Martin Wiles’ Lessons for Children: Noah: God Is with Us When There Is Danger

Scripture Reference: These are the generations of Noah. Noah was a righteous man, blameless in his generation. Noah walked with God. -Genesis 6:9

Memory Verse: These are the generations of Noah. Noah was a righteous man, blameless in his generation. Noah walked with God. -Genesis 6:9

Goal: Teach children how they can trust God to be with them, especially when they face danger.

To begin: Today’s story is about an Old Testament man who saved his family from a world-wide flood.  Does anyone know who that man was?

Let’s say our memory verse together.  Noah was a righteous man, blameless in his generation. Noah walked with God. -Genesis 6:9

Icebreaker Questions:

Can you tell about one time you or we were in danger?

What are some dangers that people face?

What is it about dangerous people or situations that makes us scared?

Why are you scared today?

Activity Time:

When we are in dangerous situations, God promises to protect us. Here is a simple experiment that will illustrate this to the children.

Blowing Paper into a Bottle:

Here is a simple, but intriguing object lesson that can be used to illustrate any story involving God’s protection. Today, we will apply it to “Noah and the Flood.”

Take an empty narrow-necked bottle. Place a small model of a man (representing Noah) into the bottle. Draw a picture of water on a small piece of paper. Screw the paper up into a small ball.

Hold your bottle in a horizontal position, and place the paper into its neck. Invite your children to try and blow the paper into the bottle, thus representing the flood’s attempt to get to Noah. (Make sure you have antibacterial wipes to wipe the mouth of the bottle after each child’s attempt.)

You will find that the children will be unable to blow the paper from the neck into the main body of the bottle! In fact the opposite will happen, and the paper will be propelled backwards right out of the bottle. The harder someone blows, the faster and further the paper will be propelled away from Noah and the bottle.

Explanation. There is already air in your empty bottle. When someone blows more air into the bottle (while attempting to blow the paper in), the air pressure inside the bottle becomes higher than that on the outside and the paper is forced away from the bottle rather than into it.

Bible Story Time:

Reflection: How would you feel if you were the only person on earth who loved and served God?  

God had created Adam and Eve, and their family was increasing rapidly. They had many descendants, and the human population was growing. But they were also growing more wicked. In fact, people were so bad that God decided he was going to punish them for being so sinful and for not worshiping him.

Reflection: Do your parents (we) punish you when you do or say something wrong? Why do you think they (we) do? Why do you think God does the same when his children do or say things they shouldn’t?

As God looked over all the people who were living on earth, he could only find one person who loved him. His name was Noah. God decided he was going to destroy the earth with a flood. He would save some animals and any person who loved him. Noah was that person. God came to Noah and told him, “Noah, I’m going to send a great flood that will destroy everything on the earth.” Floods are dangerous.

Reflection: Have you ever seen pictures on television or the internet that show the damage floods can do? What are some of the things that can happen in a flood?

Even though God was going to send a dangerous flood, he promised to keep Noah, his wife, their three sons, and their three wives safe if they would do what God instructed them to do.

Reflection: Do you know what God told Noah to do?

Noah was probably confused when God told him it would rain for 40 days and 40 nights. Noah had never seen rain before, and he lived a long way from a body of water. God told Noah to build a boat where his family and the animals God would choose would be safe. The boat God told him to build was not just an ordinary boat. Noah’s ark was as long as one and a half football fields and as high as a four story building. It was six times longer than it was wide which is the same ratio used by modern shipbuilders. When God instructed him to build such a large boat, Noah must have imagined that he and his family were in for a dangerous ride.

Noah was also to bring pairs of animals onto the boat. God told him to get seven pairs of the animals they would eat and use for sacrifices and two pair of all the others. Noah may have been given 120 years to get all this done, but God was also giving the wicked people 120 years to change their minds about loving and serving him. But no one else believed—only Noah and his family.

Reflection: How would you feel if you knew a huge flood was coming? What would you do?

Noah knew the flood would be dangerous, so he got busy doing what God told him to do. Even though he knew the flood would be dangerous, he believed God could protect him and his family. For 120 years, Noah worked and preached, telling the people of the danger that was coming because they were so wicked. He encouraged them to believe in God, but no one did.

Reflection: Is it dangerous not to believe in God? Why?

Finally, the day arrived when God told Noah to enter the boat. He took his family and gathered all the animals and went inside. Then God shut the door of the ark. Imagine how afraid Noah and his family and the animals must have been as they heard the thunder and lighting and felt the boat swaying from side to side. And this didn’t just happen for one day or a few hours like most of our storms do. Rain fell for 40 days and nights.

Noah and his family were on the ark for more than a year. Though it only rained for 40 days and nights, it took many months for the water to dry up enough so they could leave the boat. When the day came that the ground was dry enough for Noah, his family, and the animals to leave, Noah offered a sacrifice to God, thanking him for keeping him and his family safe through the flood.

What are some ways God protects you from danger? He gives you parents (us) to protect you and teach you such things as, “Don’t talk to strangers,” or “Never get in the car with a stranger.” He gives you teachers to protect you at school from those who might try to harm you. He gives you a mind so you can know when you are in dangerous situations so you can avoid them. And we also have God’s angels looking over us each day to protect us from danger.

Noah trusted God to protect him from dangerous situations. We can, too.

From Theology Mix: Martin Wiles’ Lessons for Youth and Children