and the elders, clothed in sackcloth, fell on their faces.” 1 Chronicles 21 opens with these words: “Satan stood up against Israel, and moved David to take a census of Israel.” The line to keep is 1 Chronicles 21:7: “God was displeased with this thing; therefore he struck Israel.” Carry the word “displeased” from that verse into the rest of the day.
The line worth learning out loud is 1 Chronicles 21:7: “God was displeased with this thing; therefore he struck Israel.” If the rest of the chapter feels crowded, hold that one sentence until the room is quiet.
What happens first in 1 Chronicles 21? Then try this: Read “God was displeased with this thing; therefore he struck Israel.” 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 Chronicles 21. Every time you freeze, a child says one word from 1 Chronicles 21:7. The last child says the whole verse.
Craft
On a US Letter sheet, draw one picture from 1 Chronicles 21 and write 1 Chronicles 21:7 under it. Send it home as tonight’s reminder, not as a decoration contest.
Memory verse
1 Chronicles 21:7
“God was displeased with this thing; therefore he struck Israel.”
Take-home prayer
Father, thank you for 1 Chronicles 21. Help us remember 1 Chronicles 21:7 when we wake up, and teach us to notice you in an ordinary night. Amen.