Week 657 · about 45 minutes
Psalms 143
Psalms 143 · Memory verse Psalms 143:8
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Queues the lesson plan, this story’s coloring page (Psalms 143), the matching word search and answer key (Psalms 143 word search), the memory-verse tracer, and a parent slip.
Five-minute object lesson
Prop: a folded cloth
Hold a folded cloth. Read Psalms 143 in about four minutes, stopping at Psalms 143:8: “Cause me to hear your loving kindness in the morning, for I trust in you. Cause me to know the way in which I should walk, for I lift up my soul to you.” Ask, “What does this prop have to do with Psalms 143?” Let two children answer, then say the memory verse together.
Story script
Psalms 143 is a real chapter from the Old Testament. It starts, “Hear my prayer, Yahweh. Listen to my petitions. In your faithfulness and righteousness, relieve 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, “Hurry to answer me, Yahweh. My spirit fails. Don’t hide your face from me, so that I don’t become like those who go down into the pit.” Psalms 143 opens with these words: “Hear my prayer, Yahweh. Listen to my petitions. In your faithfulness and righteousness, relieve me.” The line to keep is Psalms 143:8: “Cause me to hear your loving kindness in the morning, for I trust in you. Cause me to know the way in which I should walk, for I lift up my soul to you.” Carry the word “cause” from that verse into the rest of the day.
The line worth learning out loud is Psalms 143:8: “Cause me to hear your loving kindness in the morning, for I trust in you. Cause me to know the way in which I should walk, for I lift up my soul to you.” If the rest of the chapter feels crowded, hold that one sentence until the room is quiet.
What happens first in Psalms 143? Then try this: Read “Cause me to hear your loving kindness in the morning, for I trust in you. Cause me to know the way in which…” 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 143. Every time you freeze, a child says one word from Psalms 143:8. The last child says the whole verse.
Craft
On a US Letter sheet, draw one picture from Psalms 143 and write Psalms 143:8 under it. Send it home as tonight’s reminder, not as a decoration contest.
Memory verse
Psalms 143:8
“Cause me to hear your loving kindness in the morning, for I trust in you. Cause me to know the way in which I should walk, for I lift up my soul to you.”
Take-home prayer
Father, thank you for Psalms 143. Help us remember Psalms 143:8 when we wake up, and teach us to notice you in an ordinary night. Amen.