Let's Get Started
Theme: Doing What’s Right/God Calls His People (Genesis to Ruth)
1. Talk about a time when you or someone you know needed God’s help to do something big.
2. Throughout the story, God keeps his promises to his people. As you listen to this episode, think about how God has shown his faithfulness to you and your family.
After you listen
Memory Verse
Quiz
A: The angel burnt the offering of meat and bread. The dew was on the sheepskin, but the floor was dry. Then the dew was on the floor, but the sheepskin was dry.
A: In Judges 7:2, the Lord says, “Gideon, your army is too big. I can't let you win with this many soldiers. The Israelites would think that they had won the battle all by themselves and that I didn't have anything to do with it.” The army needed to rely on God’s faithfulness.
Reflect
The Book of Judges is a sad book. Time and again, the Israelites do what is evil in the eyes of the Lord, so the Lord hands them over to their enemies. The Book of Judges tells the story of a nation that spirals down into disobeying God and falling into disaster. The people worship idols like Baal and Asherah, idols that they learned about from their idol-worshipping neighbors. But the same thing happens in every story. After years of their enemies ruling them, the Israelites turn back to God and call out for a deliverer. God sends a judge, like Gideon, Deborah, or Samson, and then things would go well for a while, but then the judge would die, and the sad cycle would start all over again.
It’s easy to judge these people and think we are better than they were. But we need God’s help when temptation and sin come into our lives, too. There are times when we, too, do whatever we think is right (Judges 17:6). But God is faithful, keeps his promises, and he’ll equip us to do something, whether it’s big or small, to help his kingdom grow. Remember what the Angel of the Lord said to Gideon, “The Lord is helping you, O mighty warrior!” (Judges 6:12)
Read all about Gideon’s life in Judges 6, 7, and 8. Want to dig deeper and learn more about the judges? Check out the stories of Deborah and Samson
Challenge
Build your own Ebenezer, a “stone of help” (1 Samuel 7:12). The Israelites would build these piles of stones to remind them of everything God had done for them and to always put their trust in him. Check this devotion on how to build your own Ebenezer https://kidscorner.net/devotions/the-stone-of-help
