Week 450 · about 45 minutes
Nehemiah 1
Nehemiah 1 · Memory verse Nehemiah 1:5
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Queues the lesson plan, this story’s coloring page (Nehemiah 1), the matching word search and answer key (Nehemiah 1 word search), the memory-verse tracer, and a parent slip.
Five-minute object lesson
Prop: a ribbon
Hold a ribbon. Read Nehemiah 1 in about four minutes, stopping at Nehemiah 1:5: “and said, “I beg you, Yahweh, the God of heaven, the great and awesome God, who keeps covenant and loving kindness with those who love him and keep his commandments:” Ask, “What does this prop have to do with Nehemiah 1?” Let two children answer, then say the memory verse together.
Story script
Nehemiah 1 is a real chapter from the Old Testament. It starts, “The words of Nehemiah the son of Hacaliah. Now in the month Chislev, in the twentieth year, as I was in Shushan the palace,” That is not a motto invented for a poster. It is the first sentence a family hears when this page is opened at night.
Keep going a little further. The chapter also says, “Let your ear now be attentive, and your eyes open, that you may listen to the prayer of your servant, which I pray before you at this time, day and night, for the children of Israel your servants, while I confess the sins of the children of Israel, which we have sinned against you. Yes, I and my father’s house have sinned.” Nehemiah 1 opens with these words: “The words of Nehemiah the son of Hacaliah. Now in the month Chislev, in the twentieth year, as I was in Shushan the palace,” The line to keep is Nehemiah 1:5: “and said, “I beg you, Yahweh, the God of heaven, the great and awesome God, who keeps covenant and loving kindness with those who love him and keep his…” Carry the word “heaven” from that verse into the rest of the day.
The line worth learning out loud is Nehemiah 1:5: “and said, “I beg you, Yahweh, the God of heaven, the great and awesome God, who keeps covenant and loving kindness with those who love him and keep his commandments:” If the rest of the chapter feels crowded, hold that one sentence until the room is quiet.
What happens first in Nehemiah 1? Then try this: Read “and said, “I beg you, Yahweh, the God of heaven, the great and awesome God, who keeps covenant and loving…” once more. What does it show you about God? You do not have to finish every verse. You can close the book after the memory verse and still have read the Bible together.
Group game
Walk the room as if you are moving through Nehemiah 1. Every time you freeze, a child says one word from Nehemiah 1:5. The last child says the whole verse.
Craft
On a US Letter sheet, draw one picture from Nehemiah 1 and write Nehemiah 1:5 under it. Send it home as tonight’s reminder, not as a decoration contest.
Memory verse
Nehemiah 1:5
“and said, “I beg you, Yahweh, the God of heaven, the great and awesome God, who keeps covenant and loving kindness with those who love him and keep his commandments:”
Take-home prayer
Father, thank you for Nehemiah 1. Help us remember Nehemiah 1:5 when we wake up, and teach us to notice you in an ordinary night. Amen.