Opening Activity

• Wrap yourself with the white sheet, put a hair clip or accessory on your head and look at yourself in a mirror.
• Teacher: What do I have on my head? Do I look nice and pretty? The good shepherd must think I am very special.

Bible Story

• As you know we have been talking about how God is like a good shepherd. My shepherd thinks I am special and God, your shepherd thinks you are very special too. He created you just the way he wanted you to be. He knew you before you were ever born.
• Let’s read what David wrote about this.
  Psalms 23:5 You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows.
• In bible times when someone invited a guest to their house, they would anoint them with oil. They would put special oil on their forehead to show them that they cared about them and thought they were very important. Oil was good for the skin, it kept it from getting dried out.
• God shows us we are special to him by providing for our needs. He not only gives us what we need, but he gives us more than we need. He wants us to be happy.
• When it says “my cup overflows” it not only says he fills it up but gives us so much that it overflows. He fills us with his love, peace and happiness so much happiness that it starts overflowing and spreading out and reaching others.
• (Take a cup filled with sweets) Look at my cup, what does it have? The sweets in the cup show how much God has blessed me. This sweet represents the good food I eat and this sweet represents the love my shepherd showed me when he gave me my hair clip or accessory, and this one represents the time he rescued me when I got stuck in a bush. But my cup isn’t overflowing yet. Can I add more sweets? (Wait for a
  response from the children)
• Remember that “my cup overflows” means that God gives us more than we need because he loves us. He fills us with His blessings which makes us happy.
• Let’s think of things that God has done for us or things he has given us. I will put a sweet in the cup for each thing you think of. (Keep doing this until the cup overflows. When the cup is filled up and overflowing, tell the children that when God blesses us, we can’t help but share those blessings with others.)
• David saw God as a true friend and saviour in the presence of many enemies. God treated him specially by preparing a banquet for him and by pouring precious oil on his head as if he were an honoured guest. David saw his cup overflowing with the blessings of the Good Shepherd.
• Seeking only the things of this world can leave us with an empty feeling. We anxiously grab whatever looks nice, or what will make us feel good, or taste good, but we only want more and more. In the long run, we still feel empty and never really satisfied. The things of this world leave us unfulfilled.
• However, we can be filled with the Love of God and by accepting Jesus as Lord and Savior. When we let Him be our Good Shepherd, He will fill us with many blessings until our cup overflows, forever and ever.

Questions

1. After you eat from a table prepared with lots of good food and drink, do you feel full or empty? (Full.)
2. Who prepared the table for David and where was it prepared? (God, in the presence of his enemies.)
3. How would a table prepared by God be different from a normal supper table? (Allow for discussion.)
4. What else did God do for David? (Anointed his head with oil.)
5. What is the meaning of “my cup overflows”? (God gives us more than we need)