Week 552 · about 45 minutes
Psalms 38
Psalms 38 · Memory verse Psalms 38:15
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Queues the lesson plan, this story’s coloring page (Psalms 38), the matching word search and answer key (Psalms 38 word search), the memory-verse tracer, and a parent slip.
Five-minute object lesson
Prop: a paper crown
Hold a paper crown. Read Psalms 38 in about four minutes, stopping at Psalms 38:15: “For in you, Yahweh, do I hope. You will answer, Lord my God.” Ask, “What does this prop have to do with Psalms 38?” Let two children answer, then say the memory verse together.
Story script
Psalms 38 is a real chapter from the Old Testament. It starts, “Yahweh, don’t rebuke me in your wrath, neither chasten me in your hot displeasure.” 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, “They also who seek after my life lay snares. Those who seek my hurt speak mischievous things, and meditate deceits all day long.” Psalms 38 opens with these words: “Yahweh, don’t rebuke me in your wrath, neither chasten me in your hot displeasure.” The line to keep is Psalms 38:15: “For in you, Yahweh, do I hope. You will answer, Lord my God.” Carry the word “hope” from that verse into the rest of the day.
The line worth learning out loud is Psalms 38:15: “For in you, Yahweh, do I hope. You will answer, Lord my God.” If the rest of the chapter feels crowded, hold that one sentence until the room is quiet.
What happens first in Psalms 38? Then try this: Read “For in you, Yahweh, do I hope. You will answer, Lord my God.” 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 38. Every time you freeze, a child says one word from Psalms 38:15. The last child says the whole verse.
Craft
On a US Letter sheet, draw one picture from Psalms 38 and write Psalms 38:15 under it. Send it home as tonight’s reminder, not as a decoration contest.
Memory verse
Psalms 38:15
“For in you, Yahweh, do I hope. You will answer, Lord my God.”
Take-home prayer
Father, thank you for Psalms 38. Help us remember Psalms 38:15 when we wake up, and teach us to notice you in an ordinary night. Amen.