During the lesson, the information for you to know is written in regular type, and what we suggest speaking or reading aloud to children is in bold. All resources for this lesson, including the Teacher Guide and Student Page, can be downloaded in a ZIP file by clicking on the following link:
In some lessons you will find "resource articles." These are articles written by experts from around the world to help equip you for your work with children and adolescents. Share them with parents or guardians if you consider it appropriate.
Before class, cut out the verses at the end of the lesson to use during the Responding section.
Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful.
Hebrews 10:23
Promises may be easy to give, but they are difficult to keep. When a promise is given, hope is given. And when a promise is broken, something breaks in the relationship as well—trust. Think for a moment of an unfulfilled promise that broke your trust in someone or something. Now ask the Holy Spirit to show you any promises you have not kept. How painful it is when trust is broken because of a promise not kept.
Now spend a few minutes writing down the qualities that you know God has. For example, He is loving. After you have written down a few qualities, think of how these show you that God is faithful. He always fulfills every promise He has spoken—in His way, at the right time. He can be trusted. He will never disappoint you or break your trust. You can hold fast to the hope you have, for He who promised is faithful!
Families may have broken promises to their children, even unintentionally! The intent of this lesson is not to point blame but to help the children and their families learn that God is faithful and trustworthy. Encourage the children to share what they learn today about God keeping His promises.
Teacher Tip: If possible, email or text the Family Connection Card to the families of your students.
Welcome your children as they come to class. Ask them to think of 1 promise they have tried to keep. Ask them to share that promise with another child.
Hold the sticks and the rock.
Today we will talk about promises. Sometimes people make promises and then break their promise. Sometimes they make a promise without thinking about what they are saying. An aunt promises to take you on a fun activity but never does. (Break a stick.) Sometimes people make promises they are unable to keep because of circumstances. Your father promises that he will always be with you, but then he has to move to a faraway city for a job. (Break a stick.) Sometimes people make promises in order to trick you. A man promises you an easy job in the city that will pay you a lot of money, but instead you work in a factory 12 hours a day with little pay. (Break a stick.) There are so many people who make promises to you and break them. (Break a stick.)
When someone does not keep a promise, it can break our trust in that person. We do not believe she will do what she says.
The Person who has kept every promise He has made is God! Unlike people who break their promises (break a stick), God will never break His promises, like I cannot break this rock. (Try to break the rock.) Let’s hear more about our God who keeps His promises.
Tell or read this story to your children. They have heard many stories about Abram, who had his name changed to Abraham. They may feel as if this biblical God-follower is now their friend!
Listen to this story from the Bible about a promise God made to Abram. When I point to you, everyone stand up and shout, “God keeps His promises!” Let’s practice now.
Point to the children. They should stand up and shout, “God keeps His promises!”
Abram had become mighty in the land. Yet there was still a terrible pain in his heart. He was growing old, and he still did not have a son. Who would he leave all of his wealth to? How would his people become a great nation like God had promised if he had no children? God heard Abram’s cry and told him:
Do not be afraid, Abram. I am your shield, your very great reward.
Genesis 15:1
Allow the children to offer their ideas before continuing the story.
God said He would take care of Abram and protect him like a shield protects a soldier in battle. God wanted Abram to understand that He would keep His promise to give Abram descendants.
Point to the children. They should stand up and shout, “God keeps His promises!”
When Abram heard this, he wondered how he could have descendants when he had no children. So he talked to God like a friend. Abram asked what the Lord could give him since he did not have a child. When Abram died, all of his great wealth would pass to his servant because he did not have a son.
God answered Abram with great kindness. Abram had trusted God through many difficult times. Abram had lived faithfully year after year, waiting for God’s promises to come true.
God told Abram that his servant would not be the one to inherit Abram’s wealth. He said to him, “You will have a son. Go outside and look at the stars. Can you count them? They are too many to count. That is what your descendants will be like.”
Point to the children. They should stand up and shout, “God keeps His promises!”
The Lord promised that He really, truly would give Abram a son. And Abram believed God. Even though he and his wife were getting old and it did not seem possible for them to have children, he believed God anyway.
God also told Abram that He was going to give him all the land of Canaan. Abram asked the Lord a question, “How can I be sure that I will receive the land?”
God wants us to trust Him, but that does not mean we cannot ask Him questions. He understands that we have questions.
