For Kids · 4 min with a grown-up
The wall is almost done! But the unkind men have one last trick up their sleeve to try to stop Nehemiah.
Today's Story
The wall was nearly finished. Just a few gaps left to fill! This made Sanballat and Tobiah very grumpy, so they tried one last plan to stop Nehemiah.
“Come meet us far away for a little chat,” they wrote. But it was a trick to pull him off the wall. Nehemiah sent back a wise answer: “I am doing a great work. I can't come down.”
They asked four more times, and four more times Nehemiah said no. Then they tried scaring him with made-up stories. But Nehemiah just prayed, “God, make my hands strong,” and kept right on working.
He would not let the tricks or the lies pull his eyes off the job God gave him.
And then — it happened. The very last stone went into place. The wall was finished, all the way around the city, in just fifty-two days! Even the grumpy men grew quiet, because everyone could see the truth: this big job had been done with the help of God.
A Big Word
Memory Verse
Talk About It
- When you are trying to finish something, what kinds of things pull your attention away?
- Nehemiah said, “I am doing a great work, I can't come down.” What is a good thing you are working on that you don't want to quit?
- The wall was finished with God's help. How can we say thank You to God when we finish something hard?