Week 961 · about 45 minutes
Malachi 2
Malachi 2 · Memory verse Malachi 2:5
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Queues the lesson plan, this story’s coloring page (Malachi 2), the matching word search and answer key (Malachi 2 word search), the memory-verse tracer, and a parent slip.
Five-minute object lesson
Prop: a wooden spoon
Hold a wooden spoon. Read Malachi 2 in about four minutes, stopping at Malachi 2:5: ““My covenant was with him of life and peace; and I gave them to him that he might be reverent toward me; and he was reverent toward me, and stood in awe of my name.” Ask, “What does this prop have to do with Malachi 2?” Let two children answer, then say the memory verse together.
Story script
Malachi 2 is a real chapter from the Old Testament. It starts, ““Now, you priests, this commandment is for you.” 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, ““Therefore I have also made you contemptible and wicked before all the people, according to the way you have not kept my ways, but have had respect for persons in the law.” Malachi 2 opens with these words: ““Now, you priests, this commandment is for you.” The line to keep is Malachi 2:5: ““My covenant was with him of life and peace; and I gave them to him that he might be reverent toward me; and he was reverent toward me, and stood in awe of my…” Carry the word “covenant” from that verse into the rest of the day.
The line worth learning out loud is Malachi 2:5: ““My covenant was with him of life and peace; and I gave them to him that he might be reverent toward me; and he was reverent toward me, and stood in awe of my name.” If the rest of the chapter feels crowded, hold that one sentence until the room is quiet.
What happens first in Malachi 2? Then try this: Read ““My covenant was with him of life and peace; and I gave them to him that he might be reverent toward me; and…” 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 Malachi 2. Every time you freeze, a child says one word from Malachi 2:5. The last child says the whole verse.
Craft
On a US Letter sheet, draw one picture from Malachi 2 and write Malachi 2:5 under it. Send it home as tonight’s reminder, not as a decoration contest.
Memory verse
Malachi 2:5
““My covenant was with him of life and peace; and I gave them to him that he might be reverent toward me; and he was reverent toward me, and stood in awe of my name.”
Take-home prayer
Father, thank you for Malachi 2. Help us remember Malachi 2:5 when we wake up, and teach us to notice you in an ordinary night. Amen.