For Kids · 4 min with a grown-up
Not everyone who says “God told me” is really speaking for God. This chapter shows how to tell the difference.
Today's Story
Do you remember the wooden yoke Jeremiah wore, the one that meant “trust God through the hard time”?
A man named Hananiah did not like it. In front of a big crowd he said, “God told me everything will be wonderful again in just two years! No more hard times!” Then he grabbed the wooden yoke off Jeremiah's neck and snapped it in two. Crack!
It sounded great. The crowd loved it. But there was a problem: God had not said those words. Hananiah made them up himself.
Jeremiah did not yell. He said gently, “I really hope you are right. I would love that! But here is how we know if a message is truly from God: a true message always comes true. We will see whose words really happen.”
And before long, everyone saw it. The happy words Hananiah made up did not come true. God showed that those words had never been His.
God's real words, the ones He gave Jeremiah, always came true — because God never says something that is not so.
A Big Word
Memory Verse
Talk About It
- Has anyone ever made you a promise that sounded great but did not come true? How did that feel?
- Hananiah said happy words people wanted to hear, but they were not real. How can we figure out if something someone tells us is true?
- God always keeps His word. What is one promise from God you are glad is always true?