Advanced Level, Block 8—Remnant Standing Properly
Week 75
Singing, Praising, and Giving Thanks
Point to Emphasize: Do you express your thankfulness?
Reference Reading: Ezra 3:10-13
Memory Verse: And they sang to one another in praising and giving thanks to Jehovah, saying, For He is good, for His lovingkindness is forever upon Israel… (Ezra 3:11a)
Story Sample
The time finally came when the foundation of the temple was laid. What an accomplishment! They had labored for so long! They had given their time and their possessions to restore the foundation of God’s temple. This was a huge undertaking. They were so happy! But who were they happy for? Themselves or for God?
How would you have felt if you had accomplished such a big thing? Maybe you would have been so proud of yourself, patting yourself on the back and saying, “Good job.” When I was your age, I was a very good student and always got A’s. I was proud of my grades and thought I deserved all the credit. But when I thought more about it later, I came to realize that my parents had a lot to do with my good grades. They provided me with a home where I could get everything I needed to be a good student. They reminded me to go to bed on time so I would get enough sleep. My mom prepared good meals so that I wasn’t hungry during tests. They told me to get all my homework done before I could go out and play. This taught me to be disciplined in doing all my homework. I now regret that I wasn’t more grateful to them. I wish I had realized how all their rules were helping me to be a good student. I’m thankful now that I had such parents. But I still regret that when I was young I didn’t thank God more often for the parents He gave me. [Storyteller, use your own story.]
Should the Israelites deserve to feel good about what they had done? After all, they had given their time and belongings for the rebuilding. They had done all the work on the foundation. However, in their celebrating of the laying of the foundation, they were not patting themselves on the back because they realized that it was God who had enabled them to accomplish this. They were full of thanksgiving to Him.
So, their praise was to God. David had left instructions that when they finished with the foundation that they should praise God. And they did. The priests gathered with their trumpets and the Levites with their cymbals. Then the singing, praising, and giving thanks to God began. Our memory verse says, “And they sang to one another in praising and giving thanks to Jehovah, saying, For He is good, for His lovingkindness is forever upon Israel…” They celebrated by singing, praising, and thanking God. Some who had previously seen the temple even cried because they were so thankful to see that the foundation of the temple was being restored!
Today many of the children your age think that they are entitled to things. They expect their parents to give them everything they want and to always do things for them. They don’t even think of thanking anyone for what they have. Let’s take a minute to think about ourselves. Do you thank others very much? How about today, this morning? How many times did you thank someone or were you just full of complaints? [Let the children discuss these questions.] Many times we don’t thank someone because we think we deserve to be driven to school. We take it for granted that mom will cook a good meal for us or that dad needs to buy us that pair of shoes or backpack. You are unthankful because you think only of yourself. I hope I have made you very uncomfortable about how unthankful you are. Now, what will you do with this uneasiness? Will you just forget about it once we are done? Or will you go to talk to your parents and let them know you are thankful for so many things? It’s up to you what you will do from now on.