Listen up, little ones
Listen for the word booth (or shelter).
Reading
Nehemiah 8:13-18—Shelter in Place
Keys for kids
- God’s word said the Israelites should live in shelters for a week.
- So, the people did what God said.
- And they had tremendous joy!
Questions
- Why had God told his people to have a festival of shelters?
- Should we always do what God says to do? Explain.
- What gives you tremendous joy as a Christian?
Notes
As God’s returned exiles continued to hear and study the Word of God read and explained, they were reminded of God’s instruction to have a yearly festival for eight days while living in booths (or shelters). This festival was a reminder to God’s people of Israel’s living in temporary shelters while wandering in the wilderness. You can read more about it in Leviticus 23:33–44. So, having heard what God’s word told them to do, they did it.
But they didn’t do it with reluctance or sorrow—rather they did this with great rejoicing and celebration. Their celebration included the important reading of God’s word every day. And as they remembered God’s sheltering his people, celebrate they did! Evers notes that Nehemiah tells us that the joy of his contemporaries ‘was very great’ because they not only celebrated the deliverance of their fathers from Egypt but also their own release from exile in Babylon (8:17).
Do you rejoice as you remember God’s deliverance of his people throughout history? And as you remember God’s deliverance of you from sin and Satan?
Swedish Method questions
Praise
Psalm 27b, 84a
Prayer
- Rejoice that God has delivered you from sin in Christ
- Pray for the reading and preaching of God’s word tomorrow.
- Pray for a member of our church, for your family, and for a non-Christian friend/family member.