Waitlisted Week 3

WHAT? What are we talking about today?

ACTIVITY | Wait, Walk, Name, Clap, Jump, Dance

Welcome to Week 3 of Waitlisted, where we're talking about waiting . . . and waiting . . . and waiting. Let's kick things off by seeing how good you are at things like waiting, walking, and listening.

INSTRUCTIONS: This activity can be played with your entire group or with a handful of students at the front. Either way, have all of your participating students spread stand in a cluster with a few feet of space between everyone. For each round, you'll be giving commands, then changing the instructions. If you'd like, eliminate students each round until you have only one or a few winners.

ROUND 1: Give students two commands: "wait" (stop in place) and "walk" (walk around).

Put 30 seconds on the clock and call out the commands in whatever order or frequency you'd like.

ROUND 2: Announce you'll be switching the commands. "Wait" now means "walk around," and "walk" now means "stop in place."

Put another 30 seconds on the clock and call out the commands in whatever order or frequency you'd like.

ROUND 3: Warn your students that you'll be going faster this round, and give them two new commands: "name" (say your name out loud) and "clap" (clap once, all together).

Put another 30 seconds on the clock and call out all four commands ("wait, walk, name, clap") in whatever order or frequency than you'd like, but be sure to go more quickly than last time.

ROUND 4: Announce you'll be switching the commands. "Name" now means "clap once, all together," and "clap" now means "say your name out loud."

Put another 30 seconds on the clock and call out the commands in whatever order or frequency you'd like.

ROUND 5: Warn your students that you'll be going even faster this round, and give them two new commands: "jump" (jump once) and "dance" (dance in place).

Put another 30 seconds on the clock and call out all six commands ("wait, walk, name, clap, jump, dance") in whatever order or frequency than you'd like, but be sure to go more quickly than last time.

ROUND 6: Announce you'll be switching the commands. "Jump" now means "dance in place," and "dance" now means "jump once."

Put another 30 seconds on the clock and call out the commands in whatever order or frequency you'd like. This game may not seem very difficult, but it really is! It's not easy to listen, think, and react all at the same time. Some of you got so focused on doing (or thinking about doing) the right thing that you didn't hear the next command.

Have you ever been listening to someone tell a story or make a point, but suddenly realized you hadn't heard a thing they said for several minutes?

We all want to be listened to, right? We want to know . . .

Our voices matter. People care what we have to say. Someone is listening. That's always true, but I think it's especially true during difficult moments.

When we're feeling frustrated, afraid, confused, or anxious, it means a lot to know we have someone to talk to and that someone is listening.

Today, we're going to talk about listening and being heard — especially during the difficult moments.

ACTIVITY | King David: The Biography

There's someone in Scripture who asked that question too. His name is David.

You’ve heard of David and Goliath, right? It's the David from that story. But we're getting ahead of ourselves. Let's start from the beginning. INSTRUCTIONS: Before your teaching time (or on the spot, if you're feeling daring!) invite a few students or volunteers to act out some of the key scenes from the life of David. Let them know they won't need to speak — they'll just need to act and maybe dress up with some props. The same person can play David in each scene, or you can have several Davids. Just make sure it's clear it's the same person by having each David hand a prop, crown, or other costume element to the next David when their scene is finished.

SCENE 1: David is Chosen as King

When David was a young boy, a man named Saul was king.

Although God had originally chosen Saul to be king of Israel, Saul's actions had caused him to lose God's blessing and favor.

God sent the prophet Samuel to anoint David with oil, symbolizing that David would one day become king.

What God didn’t tell David at the time was that David would need to wait for that promise to be fulfilled — and the waiting would be really difficult.

SCENE 2: David Defeats Goliath

Later, King Saul's armies were being attacked by their enemies, the Philistines — including a giant of a man named Goliath. No one wanted to fight Goliath, but David was up for the challenge. Trusting God would be with him, David faced off against this Philistine warrior holding only a slingshot and a few rocks — and David won!

SCENE 3: Saul Gets Jealous

At King Saul's request, David begins hanging around Saul. David was a talented musician, so Saul would ask David to play him some songs on his harp. But this relationship didn't last. Soon, Saul began growing jealous of David. He couldn't stand how much everyone loved David, how talented he was, or how he seemed to have God's favor. Saul grew so angry that he tried to kill David by throwing spears at him!

SCENE 4: Saul vs. David

Things got so bad that David fled the kingdom while Saul and his men hunted and continued trying to kill him. Saul's men chased David from city to city. There were a few close encounters, but David stayed safe from Saul's attacks.

SCENE 5: David Becomes King

Saul eventually died in battle. When he did, David was made king, and was no longer waiting for God's promise to be fulfilled.

David's path to the throne wasn’t what he had wanted or planned, but here’s what’s amazing: during more than fifteen years of waiting on that promise (which is longer than some of you have been alive), David never stopped talking to God.

He talked to God when he was :

lonely. He talked to God when he was

surrounded by enemies.

discouraged.

angry and desperate.

Even after he became king, there were so many moments in David's life when he cried out to God, and God heard him every single time.

Throughout his life, David wrote plenty of songs for God that can now be found in the biblical book of Psalms.

These songs are prayers to God.

They are often very raw and honest, and many of them are written about some of the moments in David's life you just watched unfold.

Psalm 57 is about one of David's close encounters with Saul when he was on the run.

SCRIPTURE | Psalm 57:1-5

Psalm 57:1–5 CSB

1 Be gracious to me, God, be gracious to me, for I take refuge in you. I will seek refuge in the shadow of your wings until danger passes. 2 I call to God Most High, to God who fulfills his purpose for me. 3 He reaches down from heaven and saves me, challenging the one who tramples me. Selah God sends his faithful love and truth. 4 I am surrounded by lions; I lie down among devouring lions— people whose teeth are spears and arrows, whose tongues are sharp swords. 5 God, be exalted above the heavens; let your glory be over the whole earth.

When David was being hunted and eventually cornered by Saul and his men, it made sense that David would be terrified, right?

So why did David choose to cry out to God in his darkest moment?

Probably because he trusted God was actually listening, despite his terrifying circumstances. God heard David's cries when he was in a "pit" of despair, and God hears us in our "pits" of fear, anxiety, discouragement, or doubt.

SCRIPTURE | Psalm 66:16-20

Here's another song he wrote about God hearing our prayers. INSTRUCTIONS: Read Psalm 66:16-20

SCRIPTURE | Psalm 116:1-6

In response to the many times God listened to David's cries, David also wrote this psalm.

Psalm 62:1–6 CSB

1 I am at rest in God alone; my salvation comes from him. 2 He alone is my rock and my salvation, my stronghold; I will never be shaken. 3 How long will you threaten a man? Will all of you attack as if he were a leaning wall or a tottering fence? 4 They only plan to bring him down from his high position. They take pleasure in lying; they bless with their mouths, but they curse inwardly. Selah 5 Rest in God alone, my soul, for my hope comes from him. 6 He alone is my rock and my salvation, my stronghold; I will not be shaken.

God made a promise that David would one day become king.

While David was waiting for that promise to be fulfilled . . .

He fought a gigantic enemy.

He dodged spears.

He was hunted.

He faced loneliness, terror, despair, anger, and discouragement.

He prayed. And God never stopped listening.

While he waited, David never stopped talking to God because David knew that, while we’re waiting, God is listening.

1 John 5:14–15 (CSB)

14 This is the confidence we have before him: If we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. 15 And if we know that he hears whatever we ask, we know that we have what we have asked of him.