Elementary Level, Block 8—Ezra / Nehemiah / Esther
Week 78
Nehemiah—Applying Himself to Work
Point to Emphasize: We can be those who work hard until we complete the task given to us.
Reference Reading: Nehemiah 5:14-19
Memory Verse: And I also applied myself to the work… (Nehemiah 5:16a)
Story Sample
In our memory verse for today there is a very interesting phrase, “applied myself”. What does that even mean? I went to the dictionary, and I learned that to apply yourself to something means that you work hard in order to complete something successfully. In simple words, “to apply myself to work” means to be a hard worker. This is to be diligent.
What is the difference between a hard worker and a lazy person? A hard worker “stays on task” even when something is difficult, whereas a lazy person might decide to quit when they see something is difficult. A hard worker will try different ways to complete a task when what they are doing is not working, while a lazy person may get distracted easily. A hard worker will work hard until the goal is achieved, while a lazy person may take multiple breaks before the task is completed.
Let me give you an example. When I was about your age, every Saturday morning was a “work day” at my house. Because we had no school, my mom would have a list of chores that needed to be done BEFORE we could play. The instructions were simple: “When we are ALL done with our tasks, THEN we can decide what we will do with our free time for the rest of the day.” There were some days when I was just lazy and didn’t want to work. A simple task that could have taken me 5 minutes took me almost 30 minutes. I would get distracted so easily! I still remember my mom’s voice, “Are you all done? Why are you just looking out the window?” WOW! Without realizing, I was distracted and forgot what I was doing! BUT, there were some days where I was a hard worker! On those days, I was able to stay “on task”. I remember when some tasks were difficult, I would immediately go to my mom and ask her to teach me how to do them. Often, before I realized it, we finished our tasks and could go out to play! [Storyteller, bring in a personal story of you being lazy or a hard worker.]
Last week we heard about Nehemiah, right? Nehemiah volunteered to go and rebuild the wall of the city of Jerusalem, which had been destroyed. When Nehemiah went there, he was not lazy, he was a hard worker. He applied himself to work. He and all the ones who were with him did not receive any kind of payment. Nehemiah and the ones who were with him “stayed on task”. They did not get distracted and they all worked hard until the job was done! Even after becoming a governor, Nehemiah could have asked for a piece of land or even food that was reserved for the governors, but he did not ask for any of these. Instead, he fed all those who came to help him work.
I hope that whenever you are given a task you will not be lazy, but you will be like Nehemiah. I hope that all of you, even today, will be hard workers. As our memory verse says, you will be ones who “applies yourself to the work”.