Week 549 · about 45 minutes
Psalms 35
Psalms 35 · Memory verse Psalms 35:23
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Queues the lesson plan, this story’s coloring page (Psalms 35), the matching word search and answer key (Psalms 35 word search), the memory-verse tracer, and a parent slip.
Five-minute object lesson
Prop: a key
Hold a key. Read Psalms 35 in about four minutes, stopping at Psalms 35:23: “Wake up! Rise up to defend me, my God! My Lord, contend for me!” Ask, “What does this prop have to do with Psalms 35?” Let two children answer, then say the memory verse together.
Story script
Psalms 35 is a real chapter from the Old Testament. It starts, “Contend, Yahweh, with those who contend with me. Fight against those who fight against me.” 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, “But in my adversity, they rejoiced, and gathered themselves together. The attackers gathered themselves together against me, and I didn’t know it. They tore at me, and didn’t cease.” Psalms 35 opens with these words: “Contend, Yahweh, with those who contend with me. Fight against those who fight against me.” The line to keep is Psalms 35:23: “Wake up! Rise up to defend me, my God! My Lord, contend for me!” Carry the word “wake” from that verse into the rest of the day.
The line worth learning out loud is Psalms 35:23: “Wake up! Rise up to defend me, my God! My Lord, contend for me!” If the rest of the chapter feels crowded, hold that one sentence until the room is quiet.
What happens first in Psalms 35? Then try this: Read “Wake up! Rise up to defend me, my God! My Lord, contend for me!” 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 35. Every time you freeze, a child says one word from Psalms 35:23. The last child says the whole verse.
Craft
On a US Letter sheet, draw one picture from Psalms 35 and write Psalms 35:23 under it. Send it home as tonight’s reminder, not as a decoration contest.
Memory verse
Psalms 35:23
“Wake up! Rise up to defend me, my God! My Lord, contend for me!”
Take-home prayer
Father, thank you for Psalms 35. Help us remember Psalms 35:23 when we wake up, and teach us to notice you in an ordinary night. Amen.