God is all-knowing

Our story today was from I Samuel 16. Here it is:

The first king of Israel was named Saul (boy with crown). Was he a good or a bad king? (ask all) At that time, there was a prophet called Samuel (boy in mantle). One day, God had a message for him (angel in halo flies in): "I chose Saul to be king of Israel. Even though he is very disobedient, he can continue to be king. I, Jehovah, am (point to "unchanging" on growing list of God's attributes on poster, have all read aloud); I don't say one day he can be king and the next day say he can't. The word of God is true, isn't that right? (ask Samuel, then ask all). But Saul should be punished, shouldn't he? (ask Samuel, then ask all). So, I have already decided that Saul's descendants will not be king after him. Instead, I have chosen someone with a purer heart to be the next king." God tells Samuel to go to Bethlehem, and bring his anointing oil (angel gives fancy jar containing fragrant beads) in order to anoint one of the sons of Jesse as the next king. (angel pushes Samuel away. Samuel walks several times around room, stops before boy chosen as Jesse) Samuel invites Jesse to eat with him (sit at table with bowls and chopsticks) Samuel asks Jesse to introduce his family. Do you have any sons? Jesse says yes, here is my oldest son Eliab. (put #1 label on boy who comes & shakes Samuel's hand). Samuel says to himself, wow, what a handsome young man! (Ask all: isn't he handsome?) Are you also a smart boy? (ask Eliab) Surely this is the Lord's chosen one! (angel flies in, makes sign for "wrong!") Angel says: "You are only judging according to his outward appearance. But God knows everything and is able to look into people's hearts. So He has not chosen this son." Samuel asks Jesse if he has any other sons (our poor Jesse kept answering "no" in all honesty, and kept getting corrected.)
#2 label placed on boy introduced to Samuel as Abinadab. (angel makes sign for "wrong") Any more sons? #3—Shammah (wrong)
(etc. for sons #4-7) Jesse says to Samuel, am I not blessed with wonderful sons? Samuel says, yes, but don't you have any more? Jesse says, well, there's the youngest, but he's just a kid; we left him to watch the sheep while we came to eat with you. Samuel says, I want to see him. So his youngest son, named David, is introduced to Jesse. (angel makes thumbs-up sign). God says, this is My chosen one, a man after My own heart. So Samuel gets up and anoints him (pours fragrant beads on head) and blesses him (makes sign of cross). Then Samuel leaves. Sure enough, after Saul dies, David becomes a king who is pleasing to God. God is truly a (add "all-knowing" to poster, have all read) God, knowing a person's future and the secrets of his heart.

Game: God is all-knowing; how much do YOU know? We placed different colored, different shaped construction paper in a row on the floor. On each was a different letter of the English alphabet, a different number, a different English word, and a different Chinese word. As kids "landed" on different shapes they would be asked either the shape, color, letter, number, Chinese or English word. Correct answers got gold stars.

Craft: David was not only a king, he was a musician. So we made "lyres" out of tagboard and rubber bands. One of the few crafts the kids were interested in taking home!

Bible study: Psalm 139:1-4

In the afternoon, several of us took an hour's bus ride to a village up in China to visit the former caregiver of one of our kids. Enjoyed that outing together very much, and we think Auntie Hing did too! But the boy she used to take care of wasn't able to come this time, so we'll have to make another visit some time before too long!