Wait for It... - Proverbs Youth Sunday School Lesson on Patience

Brief: God calls us to be patient with others and to overlook offenses.

(Printable Student Sheet)

 

Scripture: Proverbs 19:2; 27:3; 15:18; 19:11; 20:22

Read Proverbs 19:2.

What does it mean “to have zeal without knowledge”?  

To be excited about something before you have all the information. It’s the same thing as being hasty, being too quick to do something or to make a decision, before you have all the facts you need.

 

Has having zeal without knowledge ever caused you to make a mistake? When?

If you make a decision too quickly, you’ll probably end up making the wrong decision. So, rather than rushing into action or jumping to conclusions, this verse is saying that we should try to have a little more patience, try to slow down a little, and find out the best way to do something or to deal with a situation.

Today, I want us to talk about having patience with difficult people instead of being too hasty with them and losing our temper.

 

Read Proverbs 27:3.

What does it mean to say that “provocation by a fool is heavier than both” stone and sand?  

This verse is saying that whereas one can carry stones and sand, it is much harder to bear being provoked by someone.  If someone is irritating us, it’s really hard not to lose our temper with them. God knows that. But God also knows that losing our temper with someone is not the best way to deal with someone.

 

Read Proverbs 15:18.

What happens when we lose our temper with someone? 

We lose our temper and then, they lose their temper, and the fight just gets worse.

 

Can you think of a time when you got angry and made a situation worse? Summarize the situation.

 

When has being patient helped solve a situation?

If we get angry, the problem just escalates, but if we remain calm and exercise our patience, then that will also help others to calm down.  As Christians, we are called to bring peace and to help solve problems in the best possible way, which can only be done by remaining calm.

 

Read Proverbs 19:11. 

Instead of getting angry about something, what is this verse saying we should do? 

Overlook the offense. Ignore it. Don’t worry about it. Just move on with your life.

Most stupid things that people do to you aren’t worth getting upset about. And if we can overlook those things, if we can ignore and forget about them instead of arguing or fighting about them or losing our temper and making the situation worse, then it will be to our glory. We will be the person taking the higher road.

 

Read Proverbs 20:22.

What is this verse telling us we should do when someone wrongs us? 

Don’t worry about it. Give it to God and let God take care of it.

Diligence, Diligence, is What I Long For - Proverbs Youth Sunday School Lesson

Brief: God has created the world in such a way that if we work hard in any area of life, we will be rewarded.

(Printable Student Sheet)

 

Scripture: Genesis 2:15; Proverbs 10:4; 12:11; 22:13; 24:30-34; 26:15

 

Read Proverbs 10:4.

What is diligence?  

Diligence is working hard, to keep trying to attain your goals, to “give it all you’ve got,” to have endurance.

 

Read Genesis 2:15.

Why is the message to be diligent in the Bible?  Does God really care if we work hard or not?

God made mankind to work. He placed Adam and Eve in the Garden to take care of it. He has made us and our world in such a way that if we want something, we generally have to work for it. Grades, skills, finances, relationships, spirituality. Everything takes work.

 

Read Proverbs 12:11.

Solomon is contrasting farming, working the land, with chasing fantasies. Why is “working the land” so much better than “chasing fantasies”? 

Working the land is solid.  The land is there.  You know that if you do things right, there will be a crop.  Whereas nothing is a sure thing, it is as close to a guarantee that we have.

 

How does this verse apply to us if we don’t “work the land”?  

If we work hard in school, we know that we’ll get good grades.  If we work hard at sports or playing an instrument, we know that we’ll get good at it. If we go to work for a company and perform our job duties, they will pay us. If we work hard at our relationships with our spouses, we will have good marriages. 

 

What are some of the fantasies that we could chase? 

Chasing fantasies might be something like dropping out of school to start your own business.  Or thinking that instead of going to work, you can just play the lottery or invest in the stock market. Or get-rich-quick schemes. “Work 2 hours a day! From home! And earn $5,000 a week!”

 

Read Proverbs 22:13.

What is the “sluggard” doing in this verse?  

Making excuses. He doesn’t want to go outside and go to work, so he’s making up excuses not to.

 

How do we do the same thing?

We might say that something is too hard. We can’t work in school or at a certain subject because we’re not good at that kind of stuff. Other times, we say we shouldn’t work that hard at our jobs because no one notices anyway. Maybe we say we shouldn’t work hard at being a Christian because we keep messing up anyway.

God’s promise says that if we work at something and continue to work at something, being diligent, we will be rewarded. Things will improve.

 

Read Proverbs 24:30-34.

According to this passage, what is one way people become poor? 

By being lazy.

Because the sluggard in this passage hasn’t been “working the land,” he’s poor. It’s the same thing with us. If we’re not working at something, if we’re not diligent in some area of our lives, that part of our life is going to be in poor conditions. If we’re not actively working on our spiritual life, it’s going to fall into ruin. If we had a skill and then, we stop using that skill for a while, we’ll lose it. We need to work at things to keep from becoming “poor” in that area.

