Week 451 · about 45 minutes
Nehemiah 2
Nehemiah 2 · Memory verse Nehemiah 2:2
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Queues the lesson plan, this story’s coloring page (Nehemiah 2), the matching word search and answer key (Nehemiah 2 word search), the memory-verse tracer, and a parent slip.
Five-minute object lesson
Prop: a wooden spoon
Hold a wooden spoon. Read Nehemiah 2 in about four minutes, stopping at Nehemiah 2:2: “The king said to me, “Why is your face sad, since you are not sick? This is nothing else but sorrow of heart.” Then I was very much afraid.” Ask, “What does this prop have to do with Nehemiah 2?” Let two children answer, then say the memory verse together.
Story script
Nehemiah 2 is a real chapter from the Old Testament. It starts, “In the month Nisan, in the twentieth year of Artaxerxes the king, when wine was before him, I picked up the wine, and gave it to the king. Now I had not been sad before in his presence.” 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, “So I came to Jerusalem, and was there three days.” Nehemiah 2 opens with these words: “In the month Nisan, in the twentieth year of Artaxerxes the king, when wine was before him, I picked up the wine, and gave it to the king.…” The line to keep is Nehemiah 2:2: “The king said to me, “Why is your face sad, since you are not sick? This is nothing else but sorrow of heart.” Then I was very much afraid.” Carry the word “king” from that verse into the rest of the day.
The line worth learning out loud is Nehemiah 2:2: “The king said to me, “Why is your face sad, since you are not sick? This is nothing else but sorrow of heart.” Then I was very much afraid.” If the rest of the chapter feels crowded, hold that one sentence until the room is quiet.
What happens first in Nehemiah 2? Then try this: Read “The king said to me, “Why is your face sad, since you are not sick? This is nothing else but sorrow of…” 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 2. Every time you freeze, a child says one word from Nehemiah 2:2. The last child says the whole verse.
Craft
On a US Letter sheet, draw one picture from Nehemiah 2 and write Nehemiah 2:2 under it. Send it home as tonight’s reminder, not as a decoration contest.
Memory verse
Nehemiah 2:2
“The king said to me, “Why is your face sad, since you are not sick? This is nothing else but sorrow of heart.” Then I was very much afraid.”
Take-home prayer
Father, thank you for Nehemiah 2. Help us remember Nehemiah 2:2 when we wake up, and teach us to notice you in an ordinary night. Amen.