(10 minutes, moderate set-up)
Students will put together puzzles to discover the importance of seeing the big picture.
Provide 100-piece puzzles for every 4-5 learners.
Divide students into groups of 4 to 5, provide each a 100-piece puzzle, and challenge them to see who can put the 100-piece puzzle together the fastest. Emphasize how important it is for them to look at the image on the box and then make a plan to get the pieces to match that image. Instruct learners to come up with a plan to be most effective and efficient.
After four minutes, ask: What was it like to know what the completed picture would look like but to have to take the time to make a plan and piece it all together? Point out that God did this when He planned to come and restore us before He even made us. Conclude: God knew the completed picture, made us, watched us make a mess of it, planned to come to make it right, and then put the pieces in place. What patience and love He must have had in order to do that. Explain that students will look at what the Scriptures record about that plan in today's lesson.