Big Questions
Why All The Suffering?
Deuteronomy 30:19
Imagine you went out for a meal, and it wasn't very nice. Would you turn to the waiter and say, 'I don't believe there's a chef in this kitchen, because the food is disgusting'? That would be a bit silly — of course someone cooked it, even if it didn't turn out well. Some people say something similar about God: 'There's so much bad stuff in the world, so God can't be real.' But just like the meal, something going wrong doesn't mean nobody's there. Today we're going to ask a better question — one that starts a lot closer to home than we might expect.
Main Focus
Some people think all the suffering in the world proves God doesn't exist. But before we look anywhere else, we have to look at the suffering people cause each other — and that's most of it. Every one of us is capable of both kindness and unkindness; good and bad can live in the same person. So the real question isn't 'can evil and a loving God exist together' — the answer to that is actually yes. The real question is: if God decided to wipe out every trace of evil, where would He even start? And where would He stop? Because if God got rid of everyone who's ever done something wrong... that would include all of us too.
Memory Verse
Big Movement Game
Pair the children up. Round 1: one child wears a blindfold while their partner guides them through an obstacle course using only their voice — no touching or pulling allowed. The blindfolded child has no say in their own route; they simply follow instructions. Round 2: same course, no blindfold — each child runs it entirely their own way, choosing their own route and pace. Afterward, talk about the difference between the two rounds. Round 1 is what life would feel like if God had made us without free will — just being steered along with no choices of our own. But that's not how He made the world. He gave us real freedom to choose our own way, just like Round 2.
Discussion Questions
- Why do you think God chose to give us free will instead of just controlling us like the car, or the person in the blindfold game?
- In the obstacle course game, which round felt more like the 'real you' — the guided round or the free round? Why?
- If God gave us free will, that means we can choose to do good things — but also bad things. Why do you think God took that risk?
- Is there a choice in your own life right now where you're deciding between two paths, like in the obstacle course? What would it look like to choose well?
Object Lesson
Bring in a remote control car and demonstrate it in front of the children — show how it only ever does exactly what the controller tells it to do. It can't choose to turn left instead of right, speed up because it feels like it, or decide to stop and go a different way. Every single movement comes from someone else, not from the car itself. Ask the children: is the car making any choices of its own? (No — someone else is making every choice for it.) Explain that God could have made us like that — creatures who only ever do exactly what He controls, with no choices of our own. But that's not the world He made. He gave us real free will — the ability to actually choose, not just be steered.
Craft & Activity
Design your own puppet character facing a choice — what would they decide? Cut out the body, colour it in, then cut out and glue on the two arms at the shoulder dots. Push two fingers through the holes at the bottom to bring your puppet to life and act out their choice.
Prayer
Dear God, thank You for giving us real free will — the ability to actually choose, not just be steered through life like a puppet or a remote control car. Help us to use that freedom well, choosing kindness over unkindness, and good over bad, even when it's hard. Thank You that You didn't make us to be controlled, but to be truly free — and help us to choose You, again and again, with that freedom. Amen.
Leader Prep & Tips
Safety first for the obstacle course: keep the layout simple and clear of genuine trip hazards, and make sure blindfolded children are only ever guided by voice, never physically pulled or pushed. Have your remote control car charged and ready to go, and your puppet craft supplies (scissors, glue, colouring pencils) laid out ahead of time so the session flows smoothly between activities. As you lead the discussion, it's worth connecting this lesson back to 'Why All the Suffering' if your group has covered it recently — free will is actually the other half of that answer: much of the suffering in the world comes from people's own choices, not from God controlling or causing it. Help the children walk away understanding that their freedom to choose is a real gift, not something to take lightly — and that choosing well matters.