Elementary Level, Block 6—Samuel to David
Week 52
Samuel—Chosen by God
Point to Emphasize: We were chosen by God even before you were born.
Reference Reading: 1 Samuel 1:1-20
Memory Verse: …God chose you from the beginning… (2 Thessalonians 2:13b)
Story Sample
Who remembers what we talked about last week? That’s right, we talked about Hannah and her prayer to God. She could not have any children, so she prayed. And what did she pray for? That’s right! She asked God to give her a son. She told God what she needed. She also told God that if He would give her a child, then she would give that child back to Him. This was exactly what God needed.
Actually, around this time, the children of Israel were not doing so well. God had called some of the children of Israel to be priests, but the priests were not doing a very good job, and God wanted to have a new start. He wanted someone He could use to help change the situation, so God chose Samuel to do that. Even before Samuel was born, God had chosen him. God arranged everything so that Samuel could be born. He chose the parents Samuel would have, and the way he would be born. When Hannah prayed for a son and vowed to give her son back to God, God must have been so happy. He had chosen this child, and Hannah was cooperating to give this child to Him.
Did you know that you were chosen, too? Even before you were born, God chose you. The Bible tells us that God chose us “before the foundation of the world.” That means before you were born, before your parents were born, before your grandparents were born—even before God made the earth—He had you in mind. He was thinking of you, and He loved you, and He chose you. He did a lot of things behind the scenes so that you could be His, too. He gave you the family you have and arranged for you to be born in the exact place you were born.
Did you know that my mom was born in another country? She was born there, but one day, an American family adopted her. So my mom moved to America, to Texas. My dad was born in a different part of America, but when he was in high school, he moved to Texas, too! They met in Texas, and then they got married and had me! Who would have thought that a woman from another country and a man from another state would both end up in Texas? God thought that! He made all those arrangements just so that I could be born, grow up, and be here talking to you about God! He chose me! He did the same thing for you, too—if you ask your parents, you will see all the amazing things God did so that He could have YOU! [Storyteller, insert your own story about God’s arrangement in your life.]
God did all that for Samuel, too. God answered Hannah’s prayer, and she had a son. She named him Samuel, which means “heard of God” or “asked of God.” Hannah knew that God heard her prayer. After Samuel was born, Hannah remembered the vow she had made to give him back to God, and she took Samuel to the priest Eli so that Samuel could live among the priests and serve God.
Samuel would grow up to be someone extraordinary in the Bible. We will learn more about him next week. But this week we want to remember that he was chosen—and that we are too!