The Shunammite Woman's Land Restored 2 Kings 8:1-6 - CCQ

Lesson 111The Shunammite Woman’sLand Restored2 Kings 8:1-6

MEMORY VERSE2 KIN GS 8:6“Restore all that was hers, and all the proceeds of the fieldfrom the day that she left the land until now.”WHAT YOU WILL NEED:Two balloons and masking tape.A bucket of Legos, Tinkertoys or other blocks.Construction paper (two sheets per child), scissors, glue andmarkers.ATTENTION GRABBER!Crab-walk Relay RaceThis game will help the children get their energy out. You willneed two balloons and masking tape. Using the masking tape,make a start line and finish line. Separate the class into two teams.Have each team line up at the starting line. Blow up the twoballoons and give one to each of the starting children.When you say, “go” the first children in line will go to the floor andwill do a crab-walk. How they do that is by putting their hands andfeet on the floor with their stomachs in the air. Next, they need toplace the balloon on their stomach and balance it there as theyhead to the other side of the classroom. They will then return andpass the balloon to the next person in the relay.For added excitement you can bring an electric fan and see if theballoon will stay on their stomachs. Have fun!

LESSON TIME!Have you ever had to move to a new town where you didn’t knowanyone? Maybe your parents got a new job, which meant that theyneeded to move. It was probably hard to have to move to a newhome, go to a new school, and make new friends.Sometimes people have to move to another nation like some of ourmissionaries have done. The people are very different in othercountries. They act and dress differently. It would take a lot ofgetting used to. But sometimes God calls us to do that.In our story today, the Shunammite widow and her son had tomove to another country. The Lord warned them through theprophet Elisha that there was going to be a big famine, which meantthat there was not going to be enough food to eat, for seven years.If they stayed home, they would starve.Sometimes God calls on us to do things that are not easy. Thewoman and her son had to leave their home, family, and friendsand move to a land where they were strangers. There was no one tohelp them there but God. This took a lot of faith. They knew thatthey could trust God to take care of them. God takes care of Hispeople.We will learn in this lesson that God will always take care of us nomatter what. It may be in different ways than we would like it tobe, but He will always take care of us. The Lord faithfully helpedthe Shunammite woman. He will faithfully take care of us.2 KI N G S 8:1-2T h e n El i s h a s p o k e t o t h e w o m an w h o s e s o n h e h adr e s t o r e d t o l i f e , s ay i n g, " Ar i s e an d go , y o u an d y o u rh o u s e h o l d , an d s t ay w h e r e v e r y o u c an ; f o r t h e L O R Dh as c al l e d f o r a f am i n e , an d f u r t h e r m o r e , i t w i l lc o m e u p o n t h e l an d f o r s e v e n y e ar s . "

S o t h e w o m an ar o s e an d d i d ac c o r d i n g t o t h e s ay i n go f t h e m an o f G o d , an d s h e w e n t w i t h h e r h o u s e h o l dan d d w e l t i n t h e l an d o f t h e Ph i l i s t i n e s s e v e n y e ar s .When Elisha told the woman to leave because of the famine, shebelieved and followed God’s leading. She and her family left theirhome and lived in the land of the Philistines for seven years.What do you suppose she may have been thinking when theprophet Elisha told her that she would have to move? Maybe shethought, “I’ve always lived here, why do I have to move?” or “Whycan’t God just take care of me here?” Sometimes we may notalways understand why God does things the way that He does, butwe are only required to obey Him, not to understand everything.The important thing here is that she obeyed what the Lord hadcommanded her to do through Elisha. The famine must have beenpretty bad to force her to stay away for seven years. But by hermoving to the land of the Philistines, the Lord was really takingcare of her needs. She obeyed and the Lord blessed. God takescare of His people.The “Following Instructions” GameSometimes the Lord may have us doing things that we don’t alwaysunderstand until we have come through it, or even later. Just likethe Shunammite woman in our story today, we just need to obey.But as we see in our story, the Lord always took care of her everyneed. Use this activity to help reinforce the lesson and our needfor obedience.You will need a bucket of Legos, Tinkertoys or other blocks. Beforeclass separate out 4 sets of 10-20 blocks and have the children getinto pairs. The blocks in each set should be the same blocks. Taketwo pairs to begin.

