Nehemiah's song (music edition)

Nehemiah's story (spoken edition)

NEHEMIAH

Hi! I’m Nehemiah. You can find my story in the book of the Bible with my name: Nehemiah.

My story is all about praying, listening, and following God. Whether you want to help out in a little way or you want to help out in a big way, the only way to succeed is to pray, listen, and follow. Pray, listen, and follow. Here’s how I found that out for myself:

NARRATOR

Back when Nehemiah lived, some cities had walls around them. The walls helped protect important places in the city, like the temple. They also kept the people inside the city safe.

So Nehemiah was very sad when he found out that the wall around his home city, Jerusalem, was all broken. Nehemiah wanted to do something to help. But what could he do?

Time to pray, Nehemiah!

Nehemiah prayed and asked God for help. He asked God to remember His promise to take care of His people. Nehemiah also asked God to help him know what to say to the king about his plans. 

See, Nehemiah wanted to rebuild the wall. But he already had another job. He was what’s called a cupbearer for the king. He wasn’t sure if the king would let him go. But he at least had to ask.

Pretty soon, Nehemiah got his chance.

The next time he brought the king a drink in his cup, the king noticed that Nehemiah looked sad.

“What’s wrong?” he asked.

Time to listen, Nehemiah!

Nehemiah prayed and listened to God. He wanted to know the right words to say to the king. Nehemiah took a deep breath. Then he told the king how he wanted to help rebuild Jerusalem’s walls.

The king agreed! He even did what he could to help. And pretty soon, Nehemiah was on his way. He’d prayed, he’d listened to God, and now he was following God, step by step.

Jerusalem didn’t look good when Nehemiah got there. Its walls were all broken and its gates were burned. Nehemiah knew that he and the people needed to get to work.

“Let’s rebuild!” Nehemiah encouraged them. “God is supporting our work, and so is the king.”

“We’re ready!” said the people.

It was a big job. It was a dirty, messy, and hard job. But Nehemiah kept praying. He kept listening to God. He kept following God, step by step. 

The people of Jerusalem were very busy. Some of them repaired the wall in front of their houses. Some of them were rebuilding the gates. 

But some people outside of Jerusalem were making trouble. They didn’t want the people to succeed. They started to say mean things to Nehemiah. They tried to stop the work.

“That wall is so badly put together, it would fall apart if a little fox climbed on it!” one of them said.

Time to pray, Nehemiah!

Nehemiah asked God for help again. Then he did what God had asked him to do: He kept on building.

But some of the people heard what the enemies were saying. The people were already feeling tired from all the building. They started to feel like maybe the job was too hard.

“We’ll never finish this wall,” they said.

But Nehemiah had been praying and listening to God. He knew just what to do. He asked some people to protect the wall with their swords and arrows. And he asked the other people to keep building.

“Don’t be afraid,” Nehemiah told them. “Keep your thoughts on God. We’re going to finish this wall!”

Day and night the people worked. Those who were building held a spear in one hand and did their building with the other. From the time the sun rose until the time the stars came out they worked … 

and worked …  

and worked …  

and worked!

It took days and days. It wasn’t always easy. But finally, the wall was rebuilt. All that was left to do was put the gates in. The people were almost done. But their enemies weren’t. They tried to play a trick on Nehemiah. A very, very bad trick that would put Nehemiah in danger. They wanted him to leave the rebuilding work and meet them many miles away in the Plain of Ono.

Time to listen, Nehemiah!

Because Nehemiah had been praying and listening to God, he wasn’t fooled by the enemies’ trick. Even though they tried to play this same trick one, two, three, FOUR times, Nehemiah still wasn’t fooled. He knew the enemies thought they would never finish the wall. But he also knew the enemies were wrong, because he was sure the idea to do this work had come from God.

Nehemiah prayed, “God, give me strength.”

Fifty-two long days after Nehemiah and the people started their work, the gates were in, and the wall was finished!

The people were happy! Nehemiah was happy! The enemies? They were scared. They knew the people couldn’t have done the building on their own. Now they knew God must have been there. When they thought about God supporting the people, the enemies went away quickly.

Nehemiah had prayed. He had listened to God. He had followed God. Even when things had been hard, Nehemiah never stopped. 

And that’s what you can do, too. Whether you’re helping in a little way or you’re helping in a big way, you can pray, listen, and follow. Pray, listen, and follow.

NEHEMIAH

Can you see now how my story is all about praying, listening, and following God? Maybe it can help you think of a time when you prayed, heard an idea from God, and did what God said.

Here is what some Christian Science Sunday School students had to say about how they know they’re hearing God and how it helps them:

“I don’t listen to bad, enemy thoughts, because they don’t come from God. God is good, so God tells me only good things and helps me do good. When I have a thought to be nice to someone, even if they weren’t nice to me, I’m listening to God and following God, just like Nehemiah.”

And here’s what another said: “When I pray, I know I’m hearing God when I feel peaceful inside. Listening to God heals me, and then I can help others.”

What did you learn from my story?