Here's a picture from Distant Shores Media and Sweet Publishing that we've used to represent this week.
We presented a Hands-on Story Exploration to the kids when we did this at our church.
In doing this story, we used individualized flannel-graphs for each kid... yes, we cut out shapes of people and parts of houses and so forth and had them put them on their own little flannel boards for each part of the story. It was VERY hard work, but also very cool when we got it done!
We also printed these pages (one from Distant Shores Media and Sweet Publishing) on cardstock so that when we cut them up for individualized puzzles, the kids could put it together and we could make the point that even in the midst of suffering, God is still good, God is still on His throne, and God loves you. This served as a kinesthetic action while we ran the Exploration-style conversation.
The Story of Job
Pieces to use: Sheep, Camel, Ox, Donkey, Servant, Satan, Angel, Three Friends
In the land of Uz there lived a man whose name was Job. Job was righteous. He feared God and stayed away from evil. He had seven sons and three daughters, and he owned seven thousand sheep, three thousand camels, five hundred yoke of oxen and five hundred donkeys, and had a large number of servants. He was the greatest man among all the people of the East.
His sons used to have parties in their homes on their birthdays, and they would invite their three sisters to have parties with them.
One day the angels came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan also came with them. The Lord said to Satan, “Where have you come from?”
Satan answered the Lord, “From roaming throughout the earth, going back and forth on it.”
Then the Lord said to Satan, “Have you seen Job? There is no one on earth like him; he is a righteous man who fears God and stays away from evil.”
Satan said, "But you bless Job and protect him! You give him good things! Of course he likes you! But if you take away everything he has he will curse you.”
The Lord said to Satan, “Very well. You can take everything he has, but don't hurt his body.”
A messenger came to Job and said, “Someone killed all of your oxen and donkeys and servants, and I am the only one who has escaped to tell you!”
While he was still speaking, another messenger came and said, “The fire of God fell from the heavens and burned up the sheep and the servants, and I am the only one who has escaped to tell you!”
While he was still speaking, another messenger came and said, “Someone stole all your camels and killed your servants, and I am the only one who has escaped to tell you!”
While he was still speaking, yet another messenger came and said, “Your sons and daughters were having a party when suddenly a mighty wind swept in from the desert and knocked down the house on top on them and they are dead, and I am the only one who has escaped to tell you!”
Job was very sad and cried out to God, but he praised God and didn't curse God!
On another day the angels came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan also came with them to present himself before him. And the Lord said to Satan, “Where have you come from?”
Satan answered the Lord, “From roaming throughout the earth, going back and forth on it.”
Then the Lord said to Satan, “Have you seen Job? There is no one on earth like him; he is righteous and fears God and stays away from evil. And he is still doing what is right, even though you took all he had!”
Satan replied. “If you make him very sick, then he will curse you.”
The Lord said, “Very well. Do what you want to him, but don't kill him.”
So Satan gave Job painful sores from his feet to his head! Job sat and scratched.
Job said, “Shall we accept good from God, and not trouble?” And Job did not sin in what he said.
Job’s three friends, Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite and Zophar the Naamathite, all heard about all the troubles that he had. They came to comfort him. After sitting with him for seven days, Job began to speak.
He said, "I wish I'd never been born! I've done everything right! Why is God punishing me?"
His friends said, "Job, you've done something bad... that's why God is punishing you!"
"No I didn't!" said Job. "God is treating me unfairly and I think I deserve to know why!"
"No, no," said his friends. "You are an evil man... you must be to deserve to be treated like you have!"
After they had talked like this for quite awhile, God spoke. He said, "Job, you aren't God. You can't see what I see or know what I know. You don't deserve anything from me.
Job said, "You're right, God. I'm sorry that I tried to make you obey my wishes."
Then God turned to Job's friends and said, "Job was right that he was innocent, but you guys said that I had punished him for something wrong he did! You need to offer a sacrifice to me and ask Job to pray for you so I don't punish you!"
Job's three friends did just that, and God accepted Job's prayer for them.
God gave Job twice as much as he had before. He had fourteen thousand sheep, six thousand camels, a thousand yoke of oxen and a thousand donkeys. And he also had seven sons and three daughters. 14 The first daughter he named Jemimah, the second Keziah and the third Keren-Happuch. Nowhere in all the land were there found women as beautiful as Job’s daughters. After this, Job lived a hundred and forty years; he lived long enough to see his children and their children and their children and their children. Job saw a lot of children.