Week 1: Psalm 19. The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork.

Transcription

1 Week 1: Psalm 19 PART One To the choirmaster. A Psalm of David. 19 The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork. 2 Day to day pours out speech, and night to night reveals knowledge. 3 There is no speech, nor are there words, whose voice is not heard. 4 Their voice goes out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world. In them he has set a tent for the sun, 5 which comes out like a bridegroom leaving his chamber, and, like a strong man, runs its course with joy. 6 Its rising is from the end of the heavens, and its circuit to the end of them, and there is nothing hidden from its heat. Key Verse: Psalm 19:1 The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork. Bible Point God shows us who He is in everything He created. We can look to the sky, sun, stars, moon, earth, trees, and animals to see the greatness and creativity of God. Activity I Take time during the day to enjoy in the beauty of the heavens! Use the light blue construction paper, cotton balls, and some glue to map out the clouds in the sky. Once you re finished, write the Key Verse, Psalm 19:1, on the bottom of your Cloud Map and hang it somewhere around the house to remember the beauty of the heavens and the Key Verse. Take in the beauty of the heavens at nighttime too! Spend some time stargazing on a clear night and use the dark blue construction paper, white paint, and toothpicks as paintbrushes to map out the stars you see. Just like on your Cloud Map, write Psalm 19:1 at the bottom of your completed Star Map and hang it somewhere you ll see all week.

2 Discussion I Our Key Verse for the day is Psalm 19:1 that says, The heavens declare the glory of God and the sky above proclaims his handiwork. Let s read verses 1-6 of Psalm 19 together. Have you ever looked at how beautiful the sky is? I mean really stopping and looking at how pretty the clouds look against the blue sky or how bright the stars are on a clear night. When we look at the beauty of the heavens, we are reminded about how amazing God is! He placed each star in the sky and created the sunshine and warm breeze. He created the fish to swim in the ocean and the birds to fly in the sky. He created the gigantic elephants that weigh a ton and the tiniest ant that you can barely see. The beauty that surrounds us is one of the ways we know God exists. The whole earth is an echo of His glory! David wrote this part of the Psalm about how amazing all the things that God has created are. Not only do the sky, stars, sun, and moon show us how creative God is, they also show us that God provides for us every day. David talks about the way the sun rises and sets every day around the whole world to give us light and warmth. Even in something as simple as the sun s rising and setting, God is giving us what we need! Ask What is your favorite thing that God created? What are some ways God gives us what we need? Key Verse Practice Practice saying the verse together, then say it again in slow motion, while jumping up and down, with your eyes closed, while patting your head and rubbing your tummy, or make a song out of it. Get creative and say it as many times as possible so it sticks in your head and your heart! Prayer Make a circle and have each person thank God for their favorite thing He created. Thank God for showing us who He is in creation and for providing for us each day.

3 Activity II Charades Use the slips provided to take turns acting out silly animals. Get creative and personalize the game by adding some of your family s favorite movies, shows, books, or characters to the baggie. Discussion II What did you like about that game? What was hard about that game? In the game of charades, we were able to figure out what animal/movie/character each person was by the clues they gave us. These clues did not include any words, just actions. Our Key Verse for the day is Psalm 19:1 that says, The heavens declare the glory of God and the sky above proclaims his handiwork. Kind of like this game, our memory verse talks about the clues that we have surrounding us to know God exists. Let s read Psalm 19:1-6 together. Clues about who God is are found in everything He created. When we see the beauty of a sunset, the hugeness of the ocean, the uniqueness of each animal, and the millions of stars in the night sky, we see a glimpse of the greatness of God. Did you know African elephants have about 100,000 different muscles in just their trunk Snow leopards paws act like built-in snow shoes! They help them walk on snow without sinking into it Octopuses have three hearts to pump blood to their gills and circulate it to all their organs Howler monkeys are so loud their cries can be heard up to three miles away! Hippos make a red substance that covers their skin and acts as sunblock Great blue herons have hollow bones (like all birds) that keeps them light enough for flying just six pounds! A giraffe s tongue is 21 inches long God created the earth and everything that fills it. God gave each of these animals exactly what they need to thrive. God gave elephants powerful trunks to pick up food and spay themselves with water, snow leopards special paws to help them get around on the snow, hippos their own sunblock to protect their skin on hot summer days, and birds with bones that are hollow so they can fly. Each animal is created uniquely with just what it needs. What an amazing God! Not only is God amazing, but He cares for us so much. David talks in this Psalm about the sun and the way it rises and sets every day around the world. The sun is necessary for life and its rising and setting each day shows us in a simple way that God provides for our needs. Ask