 

Read Proverbs 26:15.

Why do you think this verse says that the “sluggard” already has his hand in the dish?  What does it mean when it says that he won’t bring the food back to his mouth? 

Work or some way to make money is available to most people. They have their hand in the dish.  All they have to do is take advantage of the opportunities that are around them. All they have to do is bring the food to their mouth.  Another example is that a  good education is available to you. All you have to do is take advantage of it. Spiritually, God’s Word is there for you. All you have to do is invest some time in it.

Bring your hand back to your mouth. Be diligent, and you will be rewarded.

If You Don’t Have Anything Nice to Say… Proverbs Youth Sunday School Lesson

Brief: Words can hurt. A wise person uses their words to build others up for their good, not to manipulate or tear them down.

(Printable Student Sheet)

Intro Question

If we say that we’re Christians, how can we show that in the way that we talk?

 

Scripture: Proverbs 16:23; 11:12-13; 26:28; 28:26; 12:18; James 1:19

Read Proverbs 16:23.

If the wise person says good things and promotes instruction, what does that say about their heart?  

The heart guides the mouth.  In order for us to say something, we must first think it.  We think according to how we feel. 

The Bible often uses “heart” to mean the innermost part of a person, your core.  For our purposes, we can think of it as our spirit or soul.  So, if our spiritual life is doing well, if we are becoming wiser and are being instructed by God, we should most likely be able to say good things. 

But it also works the opposite way. If we are not doing well spiritually, we will have trouble saying good things.  The kinds of things that we say is a good indicator of how we’re doing with God and may clue us into an area of our life that we might need to work on. So, ask yourself, “Am I being wise in the things that I say? Are good things coming out or are bad things coming out?” And then, deal with the real issue, your heart.

Let’s look at some ways that our words could hurt other people.

 

Read Proverbs 11:12.

Why do you think people make fun of other people? 

People look funny, they have a different personality, something they do annoys us, we feel like we’re better than they are, etc.

 

What are people trying to accomplish when they insult someone else? 

They’re trying to make that person change, or they’re venting their frustrations, or they’re having a laugh at the expense of someone else.

 

But if someone is bothering us (in how they look or something they’re doing or for some other reason), what could we do to resolve that situation other than insulting them? 

We can talk to them calmly and explain how they’re annoying us. We can remove ourselves from their presence and thus remove ourselves from the annoying situation. Or we could just deal with the annoyance and try not to let it bother us.

So, the Bible tells us to hold our tongues because it’s basically saying that if we can’t say anything nice, we shouldn’t say anything at all. If we can’t talk to someone with dignity and respect as a person that God has made, then we should keep quiet.

We don’t have any right to talk down to someone else. When we make fun of someone else, we’re setting ourselves up as being better than them in some way. But God made us all, and we’re all equal in His eyes. No one is better than anyone else. So, if you feel the urge to insult someone else, take a deep breath and humble yourself. You don’t have any right to insult anyone.

 

Read Proverbs 26:28.

Why would lying to someone be hateful to them?  

Lying is obviously hurtful to someone if you’re doing it to take advantage of them.

 

How could telling a white lie hurt someone? (Give me an example of when you told a white lie.) Take, for example, a wife who asks her husband if she looks good in an outfit. He says yes even though she doesn’t. A friend has something in their teeth, and you don’t tell them about it. You’re trying to not hurt their feelings or embarrass them, but it would be better for them ultimately to know the truth.

God’s standards do not change based on your intentions. He demands truth, and hiding the truth from someone, no matter what the motive, is doing them a disservice.

 

How could flattering someone be harmful to them? 

Flattery is only done when you want to get something out of someone. You’re buttering someone up. That’s taking advantage of them or trying to get unfair treatment for yourself. You’re being insincere, and your relationship with that other person is not being built on honesty and mutual respect. When they find out what you’re doing, the relationship is damaged. You will have lost their trust.

 

Read Proverbs 28:26.

What good does a friend do by telling the truth?

If we tell people the truth, it might hurt them a little bit, but it’s for their own good. If we simply flatter them or tell them what we think they want to hear, we’re not helping them at all. We’re actually harming them in the long run.

 

Read Proverbs 11:13.

What are some of the negative effects of gossiping? 

When people find out what you said, they don’t trust you anymore. Feelings are hurt. Other people think poorly of you.

 

Read Proverbs 12:18 and James 1:19.

What are reckless words?

Things we say without thinking first. We say the first thing that comes to mind and then, we think we shouldn’t have said that.

 

How can we prevent reckless words from coming out? 

Think before you speak. Ask if what you’re about to say is really going to benefit anyone. If not, don’t say it.

 

What are some ways that a wise person can use their words to heal rather than hurt? 

Encouraging people or speaking kindly to someone instead of making fun of them, telling someone the truth in a sensitive manner rather than lying to them or flattering them, keeping a person’s trust rather than gossiping about them, and thinking before we speak.