2 KI N G S 8:4-5T h e n t h e k i n g t al k e d w i t h G e h az i , t h e s e r v an t o f t h em an o f G o d , s ay i n g, " T e l l m e , p l e as e , al l t h e gr e att h i n gs El i s h a h as d o n e . "N o w i t h ap p e n e d , as h e w as t e l l i n g t h e k i n g h o w h eh ad r e s t o r e d t h e d e ad t o l i f e , t h at t h e r e w as t h ew o m an w h o s e s o n h e h ad r e s t o r e d t o l i f e , ap p e al i n gt o t h e k i n g f o r h e r h o u s e an d f o r h e r l an d . An dG e h az i s ai d , " M y l o r d , O k i n g, t h i s i s t h e w o m an , an dt h i s i s h e r s o n w h o m El i s h a r e s t o r e d t o l i f e . "Just as the woman came into court to beg for her house and landback, Elisha’s servant, Gehazi, was talking to the king about all themiracles of God that Elisha had been doing. As he told the kinghow Elisha had restored the dead to life, he looked up and saw herand her son coming in. He pointed them out and said, “This is thewoman and her son whom Elisha restored to life!”Talk about perfect timing! It’s amazing how God takes care of us nomatter what. God takes care of His people. Because she wasthere appealing for her land while Gehazi was talking to the kingshe will get her request.There are times in our lives that God works great things.Sometimes He will have us in the right place at the right time inorder to help someone or to show the Lord’s kindness and love tosomeone. We have to be sensitive to what the Lord is doing so thatwe don’t miss out on His blessings.2 KI N G S 8:6An d w h e n t h e k i n g as k e d t h e w o m an , s h e t o l d h i m .S o t h e k i n g ap p o i n t e d a c e r t ai n o f f i c e r f o r h e r ,s ay i n g, " R e s t o r e al l t h at w as h e r s , an d al l t h ep r o c e e d s o f t h e f i e l d f r o m t h e d ay t h at s h e l e f t t h el an d u n t i l n o w . "

The king asked her if this was true and she told him about Elishaand what God had done for her and her son when He restored herson to life. The king assigned an official to her case and restored allthe income from her land for the seven years that she was goneand gave this to her too.Do you think that her coming into court just as the king and theservant of Elisha were talking about her and her son was acoincidence? No. This was God’s plan to take care of her.Because she was faithful, trusted, and obeyed God, she not only gotback her house and land that she went to beg the king for, she gotback everything else she had owned and the income for all the timeshe was gone. God blessed her for her faith during these difficultyears. God takes care of His people.God has a wonderful plan for our lives. If we believe and trust inHim, He will take care of us. He will provide for us during thedifficult times and will bless us for being faithful to Him. What weneed to do is to be sure to be obedient to the Lord when He speaksto our hearts. God certainly had a plan for the Shunammitewoman. He wasn’t done working in her life and was going to takegood care of her.In closing, let’s read a wonderful verse about how that God takescare of us.J e r e m i ah 29:11-13F o r I k n o w t h e t h o u gh t s t h at I t h i n k t o w ar d y o u , s ay st h e L O R D , t h o u gh t s o f p e ac e an d n o t o f e v i l , t o gi v ey o u a f u t u r e an d a h o p e .T h e n y o u w i l l c al l u p o n M e an d go an d p r ay t o M e ,an d I w i l l l i s t e n t o y o u .

An d y o u w i l l s e e k M e an d f i n d M e , w h e n y o u s e ar c hf o r M e w i t h al l y o u r h e ar t .Open The DoorWhen we need help we should always go to the Lord to ask Him forhelp! Jesus said in Luke 11:9 - “So I say to you, ask, and it will begiven to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be openedto you.” Our craft in this lesson will help us to remember to cometo the Lord.You will need two sheets of construction paper per child, one canbe any color and the other should be brown. You will also needscissors, glue and markers. Have the children cut out a door fromthe brown paper. They can decorate the door by using a marker.Have them glue the door to the other sheet of construction paper.Leave enough room for writing around the top, bottom and sides ofthe door. On the left side of the door write “Ask” vertically. On thetop of the door write “Seek” horizontally. On the right side, write“Knock” vertically. On the bottom, write Luke 11:9. On the insideof the door write “and it will be opened to you!”Allow the children to color or decorate their craft with other items.Remind them that this is what is pictured when the Shunammitewoman went to the king to ask for help. We can go to the Lord, orking, anytime to ask for His help.PRAYERLead the children in a prayer of commitment to always trust in theLord and obey Him. Also thank the Lord for His wonderful care forus. If there are any children who have not yet responded to thegospel, give them opportunity to do so.