Nehemiah Asks for Help

Nehemiah 1:1–6:15

Our true story comes from a part of the Bible called Nehemiah (pronounced “nee-ah-MY-ah”). The name Nehemiah means “God comforts.”

Nehemiah lived far away from a city called Jerusalem. One day, Nehemiah heard very sad news: the walls around Jerusalem were broken, and the gates were burned. Without walls, the people were not safe!


Nehemiah loved God very much. When he heard the sad news, he prayed to God. He asked God to help him.


Then Nehemiah went to the king. He was very brave! Nehemiah said, “Please let me go and help fix the walls of Jerusalem.” The king said, “Yes, you can go!”


Nehemiah traveled a long way to Jerusalem. When he got there, he looked at the broken walls and gates. They were in very bad shape.


Nehemiah gathered all the people and said, “Let’s work together! Let’s rebuild the wall!”


Everyone worked very hard. Some people carried rocks. Some people fixed the gates. Some people built new walls. Everyone helped!


Even when mean people tried to scare them, Nehemiah and the people kept trusting God. They prayed and kept working. They did not give up!


And guess what? With God’s help, the people finished building the wall! It was strong again, and the people were safe!


Nehemiah thanked God for helping them do such an important job.


Nehemiah prayed to God and asked for help. God helped Nehemiah and all the people work together to rebuild the wall. When we pray and trust God, He helps us too!


Dear God,

Thank You for Nehemiah, who prayed to You and trusted You to help him. Thank You for helping all the people work together to fix the wall. Help us to remember to pray to You when we need help. Help us to work together with others and trust You every day. We love You, God.

In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.





Bible Verse: “Have I not commanded you to be strong and courageous? Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the LORD your God is with you wherever you go.” — Joshua 1:9, BSB

Paraphrase: God is always with me.



Activities

These activities help preschoolers engage with the story through movement, crafts, music, and storytelling, making the lesson fun and memorable.


1. Building the Wall Together

Objective: Reinforce teamwork and perseverance, like the people rebuilding the wall.

Materials: Large cardboard blocks, foam blocks, or empty tissue boxes.

Activity:

• Invite the children to build a pretend wall together.

• Encourage them to work side by side, stacking the blocks carefully.

• Celebrate their teamwork by saying: “Look how we worked together, just like Nehemiah and the people!”


2. Prayer Hands Craft

Objective: Teach the importance of praying before starting something important.

Materials: Construction paper, crayons, scissors.

Activity:

• Help children trace their hands on a piece of paper and cut it out (or you can prepare cutouts beforehand).

• On the hands, help them write or draw simple things they can pray about, like “family,” “friends,” or “help.”

• Say: “Nehemiah prayed first. We can pray too!”


3. Keep Building Movement Game

Objective: Teach perseverance through fun movement.

Materials: None.

Activity:

• Pretend you are building a wall:

        o Hammer (pretend to hammer),

        o Carry stones (pretend to carry heavy rocks),

        o Stack bricks (pretend stacking high).

• Every so often, pretend someone tries to distract you (teacher calls “stop!”), but the children should pretend to pray and then keep building.

• Reinforce: “Nehemiah and the people kept building because they trusted God!”


4. “We Trust God” Song with Motions (Music Activity)

Objective: Praise God and remember to trust Him through a simple song.

Materials: None or simple rhythm instruments (shakers, tambourines).

Activity:

• Sing to the tune of “The Farmer in the Dell” (or a similar familiar tune):
            “We trust in God, we trust in God,
            Just like Nehemiah did, we trust in God!”

• Add simple motions like praying hands, building motions, or clapping to the beat.

• Say: “Nehemiah trusted God, and we can trust God too!”


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Story illustrations are the copyright of Sweet Publishing, Artist: Jim Padgett. Images are licensed to FreeBibleimages for free distribution under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International license (http://freebibleimages.org).
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