The Lord is My Shepherd

Memory Passage

“The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want.  He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters. He restores my soul. He leads me in paths of righteousness for his name’s sake. Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; you anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the house of the LORD forever.” Psalm 23

Day 1-The Lord is My Shepherd Intro Day

  • Pray.
  • Introduce the memory passage-Psalm 23.
    • Have kids find the verse in the Bible and highlight it.
    • Talk about how you can find Psalms by opening up to the middle of the Bible. Tell them that David wrote many of the Psalms, including Psalm 23.
    • Read it together.
  • For this week, we will focus on memorizing the first verse.
  • Say verse 1 at last three times together.
  • Talk about it:
    • Who is the focus of this verse?
    • What does this verse say about the LORD?
    • Tell me what you know about shepherds. What is their job? What do they do for their sheep? How do they treat their sheep?
    • Shepherds guide and guard their sheep. Shepherds lead their sheep to what they need and protect them from dangers and enemies.
    • So, how is the LORD our shepherd?
    • What does the next part of the verse say?
    • What does that mean?
      • I have all that I need. (NLT)
      • There is nothing I lack. (HCSB)
      • I will not be in need. (NASB)
    • Let’s put it all together. Since we have the Lord as our shepherd, we can say, “I shall not want” because He will supply what we need. We can trust that what the Lord gives is sufficient.
  • Read (or summarize for younger kids) Isaiah 40:28-29.
    • What do these verses remind us about the Lord, our Shepherd?
    • As we get ready to pray, what do you want to tell God?
  • Have each child take a minute to pray aloud or in his/her head. Close the prayer by thanking the Lord that He is our Shepherd and with Him we have all that we need.

Day 2-The Lord Was Abraham’s Shepherd

  • Pray.
  • Practice Psalm 23:1.
  • Over the next few weeks, we are going to take a look at people in the Bible who understood that the Lord was their shepherd (And guess what?! All of these guys were shepherds too!) . We will see how the Lord led them faithfully even when they went astray sometimes.
  • Let’s start with Abraham. What can you tell me about Abraham?
  • Read Genesis 12:1-3.
    • What did God ask Abram to do?
    • How did this show that the Lord was His shepherd? (verse 1-“Go forth…to the land which I will show you.”)
  • Read Genesis 12:4-7.
    • When the Lord gives us instructions, we have two choices: to obey or disobey.
    • What did Abram decide to do?
  • Read Genesis 12:8-9.
  • Talk about it.
    • God was leading Abraham to “The Promised Land” because He had a much bigger picture in mind. Through Abraham and in this place to where He was leading Him, God would bring salvation to the world.
    • Do we always know God’s bigger picture?
    • Is it sometimes hard to obey what God asks?
    • Do you think it was an easy thing for Abram to obey? We don’t know, but remember- he was 75, he had to leave most of his relatives, make a big move with lots of stuff (and no moving van), and start heading out, but he didn’t know exactly where he was going.
    • How do we see God being a faithful shepherd to Abram? (verse 7)
    • How is God a faithful shepherd to you?
  • Parents-tell about a time when God led you faithfully, even though you may not have understood the bigger picture at the time.
  • Pray. Thank God for being faithful to His word. Ask Him to help us obey and trust where He leads us.

Day 3-A Report on Abraham

  • Pray.
  • Practice Psalm 23:1.
  • As we read today, you are going to think like a reporter. Before a reporter can be on TV to tell about something, they have to first know what’s going on by finding the answers to some very important questions: Who? What? When? Where? Why? How? Be looking and listening for the answers to these questions as we read.
  • Read Genesis 13.
  • Are you ready to give me a report about what happened? If you want to make this a little more interactive, you can have one of your children ask the question and another child be the reporter (fake microphone is a must). Then switch roles so everyone can have a turn being the reporter.
    • Who is involved in the event that took place in Genesis 13?
    • What happened?
    • When did this take place?
    • Where did Lot choose to live? Where did Abraham settle?
    • Why did Abram build an altar to the Lord?
    • How do you see the Lord working in this event?
  • Say Psalm 23:1 one more time.
    • How do we see this verse play out in the story we read today from Genesis?
      • Do we see the Lord as a shepherd? How?
      • Do we see Abram doing the “shall not want” part-that He decides to trust in the Lord to have all that he needs? How?
  • Abram built an altar to worship the Lord. How will you worship the Lord for His faithful love and leading today?

