Hezekiah lesson for kids, or why Hezekiah is a great example for me to follow

I love reading the story of Hezekiah because he’s not a giant of the faith praised all the time like David, and he’s not just a terrible person like you see of King Ahab. He’s not perfect, but it’s more in the way that I’m not perfect.   It’s also why Hezekiah makes a great Sunday School lesson for kids.

Hezekiah comes right after we learn about the kings of Judah

What I learn from Hezekiah

Hezekiah is great a prayer.  I mean over and over again in the passage it talks about him praying.  But, and here’s where I find hope.  He doesn’t always remember to pray before he acts.  See, I’m rather noted for acting and then praying.  Or not praying at all.  Which, I’m rather ashamed to admit.

On the whole Mary or Martha continuum, I’m much more of the Martha who is going to demand why Mary isn’t helping like she should be.

But, I’m working on it.  I’m working on responding more often to struggles with prayer.  I’m committing to praying for missionaries we support every Tuesday, and almost every Tuesday I make it.  I’m making progress.

Now on to the Hezekiah lesson for kids

When Hezekiah became king of Judah, the walls of Jerusalem were weak.  Much like a child’s faith often is, because they are young.  So the kids built some weak walls for Jerusalem.  Superman, in particular, had fun building some strange structures to make the walls particularly weak.

He set about rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem.  Slowly bit by bit he rebuilt them, and as the kids built up the walls of Jerusalem I had them tell me ways they could build up their faith.

It started off with easy answers, “read your Bible,” pray, go to church.  Then as we built more and more walls, they started to go deeper, “serve God by serving others,” “ask questions about what you read in the Bible.”

Then we reached the part that Superman had built, and it was hard to let us knock that part down because he liked what he had built.  I reminded him that sometimes it’s hard for us to let God knock down things we like in our lives but we need to because it can make us stronger.  Then we knocked down those weak walls and built stronger walls.

Walls that can stand up to life’s pain and troubles.  And there are so many troubles in life.  We just found out yesterday that Tara’s Mom has stage 4 breast cancer.  It’s bringing back painful memories.  But, God is good, all the time as I tell my Sunday School class every Sunday as we start our lesson.

I just need to remember to respond as Hezekiah did, and go to my knees in prayer and build up those walls.

Hezekiah ideas

Okay, as I’m expanding things out, I’m writing more lessons for Hezekiah, so here are more Hezekiah lessons

• Hezekiah sundial craft

Supplies used for our Hezekiah lesson

• What’s in the Bible? Volume 5 – Israel Gets a King [HD]
• Jumbling Towers
• Blue Painter’s Tape
• Sharpies
• Hezekiah follows God lesson (click here to print the lesson book)
• Cardboard carton houses (these have been in use for 2 years)

Next up: King Josiah or see the whole Kings and Chronicles unit.