Gideon Bible Story for Children - Asking God for a Sign

Sunday School Lesson
Gideon

Bible stories for children are a fantastic addition to any Sunday school lesson. Kids and adults can pick up little (and big) points from these bible stories.

Today our Sunday school lesson is going to focus around Gideon in the bible. He does what we all want to do from time to time. He asks God for a sign. When he is asking God for a sign, God gives him one. Actually, God gives him several.

Let's look at what God needs Gideon to do and how Gideon reacts by asking God to give him a sign.

Gideon - Bible Story for Children

You can find the bible story of Gideon in Judges 6.

 

Begin your Sunday school lesson by asking if any of the children know what an idol is. For younger children, stick with idols made out of wood, stone, or gold. For older children or adults, you can even talk about idols being money, video games, or sports.

An idol can be anything that takes more of your time than you give to God.


The Sunday School Lesson

Start the story by telling the kids how the children (or people) of Israel would worship God for a


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Sunday School Activity

while, then worship idols, then back to God, then back to idols again.

At a time when the children of Israel were worshipping idols, God began to let the Midianites come into their land to take their food, destroy their crops, and take their animals. He wanted Israel to look to him instead of the idols.

The bible tells us that there was a young man by the name of Gideon whom God chose to save Israel.

Now, that doesn't mean that Gideon went right then at that very moment to take on the entire Midianite army by himself. No. He needed to be sure that God was really going to go with him and that God was really going to use him to save Israel.

You see, Gideon's family was poor and he was the least of his brothers. Gideon wondered why God had chosen him instead of someone stronger or richer.

Explain to the children that God doesn't make mistakes.

Bible Verse for this Sunday School Lesson

Isaiah 55:8-9 KJV

 

 For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD.

 

 





We may not fully understand God's plans, but he always has a plan. We need only to trust him. He knows what he is doing. He doesn't make mistakes.

God Can Use You Too



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God was going to use Gideon.

Did you know that God can use you too. He may not use you to defeat a huge army, but he may need you to bring your friends to church, to help your grandparents with work that needs done, or even to grow up to teach others about him?

Gideon didn't think he was the right man for the job, so he asked the Angel of the Lord for a sign.

The angel gave him a sign he couldn't miss...

The angel told Gideon to set his meat and bread onto a rock, then pour broth over the food. When Gideon did as the angel said, fire rose up out of the rock and consumed the food. Immediately, the angel disappeared out of his sight.

Another Sign from God

After this, Gideon still wasn't sure. So, days later, Gideon began asking for another sign from God.

This time, he laid a sheep's fleece on the ground and asked God to make the fleece wet with dew during the night, but keep the ground dry. Then, Gideon went to bed.

The next morning, the ground was dry and the fleece was so wet that when Gideon wrung it out, there was a whole bowlful of water that came out of it.

Guess what!

Gideon Sunday School Lesson
Sheep's Fleece
Photo: Mike Nass Wikimedia

Gideon still wasn't sure God was going to use him to save the Israelites.

So, what did he do?

He asked God for another sign.

This time, he laid the fleece down on the ground and asked God to make the ground wet, but to leave the fleece dry. Then, he went to bed.

The next morning, Gideon went to the fleece.

Guess what!

The ground was wet and the fleece was dry just as Gideon had asked God to do.

This was the third sign from God Gideon needed. Finally, Gideon was ready to go into battle.

 

What We Learned from This Sunday School Lesson

Gideon shouldn't have needed a sign from God. God told him he was the one and he told him he would go with him. Still, Gideon doubted.

We are like that sometimes.

Did you know that God speaks to us too?

Think about it.

Have you ever been about to do something wrong and you 'feel' like you shouldn't? It's that feeling that tells you not to do something you know is wrong.

Maybe you have a friend at school or a family member that doesn't know about Jesus. Have you ever had a 'feeling' that you should tell them about Jesus or ask them to come to church?

That feeling is God.

He is talking to you from the inside. The next time you have that 'feeling' listen to it and obey it.

You don't need a sign from God. He is already there telling you what you should do.


 

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Gideon | Sunday School Activity

We designed this Sunday school activity to go along with the Gideon bible story Sunday school lesson. All you need to do is print out one copy for each child. Don't worry - it's FREE. We do what we do to spread God's word and love every minute of it!

