1. Pray. Ask the Lord to open your eyes, that you might behold wondrous things out of his Word (Ps. 119:18). 

2. Read Sunday's passage. Feel free to read it more than once, or in another translation.

3. Review the sermon outline. Try to see how the points came out of the text.

4. Answer the questions below. Focus on personal application.

5. Pray. Praise and thank the Lord, then ask him to work in mighty ways. 

Remember, we live not by bread alone, but by every word which proceeds from the mouth of God (Dt. 8:3; Mt. 4:4).

12  Are you not from everlasting, O Lord my God, my Holy One? We shall not die. O Lord, you have ordained them as a judgment, and you, O Rock, have established them for reproof. 13  You who are of purer eyes than to see evil and cannot look at wrong, why do you idly look at traitors and remain silent when the wicked swallows up the man more righteous than he? 14  You make mankind like the fish of the sea, like crawling things that have no ruler. 15  He brings all of them up with a hook; he drags them out with his net; he gathers them in his dragnet; so he rejoices and is glad. 16  Therefore he sacrifices to his net and makes offerings to his dragnet; for by them he lives in luxury, and his food is rich. 17  Is he then to keep on emptying his net and mercilessly killing nations forever?  

1 I will take my stand at my watchpost and station myself on the tower, and look out to see what he will say to me, and what I will answer concerning my complaint.

2 And the Lord answered me: “Write the vision; make it plain on tablets, so he may run who reads it. 3  For still the vision awaits its appointed time; it hastens to the end—it will not lie. If it seems slow, wait for it; it will surely come; it will not delay. 4  “Behold, his soul is puffed up; it is not upright within him, but the righteous shall live by his faith."

Intro: When God's ways don't make sense to you, or when his timing seems slow, and you are suffering, or struggling to reconcile what you know about God with what you see in the world, what are you to do? 

I. Sometimes God's ways don't seem to make sense (1:12–2:1). Habakkuk had witnessed his nation's decline, both morally and spiritually. Among his own people, the wicked were surrounding the righteous (1:4). So, he brought his concerns to the Lord. Yet, surprisingly, God revealed that he would not bring revitalization to Judah; he would bring judgement. God was raising up the Babylonians to destroy his own people (1:6). Shocked, Habakkuk now brings a second lament, asking why God would use a more wicked nation (Babylon) to judge a less wicked nation (Judah). How is that just? Habakkuk is learning that sometimes, God's ways don't seem to make sense. This is often the case in scripture, and it is often the case in our lives. The most profound example is the Cross of Christ. How could God work through the suffering and death of his own Son? How can a good God work through wicked means? When we wrestle like Habakkuk, we can bring our laments to the Lord in prayer, like he did. And we must remember that God is God, and we are not. His ways are higher than ours, and his thoughts are higher than ours. His ways don't always seem to make sense, but he has a plan, and that plan is for good to those who love him and are called according to his purposes (Rom. 8:28). The Cross shows us that God can work through wickedness to bring about his greater good. 

II. We also have to wait to see his solutions. (2:2–3). God has an answer for Habakkuk's questions, but the content of this answer will come on God's timing, not Habakkuk's. Sometimes, the people of God are called to wait. We may not see justice now, but we know, because God has told us, that he will bring justice in the end. The key is to remember it's on his timing, not ours. Speaking about the promised return of Christ, Peter reminds the church that "with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance" (2 Peter 3:8–9). So as we see injustice in the world, remember: God will bring his perfect plans to fruition on his timing, not ours.

III. We wait by trusting in the Lord (2:4). While the Babylonian's are full of pride, for which they too will one day be judged, the righteous––God's people––will live by faith. This is how they are to wait. They must trust in God to bring complete justice on his terms and in his timing. The people of God must trust him! God has always wanted his people to trust him. Amidst an impending invasion, he wants the faithful in Judah to trust him. And this points us to the work of Jesus Christ. Those who trust in Jesus Christ will not face God's judgment for their sins, because Jesus did so on their behalf. Instead, they will receive Jesus' own righteous standing before God. Those with faith in Jesus, shall be counted righteous. The righteous shall live by faith! (See Romans 1:17; 3:21–26; Galatians 3:11).

Conclusion: Whatever you face, whatever questions you ask, whatever fears or doubts or discouragements, remember this: (1) sometimes God's ways don't seem to make sense, and (2) we also have to wait to see his solutions, but (3) we can trust in the Lord. The righteous shall live by faith! Keep trusting in Jesus!

1. Sometimes God's ways don't seem to make sense.

- What about God's ways doesn't seem to make sense to you?

- How do you typically handle these disorienting thoughts or feelings? 

- What can we learn from how Habakkuk handles them? 

2. We also have to wait to see the Lord's solutions.

- In the Bible, when has God called his people to wait? 

- How have you been called to wait? 

- What could we learn through the waiting? 

- What are you waiting for now? What is God teaching you in this season of waiting? 

- Will we wait forever? Why or why not?

3. Live by faith.

- Why does God want our faith? 

- Why can't good works or religious observance save us? 

- How can Jesus' righteousness be counted to sinners like us?

- For you, what does it look like to live by faith in Christ right now? 

1. Praise and thank God that he is there, hearing our prayers, speaking through his Word, and working in the world. 

2. Ask God to help us accept that he is God and we are not, that his ways and thoughts are higher than our own. 

3. Ask God to help us live by faith, trusting in his faithfulness, goodness, and justice. 

4. Pray for our church, that we would not look to ourselves or to our good works for assurance, but to the finished work of Christ. 

Thanks for reading the Bible Study Guide! I pray it helps us "continue to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ" (Eph. 4:15).

Sincerely, your brother in Christ,

Tom Hansen, Senior Pastor