Elisha & the Arameans

1. HOOK

• Optical illusion quiz

• Show a black silhouette of a soldier with a red cross in the middle of the soldier and ask the kids to stare at the red cross for 30 seconds then look at a white wall/screen.
• They should see a yellow, glowing image of the same soldier.
• Explain: Sometimes we see the physical all the time. But we don’t realise that in every circumstances and situation, God is working, even when we can’t see it. So don’t look at the darkness. Look at Jesus (e.g. red cross in this case)!

• Optional: Do the same with the Jesus pix (focus on the 4 dots on the nose bridge)

2. STORY: Elisha & the Arameans (2 Kings 6:8-22)

• Tell the story of Elisha & the Arameans (2 Kings 6:8-22)
• The king of Aram was at war with God’s people in Israel. Each time the Arameans set up a place to attack, God would tell Elisha who would then tell the King of Israel. They would go a different way and avoid trouble.
• After many times of avoiding an attack, the king of Aram decided that someone in his army was telling his secrets to the king of Israel. “Tell me! Which of us is on the side of the king of Israel?”
• His army told him that no one in the army was sharing secrets. They explained that Elisha was telling the king of Israel what was going on. They knew that he was a man from God.
• When the king heard this, he sent out a large group of army soldiers to find him. They found him in the city of Dothan. The king sent a large group of soldiers, horses and chariots to get Elisha. They traveled by night and totally surrounded the city!
• The next morning, Elisha’s helper woke up and looked out the window. He was shocked and scared. He saw soldiers everywhere. He ran to Elisha to tell him the news. “Oh no, my lord! What shall we do?”
• Elisha encouraged his helper. “Don’t be afraid. Those who are with us are more than those who are with them.”
• Elisha prayed. “Open his eyes, Lord, so that he may see.”
• When the helper looked out the window again, he saw an amazing site. He saw horses and chariots of fire from God behind all the soldiers. Suddenly, the army started moving toward Elisha’s home.
• Elisha prayed to God for help. He asked God to make them blind. “Strike this army with blindness.” Instantly, the WHOLE army was blind! Can you imagine that?
• All the soldiers were confused and afraid. Elisha boldly walked up to them and explained that they were in the wrong town.
• Then he did a very brave thing. He asked them to follow him! They were being led by the person they came to capture! They had no idea who they were following.
• Elisha led them to Samaria. He led the whole army into the hand of the King of Israel’s army. Then, Elisha prayed and asked God to remove the blindness. Suddenly, the men could see. When they looked around, they saw that they had been tricked and now THEY were surrounded by soldiers.
• The king of Israel asked Elisha if they should kill them. Believe it or not, Elisha told them instead to be kind to the soldiers. “Set food and water before them so that they may eat and drink and then go back to their master.”
• After they ate, they returned home. Because of this kindness, the king of Aram did not fight God’s people for a very long time.

3. LESSON

• Source: Mission Arlington

A. “Open his eyes, Lord, so that he may see.”

• Elisha’s helper saw the armies and was afraid. Elisha had to ask God to open his eyes to see the unseen — God’s armies of horses and chariots of fire!
• Similarly, we should not focus too much on the natural — what we can see/touch/taste/hear/feel etc. The natural circumstances may be difficult or depressing, but in the spiritual, God is working for us … even if we can’t see it yet!
• Always remember: God is fighting for us even when we cannot see. He lives in us (where we cannot see) and He is greater than any problem or scary things out there! (2 Cor 5:7)
• 1 John 4:4 You, dear children, are from God and have overcome them, because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world.

B. God comes to our rescue

• We now know that we have a powerful God who comes to our aid when we are in need.
• But there was a time in Jesus’ life when He had soldiers around Him. They came to arrest Him even though He had done nothing wrong. Instead of calling down angels to help Him, Jesus was quiet because He knew there was a reason for this.
• The mean people nailed Jesus to a cross because they thought that He was not God’s Son. They jeered at Him and insulted Him, saying, “Aren’t you the Messiah? Save yourself and us!” Jesus could. But He didn’t.
• Jesus really WAS God’s Son. He chose to die on the cross to pay the price for all the wrong things that WE have done. Jesus took all our sin on Himself and died to make a way for us to go to Heaven.
• If we believe in Jesus and ask Him to come into our heart, He will clean out all the dirt of our sin and make us pure and clean. He will stay in our heart forever so we don’t have to be afraid anymore!
• If you would like to invite Jesus into your heart, pray with me now.

C. “Set food and water before them.” (Psalm 23:5)

• The Aramean soldiers were trapped and surrounded by their enemies, the Israelites. They should have been killed. But Elisha told the king to show mercy and feed them well before letting them return to the King of Aram.
• The Psalmist tells us that God prepares a table for us in the midst of our enemies. When we are faced in impossible situations, God’s favour will be shown to us, even by our enemies!
• How was this possible? Because once, while we were God’s enemies, He gave His life for us!
  Romans 5:8 But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

• Memory Verse: 1 John 4:4 You, dear children, are from God and have overcome them, because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world.