God often uses physical experiences to teach essential spiritual lessons. For example, God used the Israelites’ needs for water and for help in battle to teach them and us. Through practice and the guidance of the Spirit, we can learn to identify and apply the spiritual truths in scripture accounts to our lives. This lesson can help students practice identifying truths from God in scripture accounts and connecting those truths to their lives.
Student preparation: Invite students to reflect on the accounts they have studied from the Old Testament and the Pearl of Great Price so far this semester. Ask them to come to class prepared to share how they would complete the following sentence: “I like the account of because it teaches me that .”
Possible Learning Activities
Identifying gospel truths in the scriptures
In this lesson, students will have the chance to find and share various gospel truths. It may be helpful to remind students that Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ are the source of all gospel truths. Explain that learning how to find and apply gospel truths can help us draw nearer to Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ.
To begin the lesson, consider asking students how they would fill in the blanks in the sentence below. If a visual reminder of some of the accounts you’ve studied would be helpful, you might display images like the ones below. Or invite students to look through images of the Old Testament in the Gospel Art Book [2009], which can be found in Gospel Library under “Videos and Images.”
Complete the following sentence with a scripture account of your choice:
“I like the account of because it teaches me that .”
As volunteers share with the class, they could write the truths they identify on the board. The truths they share may be stated as doctrine, such as “We are children of God” (see Moses 1:1–7). Or they may be stated as principles that can be applied, such as “If we are willing to be led by God, He will increase our ability to accomplish His work” (see Moses 6:31–36). You might also ask students who share to explain why the truth they wrote is important in their lives.
As the teacher, try not to give your own response to every student’s comment. It can be helpful to ask the class to share what they learned from another student’s comment. This can help students discover their own thoughts and feelings through the influence of the Holy Ghost. For additional training on this, see “Help learners take responsibility for their learning” in Teacher Development Skills [2022].
As students share, you might point out that there is an important difference between liking a scripture account and finding relevant truths from God in that account. Explain that as they prayerfully seek the Spirit’s guidance in their scripture study, Heavenly Father will help them find the truths that are the most relevant to them.
After students are done sharing, invite them to reflect on their efforts to identify truths in their personal scripture study. You might use the following prompts.
Record your answers to the following questions in your study journal.
Is your personal scripture study helping you grow closer to Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ? Why or why not?
How often do you pause during your scripture study to identify truths that you feel Heavenly Father wants you to focus on?
Do you seek to understand how scripture accounts apply to your life?
As you study accounts from Exodus 15 and 17 today, pay attention to inspired thoughts and feelings from the Spirit. Look for impressions that could help you get more out of your personal scripture study.
In this section of the lesson, students will have the chance to identify and find relevant truths from the account of the Lord caring for the Israelites in the wilderness.
Consider dividing the class into partnerships. Assign similar numbers of partnerships to study each of the accounts in the handout. You might assign students with less experience studying the scriptures to work with students who have more experience.
Be sure to give partnerships enough time to discuss and prepare. You could walk around and help students who might need a little extra direction.
After sufficient time to study, discuss, and prepare, give partnerships the opportunity to share what they learned. The following are ways students might share depending on available time:
Each pair shares with a pair that studied a different account. They then rotate one more time to share with a partnership who studied the remaining account.
Partnerships first get together and share with others who studied the same account. (This could give students additional insights about their own account.) Then students get together and share in groups of six, with each partnership having studied different accounts.
Partnerships take turns presenting what they prepared to the entire class.
Personalizing the lesson
To conclude the lesson, consider using prompts like the following to help students personalize what they learned.
Record your thoughts about the following in your study journal:
What do you feel Heavenly Father would like you to remember from this lesson? Why?
How could you use the skill of identifying truths from scripture accounts in your personal scripture study? How might using this skill affect your experience with the scriptures?
You might invite volunteers to share part of what they wrote in their study journals.
Also, consider looking for opportunities in upcoming lessons to invite students to share truths they are learning from their personal scripture study.