Bible Lesson: King Hezekiah trusts God and asks for help

This lesson was inspired by the Gospel Project curriculum we’ve been using at our church.  It was created for a small group of K-5 students.  The students will learn that believers can confidently pray because God hears all our prayers.
Bible Passage: 2 Kings 18-20 (Additional reading for teacher’s Bible study 2 Chron 29-32, Isaiah 37-38)
Bible Story Title: King Hezekiah trusts God and asks for help
Target Age Group:  Ages 6-11 (K-5^th Grade U.S.A.)
Target Time Frame: 60 Minutes
Original Teaching Context: Sunday School
Image Credits: Sweet Publishing and Distant Shores Media
Supply List:  Bibles
Learning Goal:  Students will learn that believers can pray confidently because God hears all our prayers.
Activity ideas for this lesson  
Test: Review Questions
Memory Verse:  Hebrews 4:16 “ Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.”

Bible Lesson: King Hezekiah trusts God and asks for help

(Begin with prayer)
God’s city Jerusalem did not look like a city where His people worshiped the One True God.  Judah’s king Ahaz was wicked and disobeyed God’s laws and led God’s people to worship false gods.  He closed the doors of the temple where God’s people were supposed to worship a holy God.  Ahaz allowed altars to be built on every street corner in Jerusalem where people would bow down and worship false gods.  (2 Chr. 28:24-25)
Ahaz’s son Hezekiah became king after Ahaz died. Although Ahaz was a very bad example as a king the Bible tells us that Hezekiah his son did not follow his father’s example.
Read 2 Kings 18:3-6.  Hezekiah opened the doors of the temple and had the Levites (men who worked in the temple) repair and remove every wicked thing that did not belong in the Lord’s temple. (2 Chr.29)
A few weeks ago we learned that God must punish sin but wants all people to repent and be saved.  At this time in history God was allowing enemies to attack both the Northern and Southern kingdoms because they were sinning against Him.  The Northern kingdom would not listen and turn away from their sin.  While Hezekiah was king in the Southern kingdom (Judah), the northern kingdom Israel had been attacked and invaded by the kingdom of Assyria.  The soldiers from Assyria captured the Israelites in the northern kingdom and took them back to Assyria to be their servants.
When Hezekiah had been king for 14 years Sennacherib the king of Assyria attacked some cities in Judah and captured them.  Hezekiah told him that he would pay the king whatever he wanted if he would leave the land of Judah.  Hezekiah gave Sennacherib all that he asked for.  In order to be able to give him all the money he had to take all the silver found in the temple treasure box and took the gold that covered the temple doors and door posts.
Later Sennacherib sent some of his men with a message for Hezekiah.  The men found Hezekiah’s helpers (Eliakim, Shebna and Joah) and told them Sennacherib’s message.
In Sennacherib’s message he made fun of Hezekiah and God’s people for trusting God to protect them.
Hezekiah’s helpers told the messengers not to speak in Hebrew (the language the Israelites could understand) but only Arabic so God’s people could not understand their threatening words.  The messengers did not listen and began to speak in Hebrew for God’s people to hear and understand:  “Do not let King Hezekiah lie to you.  He cannot deliver you from Sennacherib.  Do not let Hezekiah trick you to trust in the LORD to protect you.  Make peace with Sennacherib and you will have a good life and will not die.  Don’t trust Hezekiah, he’s not telling you the truth that the LORD can deliver you.  Sennacherib has attacked many countries and have any of their gods protected them?”
God’s people heard the threatening message from Sennacherib but they did not say a word because they listened to Hezekiah who told them to remain silent.
Hezekiah’s helpers went to him and told him Sennacherib’s message.  When Hezekiah heard this frightening message he tore his clothes, put on sackcloth and went to the temple.  He sent 2 of his helpers and the priests to the prophet Isaiah to tell him about the insulting words Sennacherib spoke against the LORD.
Isaiah told Hezekiah not to be afraid.  God heard all the wicked things that Sennacherib had said and he would be punished.
