The Cycle of Apostasy lesson for kids

A few years ago, like 8 or more, our church went through the book of Judges as a series.  One of the things they emphasized is how cyclical it was, in What’s in the Bible they call it “The Cycle of Apostasy.”  This makes a good Sunday School lesson with kids to discuss how quickly sin pulls you in.

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What I learn from the Cycle of Apostasy

The scary thing to me is each time they started the Cycle of Apostasy over, it got worse.  By the end of the book of Judges, there is very little hope.  Judges 21:25, the last verse ends like this:

“In those days there was no king in Israel.  Everyone did what was right in their own eyes.”

Did you see that?  What was right in their own eyes, that’s a scary thought to me.  If you’re not familiar the chapter leading up to that verse is about kidnapping, and rape.  The chapter before that is Civil War.  It’s a dark book.

And all because of the events in Judges chapter 1 and 2.  All because they didn’t completely take the land.

The other thing that gets me is how quickly and how far sin takes you in.  I’ve heard this quote several times in a sermon, but it’s worth repeating here: “Sin always takes you farther than you want to go, keeps you longer than you meant to stay, and will cost more than you meant to pay.”

I don’t know if you’ve ever done one of those quarter coin machines where you drop your coin in at the top and watch it spiral down, sin is like that.  At first, you are moving slowly and don’t notice the effects, but then you start moving faster and faster until there is no turning back without great cost.

The Cycle of Apostasy supplies

1 printout from Judges lesson per kid (if you printed it out for the last lesson (Taking the Land of Canaan), then you don’t need to print again), cards A-E, Bible, scissors, glue or glue stick, something to color with (I’m personally fond of Colored Pencils*, but my kids like this Marker Tower)

Because these pictures make me happy, complete with Shrek donkey ears and all.

Cycle of Apostasy lesson

This is the true danger of not following God’s directions.  Now there are these perfectly normal-seeming neighbors who just happen to be worshipping this other god, and you can SEE this god, and everybody else is doing it, so why not worship them?  So the Israelites did, starting the Cycle of Apostasy.

They were taken into slavery or oppressed, there are several different variations of it, but it’s all a result of their sin.  Side note, bad times are not always a result of sin, just this particular instance is explicitly stated to be so.

Then Israel would cry out to God, “We’re sorry, we’re so stupid, why did we ever do this?  Please rescue us!”  Or that’s my imagination of how it happened because I’ve certainly felt like saying that a time or two.

In came the judge to rescue them (should that be capitalized because it’s a specific title?).  He would march in and save the day.  You know what stood out to me as I read the book of Judges, the judges weren’t all that impressive in and of themselves.  There are a few you’d expect to do great (Samson, but his moral character, bleah), but it was always the unlikely ones who did well.

While the judge lived the Israelites followed God, usually.  But as soon as the judge died they headed right back to their worship of idols.  It’s really rather sad.  Very very sad.  Not that we in these modern times are really all that much better if you look at some of the cycles of our history.  We just like to think we are.

Sorry, Judges makes me maudlin.  And I’m a bit stressed right now, so I tend to muddle along.

Cycle of Apostasy resources

Not too surprisingly there’s not a whole lot on this topic, but there are a few really good resources.

• Judges overview
• Buck Denver Asks: What’s in the Bible? Volume Four – Battle for the Promised Land