Day 4-Abraham’s Faith and God’s Grace

  • Pray.
  • Practice Psalm 23:1, but also read, say, or listen to all of Psalm 23. Note to parents: The Jesus Storybook Bible and Found: Psalm 23, both by Sally Lloyd-Jones, have a beautiful retelling of this psalm.
  • Explain to your kids that after Abraham and Lot split up (what we read about yesterday), Lot was taken by some kings who also took a bunch of stuff from the country Lot lived in (Sodom-Genesis 14). When Abraham, heard that his nephew had been taken, he went out with 318 of his trained men to find Lot and bring him back. They defeated the bad guys and brought Lot and all the goods that had been stolen back to Sodom.
  • Read about what the Lord told Abraham in Genesis 15:1-6.
    • What did the Lord say He was to Abraham? (verse1)
    • What does a shield do for someone? What was God telling Abraham He would be for him?
    • Abraham still wasn’t clear on something though-how could God’s promise of many descendants (Genesis 13:16) and of being a great nation (Genesis 12:2) come true if he had no children? He was a pretty old guy by this time.
      • Verse 2 mentions a guy named Eliezer. This was Abraham’s servant, and it was common back then to adopt a servant as the male heir.
    • What did God have him to to? (verse 5)
    • What was Abraham’s response?
    • Abraham believed, he had faith, that what God said would come to pass. And because of his faith, God saw him as righteous (right with God)! He didn’t earn right standing with God by something he had done, but God gave Him that right standing because Abraham believed Him and His word.
  • Read Ephesians 2:8-9.
    • Are we saved by something we do or through our faith and by God’s grace?
    • God has not changed! Just like He gave Abraham right standing with God because of his faith, He gives us right standing with God (salvation) when we have faith in Him. There is nothing we can do to earn our salvation. It is only through His grace.
    • What does it mean to have faith in God? Parents, see Romans 3:21-26.
  • Activity Idea
    • Have a star-gazing “party” tonight.

Day 5-The Lord Did As He Promised

  • Pray.
  • Practice Psalm 23:1. If you haven’t done so already, write down Psalm 23. Write one verse each week or write all six verses at once. Here are a few ideas:
    • Older Kids
      • Write Psalm 23 on index cards or construction paper and put it on the bathroom mirror..
      • Write the verse you are learning for the week in dry erase marker on the bathroom mirror
      • Make a Psalm 23 book where they write each verse on a separate page and draw a picture that goes with that verse, write what God is teaching them, or write a prayer for that verse.
    • Younger Kids
      • Trace the verse and hang it on the refrigerator.
      • For the really young kids, have them trace one main word from each verse of Psalm 23.
      • Color or cut out from a magazine pictures of sheep, green pastures, still waters, etc. and make a Psalm 23 book.
  • We have read about God’s promise to make Abraham a great nation and that he would have many descendants. Today we are going to read about how the Lord kept His promise.
  • Read Genesis 17:1-2.
    • So, God reminds Abraham again of His promise.
    • How old was Abraham?!?!
    • What name does God call Himself?
    • Isn’t it great that our Shepherd who gently leads us is also God Almighty! Have little kids show you what they think almighty looks like (have them flex their muscles really big).
  • Read or tell in your own words Genesis 18:1-15.
    • Who came to visit Abraham?
    • What message did He bring?
  • Read Genesis 21:1-7.
    • What do you think about that?!?!
    • What are some things you can tell me about God after reading this? If they are having trouble coming up with answers, prompt them with questions about His promises, His timing, His faithfulness.
    • Who gets the glory (praise, fame, credit) in this event? Was it Abraham, or was it God?
    • God says in Psalm 23:3 that “He guides us in paths of righteousness for His name’s sake“. God was guiding Abraham and timing everything out just right so that His name would be glorified, so that we would recognize that He is the One in control and He is good.