Elementary Level, Block 7—Salomon, Kings and Prophets
Week 64
Hezekiah—Doing What Was Right and Being Faithful Before Jehovah His God
Points to Emphasize: We can be those who do the right thing by being faithful to do what we are asked to do.
Reference Reading: 2 Kings 18—20
Memory Verse: A faithful man will abound with blessings… (Proverbs 28:20a)
Story Sample:
All of you in this room are about five to six years old, right? Well, imagine that you are twenty-five years old and you are a king. What kind of king will you be?
There was a period in history when the children of Israel had kings ruling over them. Sad to say, they had some bad kings who did bad things. They also had some good kings who did good things! One of the good kings who did good things was Hezekiah. Hezekiah was twenty-five years old when he began to reign. Hezekiah did what was good. He did the proper and the correct thing to do as a king. BUT what makes Hezekiah different than the other good kings is that Hezekiah was faithful to God.
What does it mean to be faithful? To be faithful means to be loyal, reliable, dependable or trustworthy. To be faithful also means that you are committed to a person. To be faithful to someone means that person can count on you no matter what! Can you be a faithful person? Can you be faithful to your mom and dad?
When I was young, we had chores at home. Every day, after I finished with homework, I needed to do my chores before having free time to play. Once, my mom needed surgery and was in the hospital for a few days. When she came back to the house, she was so happy to see that I was faithful in doing my chores even when she was not around. I was faithful to do what my mom had taught me and would expect me to do every day even with no reminders! That is an example of being faithful. [Storyteller, insert your own story of being faithful.]
As a king Hezekiah was faithful to God. Hezekiah remembered all that God had commanded, and he was faithful to do what God commanded. Hezekiah remembered that no matter where they were, all the children of Israel were to go to Jerusalem to worship God. During that time the children of Israel were divided and were not going to Jerusalem. But Hezekiah wanted to be faithful to what God had commanded, so he sent letters to all the people of Israel inviting them to come to Jerusalem to worship God. Oh, I am sure that God was so happy with Hezekiah. Hezekiah was faithful to God! God could count on Hezekiah to do what He had commanded.
You don’t have to wait until you turn twenty-five years old to be faithful. You can start today! In fact, you can start right now! You can be faithful to your serving ones. You can be a faithful friend to those around you. You can also be faithful to your parents. By practicing faithfulness as a child today, you will grow up to be faithful to God! I hope that one day you will be like Hezekiah, being faithful to God in following His commandments!