THIS WEEK’S PASSAGE
2 Kings 6:14-18
BACKGROUND PREPARATION You will need: plastics cups, a blindfold, A4 paper and pens, ‘chilled’ music. Prepare the clip from Lord of the Rings in advance (found on the links sections of the Youthwork website).
The fool’s obstacle course
10 mins
Place lots of cups of water on the floor to create an obstacle course, and ask for a few volunteers. Tell them to memorise where the cups of water are because they are going to walk through them blindfolded, and tell the rest of the group that they have to use their voices to guide each person through the course. Send the volunteers out of the room so that they do not watch each other complete the challenge. When they are outside, explain to the group that this is actually a trick, and that you are going to remove all the cups of water. The aim is to make the blindfolded volunteers look as silly as possible while walking across a nonexistent obstacle course. At the end take their blindfold off and show them what they have just walked through.
The invisible army
15 mins
2 Kings 6:14-18 is an amazing passage but make sure to explain the context first: the King of Syria keeps trying to attack God’s nation, Israel, and keeps failing spectacularly. Every time he finds a secret place to camp and lay low with his army, God simply tells the prophet Elisha where the army is hidden! At this point, the King of Syria sends a whole army to capture Elisha.
Read the passage as a group and ask them to summarise back to you what is happening. Then watch the clip from Lord of the Rings: Return of the King which shows a similar event to what happened in this story (find it on the links section of the Youthwork website).
Once you’ve watched the clip, ask the group (either all together or in smaller groups) to discuss these questions:
• What would you have done if an army that size came to capture you?
• Think about challenges that you have faced in your own life. In reacting to these challenges do you relate more to the servant in this story, or to Elisha?
• What did Elisha do twice in verses 17 and 18? Do you think the army would still have been mobilised without Elisha’s faith?
Should have gone to Specsavers
5 mins
Say: seeing the world with new eyes is not easy and takes practice.
Ask: what things can we do in our own lives to make sure that we are focused on God and the bigger picture, rather than on our own lives?
Learning to listen
20 mins
Elisha could hear God’s voice, and there are many ways in which we can hear God today. Explain to the group that God is always speaking, but often the noise and distraction of the world can drown out his voice.
Say: we are going to take some time today to practise listening to his voice.
This may be something members of the group have done before, or not at all. Explain to them that God speaks in many ways and that none of these ways are any ‘holier’ than others. (E.g. through the Bible, through giving us a word or a picture in our minds, through songs, through dreams, through a sense or a feeling we get, through an audible voice.) Explain that learning to hear God’s voice takes practice; the more we make time to listen the more we will be able to recognise his voice.
Put on some quiet music and say that the group is going to spend 10-15 minutes practising listening to God’s voice. Give out some paper so they can write or draw during this time and hand out Bibles. Tell the group that they could ask God a question and wait to see if he speaks in a picture or a word, or they could simply ask to be filled with his Spirit and see if God communicates anything to them. Encourage them to speak to God and tell him how they’re feeling inside, and give him time to respond. Remember: it’s ok when we don’t hear anything; sometimes we can feel nothing during our times with God but then notice a difference in our lives later on! It is also important to remember that God only ever speaks to us in a way that is encouraging and brings hope. Begin the time by asking God to speak.
At the end of this time together ask the group to share back what they have heard, if they feel comfortable doing so. Encourage them that hearing God’s voice takes practice and it is fine if they didn’t hear anything. Also say that we need to test and hold lightly the things we have heard from God. You might want to keep repeating this exercise with the young people in different sessions.
Prayer
5 mins
End the session with prayer, asking God to give each young person new eyes to look at the world, and eyes to see it as he does.
KEY POINT #1
There is a contrast in this story between the servant and Elisha. The servant looks at what is happening with worldly eyes and becomes scared. Elisha looks with spiritual eyes and sees that God is in control. There are always two perspectives we can have about things that come against us in life: a worldly one or a Godly one. Having a Godly perspective helps us face things that otherwise would be too big for us.
KEY POINT #2
When we ignore God in the day-today of life we are vulnerable when hard times and challenges come. Spending time with God, worshipping, reading the Bible, praying and listening to God’s voice are all things we can do each week to make sure that we are like Elisha: filled with God’s spirit and able to look at what’s happening in the world spiritually, not just physically.
