THIS WEEK’S PASSAGE
1 Samuel 18:6-16
BACKGROUND PREPARATION Read 1 Samuel chapter 18. The video clip, and ‘Promises of God’ sheet, are available on the links section of the Youthwork website. Collect a random object (e.g. scissors, a book, a pen etc.) for each person. Print off cards or pieces of paper with each of the above objects written on a different piece of paper. Print off the ‘Promises of God’ sheets. You will also need some dice, and a laptop or projector facility for the video clip.
I want what you’ve got
10 mins
Hand out the different objects – one to each person. Hand out the cards or paper with the objects written on. The aim of the game is to get the object on the piece of paper you have been given. For this game, you will need to divide your group into smaller groups of six (or use two dices if you have between six and twelve). Give each person a number. Each person should now have a card with what they want on it, an object and a number. People take it in turns to roll the dice, and once rolled they can choose whether they want to swap their item for the item the person the dice landed on (e.g. person number four) or not. They have the absolute right to swap, however much the other person protests. But they can also choose not to, if they want to stick with their item or don’t need the one the dice has landed on. After five minutes or so the people who have attained and kept the items they wanted are the winners.
The Grinch
5 mins
Watch the clip from The Grinch. Ask the group the following questions:
• What was happening here?
• Why did The Grinch do what he did?
• In what way did jealousy lead to destruction?
Saul and David
10 mins
Say: today we are going to look at an example of one person in the Bible who was haunted by jealousy. Ask the group the following questions:
• What do we know about David?
• What do we know about Saul?
Say: when we join today’s passage David has defeated Goliath in battle, and has been taken to see King Saul. Read 1 Samuel 18:6-19. Split your young people into small groups and get them to discuss these questions:
• Why did Saul feel jealous of David?
• Do you sympathise with Saul?
• Do you find it easy to love people who are adored by everyone else?
• What do you think it means when it says that God sent an evil spirit on Saul?
• Why would God do that?
The Saul in all of us
25 mins
Split the group into two and give each group several pieces of A3 paper. Make one group the Saul team, and another the David team. Ask each group to design and draw a Facebook, Twitter and Instagram page for their respective person – with tweets, pictures and posts about what they have been up to and photos showing just how brilliant they are. They can include friend requests, numbers of friends or followers – or whatever else they can come up with! Give them 20 minutes or so to complete this activity, and then ask each group to present their social media profiles for each of these figures. Afterwards, ask the whole group the following questions:
• Comparing the two, do you see how Saul might have become jealous?
• What do you think Saul had lost sight of?
• What does God see when he looks at these two?
• Do you think we compare each other in the same way?
• Do you think social media encourages this kind of comparison in our lives?
Unlearning a bad habit
10 mins
Comparing ourselves to others is a habit we all fall into. So how can we unlearn it? The key to not comparing ourselves with others – and being jealous of them – is to be confident of who we are uniquely made to be. Hand out the ‘Promises of God’ sheet, and ask your young people to look through the various verses – and pick one which really means something to them. Go around the group, asking them to read out the one that is significant to them, making it their own e.g. saying ‘I am God’s treasured possession’, as a declaration of what is true. Spend some time in silence, giving your young people the chance to reflect on the promises in front of them.
For notes for adapting see the links section of the Youthwork website.
KEY POINT #1
In the case of The Grinch, jealousy led him to destroy Christmas for the townspeople. In the same way, Saul placed David in the most dangerous battles, in an attempt to kill him. This is hatred in its purest form: the desire for someone to be dead. Comparing ourselves to other people can result in jealousy, which in turn leads to destruction. The more Saul tried to harm David, the more victorious he became. There was nothing Saul could do to stop him – which fuelled his anger more and more. Ultimately, Saul destroyed only himself.
KEY POINT #2
The truth is that God isn’t concerned by how many friends you have, or how flashy your life looks on Instagram. God is concerned by one thing alone: your heart. Ask someone to read 1 Samuel 16 verse 7: ‘But the Lord said to Samuel, ‘Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The Lord does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.’ This is the fundamental thing that Saul missed, that David grasped. It is futile to compare ourselves to other people – as they appear to us – because God sees beyond what we see.
