LESSON OVERVIEW FOR ADULTS
In Job 1:1, we are introduced to a man named Job who loved God with his whole heart and lived a life of faithfulness and integrity. God was so pleased with Job that He pointed him out as an example of true devotion. Satan, convinced that Job only followed God because his life was comfortable and blessed, challenged God and asked permission to take everything away from him. God, fully confident in Job’s faith, allowed the testing to begin. One by one, Job lost his livestock, his servants, his children, and finally his own health. Painful sores covered his entire body. Despite all of this suffering, Job refused to turn away from God or curse Him. He wrestled with grief and confusion, but he never let go of his belief that God was still good and worthy of trust.
In Job 38:1, after a long season of suffering and unhelpful words from his friends, God spoke to Job directly out of a powerful storm. Rather than explaining why Job had suffered, God asked Job a series of sweeping questions about creation. Who laid the very foundations of the earth? Who keeps the morning stars in their places? Who commands the rain and the lightning? These questions were not meant to shame Job but to remind him that God’s wisdom and power go far beyond what any human mind can comprehend. Job was humbled, and he repented of speaking as if he fully understood God’s ways. In the end, God restored Job’s health, gave him a new family, and blessed him with even more than he had before. The story of Job is a powerful reminder that even in the darkest seasons of life, God sees us, cares deeply for us, and can always be trusted.
OPENING ACTIVITY 6:00-6:15 | Job Paper Bag Puppet
Items Needed
- Lunch Bags for Each Child
- Job Puppet Template (cardstock)
- Glue
- Crayons
- Red Dot Stickers (optional)
Give each child a Job puppet template to color. Help them glue the head and body onto the paper bag. You can save the red dot stickers for the Bible story or you can have them put them on him now. Explain that in the Bible story today we will learn about a man named Job who went through many trials but never stopped worshiping God and praising him.
Bible Story 6:15-6:25
Question 1: Where is this found in the Bible? The Book of Job
Question 2: Is this in the Old Testament or New Testament? The Old Testament
Job loved God SO much. Can you put your hand on your heart like this? [Wait for kids to do the action.] Job loved God with his whole heart every single day. He was kind, he was good, and he always talked to God.
God looked down at Job and said, “Job is my good and faithful friend.” God was so happy with Job.
Satan was also watching Job, and Satan did not like that Job loved God so much.
Satan said to God, “Job only loves you because you give him good things. If you take it all away, he will stop loving you!”
But God knew Job’s heart. And God said, “I trust Job.”
So something very hard happened to Job. Are you ready to hear it? [Wait for response.]
First, all of Job’s animals were taken away. Job had so many animals! He had sheep. [Can you baa like a sheep? Let’s try! Baaaa!] [Wait for kids.] He had camels. [Can you hump your back up like a camel? Let’s see!] [Wait for kids.] He had big cows. [Mooooo! Let’s hear it!] [Wait for kids.]
But all of his animals were taken away.
How do you think Job felt? [Wait for response.]
Then something even harder happened. Job got very, very sick. He had big painful owies all over his whole body.
GIVE KIDS THE RED DOT STICKERS HERE TO PUT ON THEIR PUPPETS.
From the top of his head… [touch your head] …all the way down to the bottom of his feet. [touch your feet] Can you touch your head and then your feet with me? [Wait for kids.]
Even though Job was hurting, he did NOT stop loving God. He continued to pray to him.
[Object Lesson: Hold up a small flashlight. Turn off the classroom lights if possible.]
Sometimes life feels really dark, like this room right now. [Turn off or dim lights.] When things are hard and scary, it can feel like everything is dark. But watch what happens when we trust God. [Turn on the flashlight.] God is always our light, even in the very darkest times. Job held on to God in the dark, and God never left him. [Turn lights back on.]
Then one day, God spoke to Job from a BIG, powerful storm! [Let’s make our best storm sounds together! Thunder and wind! Go!] [Wait for kids to make sounds.]
God asked Job question after question. “Job, do you know how I made the whole earth? Do you know how I keep every single star up in the sky? Do you know how I tell the rain exactly where to fall?”
Did Job know how God did all of those things? [Wait for response.] No! Nobody knows everything that God knows! God is SO wise. SO powerful. SO amazing.
[Stand up tall and stretch your arms out as wide as they can go.]
Can you stand up with me and make your biggest arms? [Stand up with the kids.] God is bigger than anything we can even imagine! Bigger than storms! Bigger than sadness! Bigger than any hard thing that ever happens to us!
[Sit back down together.]
Job listened to God and said, “You are right, God. You know so much more than I do. I trust you even when I do not understand.”
Then God made things good again for Job. God healed all of Job’s owies. God gave Job gave Job even MORE animals than he had before!
God took such good care of Job, and guess what? God takes care of us too!
Theological Questions:
- Is God bigger than our problems and our sadness? (Yes! God is bigger than absolutely everything.)
