God Will Not Tolerate being Second Best - Youth Bible Study on 1 Samuel 4-5

Brief: God deserves to be first in our lives.

(Printable Student Sheet)

 

Intro Question

What is the most important thing in your life?

 

Recap

We’ve been reading about how Hannah prayed for a child, and God gave her Samuel. In thanks, Hannah gave Samuel back to God. She gave him to Eli the priest so that Samuel could learn how to serve God. But Eli wasn’t a very good priest, and Eli’s sons were even worse. God repeatedly warned Eli what would happen to him and his sons if they didn’t do what was right. Here’s one of the prophecies that God gave Eli.

 

Scripture: 1 Samuel 2:30-34; 4:1-18; 5:1-5

 

Read 1 Samuel 2:30-34

God told Eli before that He would kill Eli and his sons as a punishment. Now God is about to do that because Eli and his sons haven’t changed their ways.

 

Read 1 Samuel 4:1-18; 5:1-5

What happened to the statue of the god, Dagon? Why and how?

The Philistines worshiped a false god named Dagon. They set the ark of the covenant, the chest that had God’s Ten Commandments in it, next to the statue of this false god. And God knocked it down. The next day, the people put the statue of Dagon back up, and God knocked it down again and destroyed it.

Here’s the point: God will not tolerate being second best or being put on the same level as something else. The Philistines tried to put Dagon on the same level as God. Eli the priest put his sons above God because he let his sons do whatever they wanted instead of listening to God and punishing them. And God destroyed them both. He destroyed the fake god, and He destroyed Eli and his sons.

God will not be second best. God will not be on the same level as something else. God has to be first. Think about those things that you said were most important in your life. I’m sure all of those things are good things, but God says that He has to be first. He has to be most important.

And it makes sense for God to be most important, doesn’t it? God is the one who made us. God is the one who saved us and will let us live forever through Jesus’ death on the cross. We would have nothing without God. We wouldn’t even be alive to enjoy those other things that are important to us if God hadn’t made us. God deserves to be first in our lives. He deserves to be most important. He’s God.

So, I wonder, what are some things that we can do to make God first in our lives? (Suggestions include praying every morning to give God your day, reading your Bible more, stopping anything that God wouldn’t be pleased with and living for Him, etc.)