Childrens Sermon Service

And will not God grant justice to his chosen ones who cry to him day and night? Will he delay long in helping them? (v. 7)


Object: a whiny voice



Good morning, boys and girls. I want you to listen to something and then tell me if you've ever heard anything like it before. (In a whiny voice, say the following things or other things that children whine about: "Can I stay up later tonight?" "Do I have to eat everything on my plate?" "Can I go outside now?" "Everyone else gets to watch that TV show, so why can't I?" "I don't want to go home.") Does any of this sound familiar? Which one do you use the most? (let them answer)

Does it work? (let them answer) If you repeat it enough times, do your parents finally give in? (let them answer)

The answer is probably yes and no. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't, but most of the time it probably does work. What do we call this? (let them answer) I call it whining. A whining voice really gets on parents' nerves. Even though they know it's better for you to go to bed on time, eat all of your vegetables, and not watch certain television shows, they just can't stand whining.

Did you know that a lot of people whine to God? God still pays attention to them. Every day people pray to God for certain things that aren't very important. They'll say prayers like these:

"Please, God, help me with the test that I didn't study for."

"Please, God, don't let my ballgame be rained out."

"Please, God, take care of my dog because I forgot to walk him tonight before going to bed."

We whine like this to God every day. Imagine all of the prayers that are said like this day after day. But do you know what? God doesn't really mind because he loves to hear from us. I am sure that God wishes we would talk to him about more important things like:

"Please, God, help my mom to help me be a good child."

"Please, God, help my dad like his job and all of the people he works with every day."

"Please, God, bless my teacher who tries so hard to help me learn."

"Please, God, let me show my grandma how much I love her when I get to her house."

The truth is that it takes faith to even whine to God about the things we whine about. God will answer your whining and will give you his love. That's a promise. So even if the only kind of prayer you share with God is whining, God will be listening for you.