4 What is your favorite thing that God created? What can we learn about God from looking at the world around us? What are some other ways that God provides for our needs? What are some ways we can remember what we learned today every day? Key Verse Practice Each word of the verse is written on a different piece of paper. Who can put the words together in the right order the fastest? Work together, have each person try it by themselves, put it together backwards, put it together while hopping on one foot whatever you can think of to make it stick in your heads and hearts! Prayer Hold hands in a circle and take turns thanking God for His creation, for showing us who He is through the things He has created, asking God to help us bring glory to Him in everything we do. Song of the Day God of Wonders by Third Day Follow the link to it on Zion s Facebook page or website.

5 Part Two 19 7 The law of the Lord is perfect, [c] reviving the soul; the testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple; 8 the precepts of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart; the commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes; 9 the fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever; the rules [d] of the Lord are true, and righteous altogether. 10 More to be desired are they than gold, even much fine gold; sweeter also than honey and drippings of the honeycomb. 11 Moreover, by them is your servant warned; in keeping them there is great reward. 12 Who can discern his errors? Declare me innocent from hidden faults. 13 Keep back your servant also from presumptuous sins; let them not have dominion over me! Then I shall be blameless, and innocent of great transgression. 14 Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, my rock and my redeemer. Key Verse: Psalm 19:14 Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, my rock and my redeemer. Bible Point God s Word is perfect, powerful, and important to our everyday lives. We are called use our words and actions to please God.

6 Discussion Words are pretty powerful things. Think about the things your words can do. You can string words together to tell stories, describe special things and places, and even make a funny joke! Words can be used for lots of good, but also some bad. Our words can make people smile and laugh, but they can also make people upset and cry. Did you know that God used words in powerful ways? Our Key Verse from earlier this week was Psalm 19:1 that says, The heavens declare the glory of God and the sky above proclaims his handiwork. This verse reminds us that God created the world and everything in it. And you know how He created it? All with His words. Wow! Now THOSE are powerful words. God s words are just as important to us today as when He used them to create the world. These words are written down in the Bible. The Bible tells us about our need for God because of our sin and that God saved us by sending His son, Jesus, to die for those sins and rise again on Easter. Because of Jesus death and resurrection, we get to live forever with Him in Heaven. Let s read Psalm 19:7-14 together. In this part of the Psalm David has a lot to say about the Word of God. He calls it perfect, sure, right, pure, and more valuable than gold. This week in church Pastor Paul shared with us how important it is to read these words God has given us in the Bible. When we do, it changes our lives! Activity Toothpaste Choose someone to squeeze all the toothpaste out of the tube. After you have made sure that all of the toothpaste is out of the tube, ask with a straight face for them to return the toothpaste to the tube. Allow them to protest that it s impossible! and attempt without success for a little while. Activity Debriefing Let s use this tube of toothpaste to think about our words. When we squeeze out this toothpaste, think of it like talking. Our words are coming out of us just like the toothpaste from the tube. Just like we couldn t get the toothpaste back in the tube, when our words are spoken we can t get them back. This is a good reminder for the way that we use our words. We need to remember that the words we say can t be taken back after we say them. No matter how hard we try, we can t get things back to the way they were before once the word leave our mouths. This reminds us of our Key Verse for the day from what we read earlier. It says Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, my rock and my redeemer. David prayed for the words that came from his mouth and the thoughts in his heart to please God. Let s pray for the same thing!

7 Prayer Take turns praying out loud for God to forgive you for the times your words and thoughts didn t please Him. Then ask God to help you to do better every day. Video of the Day Psalms Lesson 2 Psalm 19: What God is Like by PursueGOD Kids Follow the link on Zion s Facebook page or website.