I wrote this post to help my Sunday School explain the events in Japan several years ago. Now I’m reading this as another unexplainable event has happened. Terrible things will always happen as long as we are in this world.
By now we’re all very aware of the horrible events that have happened in Japan. We’ve seen the pictures and the videos, and it’s mind-numbing. For now, at least I haven’t told my kids about it because I know they are not able to cope with that.
But, my Sunday School class is a different matter, it’s amazing what a difference of two years does for a kid’s maturity level. With our class we’ve been reading about Job and what happened to him.
As we got to the point where everything is taken from him and his “friends” are telling him it was obviously because Job was sinful, the tsunami hit Japan.
And that’s what some people did to Japan, thankfully very few, and I haven’t run into it all that much, but I did read a few articles and some idiotic comments of people saying this happened to Japan because they sinned.
So, we talked about this with the people in our class and talked about how to help people who are in a hard time. Is it helpful to tell them what a horrible person they are or some pithy saying?
Not really, and I don’t have much I can do for Japan, but I can help educate my students on how to talk to someone going through a hard time, and what not to do.
So, we brainstormed what we would want someone to do for us in that situation, and then we made cards for someone we know who is going through a hard time (sick, injured, death in the family, lost their job, you name it).
The neatest thing of all to me was our teen helper making a card for my friend who just had their father-in-law die.
But, the great thing about Job is it doesn’t end with Job in a horrible situation. It ends with God answering him.
And God’s answer is that He is in control of everything. The good and the bad (Job 38:4-7).
We can’t create or control the charging horse, or the mighty storms, but God can (Psalms 39:19-24).
And yes there are horrible things in this world and we will experience them, but there is a MIGHTY God who is in heaven and He is in control.
And that’s what our final lesson was. Creating something that shows God’s wonders, and drawing that.
If you’re wanting to read the entire Job Sunday School lesson, come check out Job, praising God in pain.
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