Such an important message for this week!
The life of Joseph can be outlined as a series of highs and lows. It began with a high—at least for him—of being the favored son in his father’s house. But then, as a teenager, Joseph experienced one of the lowest lows of his life when he was betrayed by his brothers and sold into captivity.
This is where we pick up the story this week, with another relative high. Joseph was still a slave, but we read that God was with him and that because of God’s kindness, Joseph rose to a place of prominence in Potiphar’s house. But then the pattern continued with another low—Potiphar’s wife false accusation against Joseph which led to his imprisonment. Joseph did what was right, but was wronged for it.
Through Joseph’s life we learn a critical point for our lives: adversity is not antithetical to good. Or put another way: bad is not always bad. God will often use difficult situations—even painful ones as we see in Joseph’s life—to bring about good. In this account, we see that God was with Joseph every step of the way—through every high and every low—guiding him toward what would ultimately be for his good (and his family’s good) and more importantly, for God’s glory.
You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives. Genesis 50:20
Our Bible lesson today is so important for helping us understand how to process the difficult times in our lives. And we need to see this; remember that many of us are already dealing with deeply painful situations. The virus, being quarantined, the anxiety we feel might all play into this. But we don’t want to stop there. This truth is strengthened by a greater example than Joseph—Jesus Christ. Save time to talk to your kids about the Christ Connection (as I hope you do each session), to see that God brought something great—our salvation—through the painful adversity of His Son.
...And here are the jams!
CLICK HERE FOR TODAY'S STORY SUMMARY
Connection to the promise: God sent Joseph to Egypt and blessed him so that he rose to a position of great authority. God used Joseph to help Joseph’s family and many others. When Jesus came to earth, He gave up His position of honor in heaven to be the Savior of the world.
If you have a bible at your house, open to Genesis 39-41 and have a parent read it out loud to you! If you don't have one, that's okay! CLICK HERE.
Our question for today:
Movement Game (#competition):
Cup Stack Relay
Form 2 teams of kids and provide each team with 11 cups, 10 similar and one different. (If you do not have similar plastic cups- choose any 11 and mark one in a special way). Each team of kids should gather around their stack of cups and take turns removing the top cup and placing it on the bottom of the stack. Kids will continue removing the top cup and placing it on the bottom until the one that's different gets back to the top.
Remind kids- God gave Joseph power to understand dreams. They cupbearer was excited to get his job back, just as Joseph said he would, but he forgot to tell Pharaoh and Joseph.
Two years later, when the cupbearer remembered Joseph, God used Joseph to explain Pharaoh's dreams and prepare Egypt for a great famine. In that way. God was preparing to use Joseph to save his family. From Jacob and Joseph's family, Jesus would eventually be born.
Card Game (#competition):
Memory
Gather playing cards and remove 12 cards in pairs (or use any memory match game you might have at home). Flip over 2 cards at a time to play memory match as you typically would. If the 2 you flip match, keep them! If they do not match, put them back and the next player will go.
Explain to kids- It took a good memory to be successful at that game. If you forgot where a card was, you couldn't find it when you learned where its match was. Today we heard about a man who forgot something he was asked to remember. Who was it and what did he forget?
Other Printables:
If you have a printer at home and would like another craft try these printable Pharaoh Head dresses: CLICK HERE
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