In Abram’s day, a ceremony would take place when 2 people made a special agreement called a covenant. A covenant meant more than just an ordinary promise or agreement. It required a special ceremony during which promises were made by the 2 people.
The covenant promise involved 2 people—a greater person and a lesser person. Usually the greater person would establish all of the rules of the covenant, and the lesser person would agree to them. In God and Abram’s case, God promised to provide Abram with land and many descendants who would bless the entire world. God made all the promises, even though He is the greater person. The promise or covenant depended completely on God making and keeping the promise.
There was nothing Abram had to do to earn what God would give him. He simply had to trust the Lord to make it happen. So God told Abram to bring Him a goat, a ram, a cow, a dove, and a pigeon. To conduct the covenant ceremony, Abram cut the animals in half and laid each half to the left and to the right. The space in between was a pathway. As the sun began to set, Abram fell into a deep sleep. A powerful, dreadful darkness came over him as he slept. It was the Lord’s holy presence.
The Lord explained that Abram would live in peace, but his descendants would not. The Lord told Abram that in the future his descendants would live as slaves in a far-off land for 400 years. But then God would free them, and they would return to the land of Canaan again. God knew exactly what was going to happen, even though it would not happen for hundreds and hundreds of years!
Abram trusted that God would keep His promises. For hundreds of years, Abram’s descendants would hear this story. They could trust that God would bring them back to the land and bless them. And God did exactly what He had promised. Waiting on God is a very important part of having faith.
When Abram woke up, he understood much more about God’s covenant. Now it was dark night. Abram saw a smoking pot of fire blazing like a torch. This mysterious pot moved down the pathway between the animal pieces to show that God was making this covenant promise. The Lord said to Abram, “I give this land to your descendants.” And the covenant, God’s promise, was sealed. God would make sure it came true.
Point to the children. They should stand up and shout, “God keeps His promises!”
Children might suggest answers such as: He helps me. He listens to me. He loves me.
Abram had to wait a long time to see the promise of God fulfilled. It is important to understand a few things about the promises of God.
Allow the children a few minutes to find some materials that they can use to make pictures that express how God’s trustworthiness makes them feel. They can collect things such as flowers, stones, leaves, sticks, seeds—anything they can find in 2 minutes. They will use the materials to create a picture expressing how they feel about God keeping His promises. For example, “God promises to care for me and so I made a stack of sticks to represent the house that God has provided for my family.”
Optional Supplies: Hand out papers and crayons to the children. Have the children draw pictures that express how God’s trustworthiness makes them feel. They can use words and pictures or just pictures. If you are using the Student Pages, the children can use those to write their notes to God.
I will read you several of God’s promises. I will place each promise in a different part of the room. Some of these promises were given to specific people or at a specific time, but the ideas in them are still true for us. After I have read all the promises, quietly go to the verse that speaks to you the most and wait silently for instructions.
“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”
Jeremiah 29:11
Know therefore that the Lord your God is God; he is the faithful God, keeping his covenant of love to a thousand generations of those who love him and keep his commandments.
Deuteronomy 7:9
If we are faithless, he remains faithful—for he cannot deny himself.
2 Timothy 2:13, ESV
God is not human, that he should lie, not a human being, that he should change his mind. Does he speak and then not act? Does he promise and not fulfill?
Numbers 23:19
Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.
Matthew 11:28–29
Neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Romans 8:39
Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.
John 14:27
If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.
Romans 10:9
Tear or cut out the verses at the end of this lesson. Place them in different places around your meeting space. Read each one again as you place it in your meeting space.
Quietly go to the verse that speaks the most to you now. In the group that gathers around that verse, pray for each other, that you would believe God’s promise to you in that verse.
Allow the children a few minutes to pray for each other. Then share the following verse with them again and help them to memorize it.
Know therefore that the Lord your God is God; he is the faithful God, keeping his covenant of love to a thousand generations of those who love him and keep his commandments.
Deuteronomy 7:9
Then ask them to be quiet while you bless them with these words based on Hebrews 10:23.
Blessing: May God help you hold tightly to the hope you have because He who promised is faithful and trustworthy!
Lead the children in singing this quarter’s song if possible.
Life on Life ©2020 David C Cook. Reproducible for home or classroom use only. All other uses require written permission from David C Cook [email protected]. All rights reserved.
