Week 526 · about 45 minutes
Psalms 12
Psalms 12 · Memory verse Psalms 12:1
Get the free weekly Sunday school and bedtime printable pack
For a parent or teacher. Children do not make accounts here. The pack is a week of printables, not a child profile.
Queues the lesson plan, this story’s coloring page (Psalms 12), the matching word search and answer key (Psalms 12 word search), the memory-verse tracer, and a parent slip.
Five-minute object lesson
Prop: a cup of water
Hold a cup of water. Read Psalms 12 in about four minutes, stopping at Psalms 12:1: “Help, Yahweh; for the godly man ceases. For the faithful fail from among the children of men.” Ask, “What does this prop have to do with Psalms 12?” Let two children answer, then say the memory verse together.
Story script
Psalms 12 is a real chapter from the Old Testament. It starts, “Help, Yahweh; for the godly man ceases. For the faithful fail from among the children of men.” 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, ““Because of the oppression of the weak and because of the groaning of the needy, I will now arise,” says Yahweh; “I will set him in safety from those who malign him.”” Psalms 12 opens with these words: “Help, Yahweh; for the godly man ceases. For the faithful fail from among the children of men.” The line to keep is Psalms 12:1: “Help, Yahweh; for the godly man ceases. For the faithful fail from among the children of men.” Carry the word “help” from that verse into the rest of the day.
The line worth learning out loud is Psalms 12:1: “Help, Yahweh; for the godly man ceases. For the faithful fail from among the children of men.” If the rest of the chapter feels crowded, hold that one sentence until the room is quiet.
What happens first in Psalms 12? Then try this: Read “Help, Yahweh; for the godly man ceases. For the faithful fail from among the children of men.” 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 Psalms 12. Every time you freeze, a child says one word from Psalms 12:1. The last child says the whole verse.
Craft
On a US Letter sheet, draw one picture from Psalms 12 and write Psalms 12:1 under it. Send it home as tonight’s reminder, not as a decoration contest.
Memory verse
Psalms 12:1
“Help, Yahweh; for the godly man ceases. For the faithful fail from among the children of men.”
Take-home prayer
Father, thank you for Psalms 12. Help us remember Psalms 12:1 when we wake up, and teach us to notice you in an ordinary night. Amen.