Once again Sennacherib sent a message to Hezekiah.  Read 2 Kings 19:10-13.  When Hezekiah read the letter from Sennacherib he took the letter and went to the temple of the LORD.  He opened the letter up before the Lord and began to pray.  Read 2 Kings 19:15-19.
God heard Hezekiah’s prayer and sent Isaiah the prophet with His answer.  God was going to protect His city Jerusalem and His people because of His promise to King David.
That very night God sent an angel who caused 185,000 soldiers to die.  In the morning when Sennacherib saw that 185,000 of his soldiers died in the night he went back to his home in Nineveh.  When he was at home in the temple worshiping his god Nisroch his 2 sons put him to death.
Hezekiah believed God would help and prayed confidently when he was facing an attack from King Sennacherib.  God heard Hezekiah’s prayer and answered by protecting His city and people.
Later during Hezekiah’s time as king he became very sick.  Isaiah told him that he was going to die.  In his bed Hezekiah turned to the wall and prayed.  Read 1 Kings 20:2-3.  God heard Hezekiah’s prayer and healed him of his sickness and allowed him to live 15 years longer.
All people sin (Romans 3:23) and even Hezekiah a good king who loved and obeyed God was not without sin.  In the last years of his life he became prideful and showed off every treasure he owned to people who lived in Babylon.  God sent Isaiah with the message that one day the very things Hezekiah showed to the people from Babylon would be taken by the Babylonians, even Hezekiah’s own family would be taken to Babylon.
Hezekiah wasn’t bothered by this message from the LORD because he wasn’t going to be alive when it happened.
Even though Hezekiah sinned by being prideful at the end of his life God recorded in His Word: “Hezekiah trusted in the LORD, the God of Israel.  There was no one like him among all the kings of Judah, either before him or after him.” (2 Kings 18:5)
Our memory verse for this series is “All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned- every one- to his own way; and the LORD has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.”  Isaiah 53:6
Every man, woman, boy and girl is a sinner.  In our own strength we cannot live a life that pleases God.  There is only one who has lived a perfect life in this world and never sinned against God the Father (Heb. 4:15).  Jesus, God’s Son was born as a baby in a manger.  He is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world (John 1:29).  He hung on the cross and God put all my sins, and yours, and every person who ever lived or will live on His perfect Son.  Jesus was punished by death for my sins.  He was buried and on the third day God raised Him from the dead.  When I put my faith in Jesus that He died on the cross for my sins I will be rescued from the punishment of sin-death/separation from God.
Today we learned how Hezekiah trusted God and prayed for help.  God heard his prayers and rescued him from his enemy, Sennacherib.  Today if you have never asked God to forgive you for your sins and by faith believed that Jesus died in your place, you can pray and God will rescue you from the punishment for your sins.  If you have believed in the Lord Jesus, you can pray confidently about whatever you need because God hears all of your prayers.
Close in prayer.
Review Questions:

1.  True or False Hezekiah’s father King Ahaz was a godly king. (False)
2. True or False Hezekiah was a good king who trusted and obeyed God. (True)
3. What condition was God’s city Jerusalem like when Hezekiah became king? (It was a mess, the temple doors were closed, people were worshiping  false gods on altars all over Jerusalem)
4. What did Hezekiah do about the mess Jerusalem was in?  (He had the Levites repair the temple and remove all the wicked things that didn’t belong in there)
5. What message did Sennacherib send Hezekiah and God’s people? (He said that Hezekiah was lying to them that God would protect them and told them to make peace with him so they could live and not die)
6. How did Hezekiah respond when he heard Sennacherib’s threats? (He prayed)
7. How did God answer Hezekiah’s prayer? (He protected His city and His people, 185,000 Assyrians died in one night, Sennacherib was killed by his sons)
8. How did God answer Hezekiah’s prayer when he was dying? (He allowed him to live for 15 more years)
9. What can you pray confidently about this week that you know God will hear and you can trust He will answer?