Week 677 · about 45 minutes
Proverbs 13
Proverbs 13 · Memory verse Proverbs 13:12
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Queues the lesson plan, this story’s coloring page (Proverbs 13), the matching word search and answer key (Proverbs 13 word search), the memory-verse tracer, and a parent slip.
Five-minute object lesson
Prop: a folded cloth
Hold a folded cloth. Read Proverbs 13 in about four minutes, stopping at Proverbs 13:12: “Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but when longing is fulfilled, it is a tree of life.” Ask, “What does this prop have to do with Proverbs 13?” Let two children answer, then say the memory verse together.
Story script
Proverbs 13 is a real chapter from the Old Testament. It starts, “A wise son listens to his father’s instruction, but a scoffer doesn’t listen to rebuke.” 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, “Whoever despises instruction will pay for it, but he who respects a command will be rewarded.” Proverbs 13 opens with these words: “A wise son listens to his father’s instruction, but a scoffer doesn’t listen to rebuke.” The line to keep is Proverbs 13:12: “Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but when longing is fulfilled, it is a tree of life.” Carry the word “hope” from that verse into the rest of the day.
The line worth learning out loud is Proverbs 13:12: “Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but when longing is fulfilled, it is a tree of life.” If the rest of the chapter feels crowded, hold that one sentence until the room is quiet.
What happens first in Proverbs 13? Then try this: Read “Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but when longing is fulfilled, it is a tree of life.” 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 Proverbs 13. Every time you freeze, a child says one word from Proverbs 13:12. The last child says the whole verse.
Craft
On a US Letter sheet, draw one picture from Proverbs 13 and write Proverbs 13:12 under it. Send it home as tonight’s reminder, not as a decoration contest.
Memory verse
Proverbs 13:12
“Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but when longing is fulfilled, it is a tree of life.”
Take-home prayer
Father, thank you for Proverbs 13. Help us remember Proverbs 13:12 when we wake up, and teach us to notice you in an ordinary night. Amen.