You will need some glue and cotton balls too!

Sunday School Activity

After you've told the Gideon Sunday school lesson, give each child one copy of the page below, some cotton balls, and some glue. The bottle glue works better than stick glue, but you can use either.

Show the kids how to pull the cotton balls apart to spread them over the sheep. If you'd like, add the glue to the sheep yourself and let the kids add the spread out cotton balls.

If you'd like, have the kids color grass under the sheep, draw some clouds, and add eyes to the sheep before gluing on the cotton.

The top of the page gives the parents an idea of what their child learned in Sunday school today. You can always cut off the top of the page if you decide to use the sheep for a different lesson.

Sunday School Activity

 

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Gideon in the Bible Meets an Angel

Although many different Sunday school lessons can be taught from the story of Gideon in the bible, today we're going to focus on listening, following, and acting like Christians.

Gideon in the Bible
The angel set under an oak tree.
Photo: Anne Lowe

How many times have you talked to someone who says they are a Christian but they don't live a Godly life?

You may even have thought they were not a Christian at other times just by their actions and speech.

In today's world, it has become the 'norm' to live however you want when you want with no regards to the church or to God.

It is not supposed to be this way. The bible says,

James 1:22 KJV

 

But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.

God tells us in this one verse that we are to not only hear (or read) what is in the bible, but we are supposed to do it too. If we don't follow God's word, we are deceiving ourselves and thus, deceiving others just like lying.

Below is the story of Gideon in the bible where he meets an angel - The Angel of the Lord to be exact. Use it to teach your class how listening and following God's word is very important in our Christian lives.

Gideon in the Bible - Sunday School Lesson

At a time when the people of Israel had turned from God and turned to worshipping idols, the Midianite people began to come into their land and destroy everything. They took what they wanted and got rid of the rest.

 

The Israelites were so scared they fled from their homes and lived in caves in the mountains.

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 The bible tells us that there were so many Midianite people it looked like swarms of grasshoppers in the land. It also said they had so many camels you couldn't even count them.

 

What could the Israelite people do but run and hide?

 

You see, when people do not follow God, they become scared and try to run from their troubles. But, if we choose to listen to God and follow Him, he will help make us strong and face whatever trouble comes our way.

 

This doesn't mean we won't be scared from time-to-time. It just means that God is right beside us, leading us where we need to go to face and overcome our troubles and fears.

 

The Angel

During this time, a young man named Gideon lived in the land. He was an Israelite and his family was very poor. He was even the youngest in his family, but God had a very important, very special job for Gideon.

 

He was to defeat the whole Midianite army!

 

As Gideon was working one day, an angel appeared under an oak tree nearby. He began talking to Gideon telling him how important he was going to be and how it was going to be his job to defeat the Midianites.

 

What?!?

 

Gideon couldn't believe what the angel was telling him. How could he defeat so many people?

 

The answer was simple.

 

The angel, who was actually Jesus before he came to earth as a baby, said, "I will be with you."

 

The Lesson

What if Gideon hadn't listened to the angel of the Lord? What if he went about his business as he did everyday? What if Gideon didn't obey what he was told? What if he let fear control him?

 

The answer is simple - the Israelites would never have defeated the Midianites.

 

Because Gideon listened and obeyed, he led the small 300 men Israelite army into battle against the huge Midianite army and won!

 

Now, some of you will say, "But, Gideon lived in bible times. Or, Gideon wasn't afraid."

 

Both of these are true, but do you know what? Gideon was younger than the others. Gideon was poor. Gideon was scared. And Gideon was just like you.

 

The only difference in Gideon and people today is that Gideon listened to God and followed what he said. Even though we don't hear God talking to us like Gideon did (although, some people have), we have the bible. God's words are written inside so that we can have his words with us at all times.

 

Just like the verse above says, "Be ye doers of the word and not hearers only". We need to stand strong in the Lord. We should always live like we know Jesus and we should always let others see we have Jesus in our hearts.

 

No one should ever look at us and wonder if we are Christians. They should be able to tell by our words and our actions.

 

 

 

 

 

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