- Did God ever forget about Job when the hard things were happening? (No! God always knew exactly where Job was and always cared about him.)
Life Application Questions:
- When you feel sad or scared, what can you do? (Talk to God, pray, ask someone for a hug, tell God how you feel.)
- Can you think of someone who might be feeling sad that you could be kind to this week?
Prayer:
Dear God, thank you that you never, ever leave us alone. When things are hard and we feel sad, help us to trust you just like Job did. You are so big and so good and we love you so much. In Jesus name, Amen.
[Have all the children say “Amen!” together!]
WORSHIP IN SONG 6:25-6:35
PRAYER 6:35-6:45
Transition kids to the floor for prayer time. Pray for anyone who is going through something hard right now, for children who are sick or whose families are walking through a difficult season, and that we would learn to trust God just like Job did even when we do not understand what is happening around us.
BIBLE STORY GAME 6:45-6:55 | Job’s Boils Dot Game
Items Needed:
- Red dot stickers
- A large outline of a person drawn on poster board or butcher paper
- A blindfold
Tape the large person outline to the wall. Give each child a red dot sticker to represent one of Job’s sores. One at a time, children are gently spun around once with eyes closed or lightly blindfolded and then try to place their red dot sticker on the person outline. After everyone has placed their sticker, leaders say, “Job had so many painful sores all over his body. That must have been so hard! But Job still trusted God even when he hurt. Can we trust God when we feel sick or sad?”
BIBLE CRAFT 6:55-7:10 | Encouragement Cards
Items Needed
- Encouragement Card Templates
- Assortment of Stickers
- Crayons
- Envelopes (optional)
Have kids make encouragement cards to give out. Ask them to give the card to someone in the church on their way home today.
SNACK TIME AND BIBLE STORY VIDEO 7:10-7:25
Pass out snacks and allow kids time to eat while they watch the Bible story video.
BONUS ACTIVITY | Musical Animals
Items Needed:
- Floor spot animal markers (one fewer than the number of players)
- A music player
This is a Job themed version of musical chairs using floor spots instead of chairs. Place the spots in a circle and play music while children and leaders walk around making animal sounds. When the music stops everyone finds a spot. The child without a spot gets to share one thing they trust God for before rejoining the circle. Leaders participate right alongside the children. Connect it back by saying, “Job had thousands of animals, and even when they were gone Job still trusted God.”
SCRIPTURE REFERENCE
Job 1:1-3 (ESV) “There was a man in the land of Uz whose name was Job, and that man was blameless and upright, one who feared God and turned away from evil. There were born to him seven sons and three daughters. He possessed 7,000 sheep, 3,000 camels, 500 yoke of oxen, and 500 female donkeys, and very many servants, so that this man was the greatest of all the people of the east.”
Job 1:20-22 (ESV) “Then Job arose and tore his robe and shaved his head and fell on the ground and worshiped. And he said, ‘Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return. The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord.’ In all this Job did not sin or charge God with wrong.”
Job 38:1-4 (ESV) “Then the Lord answered Job out of the whirlwind and said: ‘Who is this that darkens counsel by words without knowledge? Dress for action like a man; I will question you, and you make it known to me. Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth? Tell me, if you have understanding.'”
Job 42:10 (ESV) “And the Lord restored the fortunes of Job, when he had prayed for his friends. And the Lord gave Job twice as much as he had before.”
Job 42:12 (ESV) “And the Lord blessed the latter days of Job more than his beginning. And he had 14,000 sheep, 6,000 camels, 1,000 yoke of oxen, and 1,000 female donkeys.”
PARENT TAKE HOME SHEET
Today’s Key Takeaway: Trust God Always
What I Learned Today: Today we learned about a man named Job who loved God with his whole heart. Even when very hard things happened to Job, he never stopped trusting God. In the end God took care of Job and blessed him with even more than he had before.
Questions to Ask Me:
Theological Questions:
- Who is Job? (Job is a man in the Bible who loved God and trusted Him even when life was very hard.)
- Did God forget about Job when bad things happened to him? (No! God always knew where Job was and always cared about him.)
- Who spoke to Job from the big storm? (God did!)
- Does God know more than we do? (Yes! God knows everything. He is wiser and more powerful than anyone.)
- What does it mean to trust God? (It means believing that God is good and that He loves us and is taking care of us even when we cannot see it or understand it.)
Life Application Questions:
- When something hard happens and you feel sad, what can you do? (Pray, talk to God, tell someone you trust how you feel.)
- Can you think of a time when something felt hard or scary? How did you feel? (Allow child to share freely.)
- How can you show kindness to someone who is having a hard time just like Job did? (Give a hug, say kind words, pray for them, sit with them.)
- Job kept loving God even when life was hard. What is one way you can show God you love Him this week? (Pray, be kind to others, say thank you to God, come to church.)
- God gave Job new animals, a new family, and good health at the end. Can you name one good thing God has given you? (Allow child to share freely.)