As your students come to class, invite them to share how they know whether or not they can trust someone. You can keep a list of these trustworthy qualities on a whiteboard (or screenshared document).
- Do you think we can trust what we see with our eyes? Why or why not? (Accept all reasonable answers.)
While what we see with our eyes can provide us with some indications of whether or not something’s trustworthy, we do have to verify that what we’re seeing is correct.
Show your students several of the optical illusions in the article, allowing students to share their answers before displaying the answers on screens.
Optical Illusions
https://www.optics4kids.org/optical-illusions
- After looking at these illusions, do you now agree that we sometimes can’t trust our eyes to give us the full picture? (Accept all reasonable answers.)
- What are some other things that are hard to trust? (Accept all reasonable answers. Students may comment on things they read or see on the Internet; they may mention that people you trust sometimes let you down. If no one mentions God, press them specifically about whether or not they have a difficult time trusting Him.)
Sometimes when things happen that hurt us, it’s hard to trust God.
- Have you ever had anything happen to you that made it difficult to trust Him? Will you tell us about it? (Answers will vary; be sure to be prepared to share your own experience.)
Today we’re going to talk about someone who had more than one thing happen that hurt him—in fact, everything around him fell apart. Let’s see what his thoughts were about God’s trustworthiness.
