Inquire & Obey

I'm currently teaching on the book of Judges for the youth group Sunday school class. We normally spend half our time playing a game and the other half studying the Bible. The next few weeks, I will be posting my lessons and possibly a game or some funny tidbits that happen during the course of the morning.
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Before we take a look at the book of Judges, we need to get some background info so we know what's happening when we start reading chapter 1. In Numbers, the Israelites, God' chosen people, are wandering around in the wilderness waiting to enter the Promised Land. In Joshua, Moses dies and now Joshua leads the people into the Promised Land (Canaan). They fight many battles to acquire the land, yet there are many towns that are not completely taken over.

In Joshua 23-24, on his deathbed, Joshua challenges the people to remember all that God has done for them and their forefathers and to choose to serve the Lord. He reminds them that they cannot serve the Lord and foreign gods. Then he dies.

Now in Sunday School, we read a verse or two and then recap/discuss what's going on in those verses. So the rest of this won't make sense unless you open up your Bible to Judges 1 and read along with me.

Is it ok to run or do you have to pray first?

In Sunday School, I started teaching Jonah. Three weeks ago we did the first six verses. I encouraged the teens that although this is a familiar story, look for details that you never noticed before or for things that jump out at you this time around.

The thing that jumped out to me was the response of the sailors in verse 5. Now as any good Christian knows, when something bad happens, we are supposed to pray about it. "Cast all your care upon Him, for he cares for you." (1 Peter 5:7, NKJV) However, maybe I'm alone in this, but when something bad happens, I want to call a friend to talk, go for a run or come up with a solution-my first response is not always prayer.