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Anchored, Part 3
God Will Make It Right
Habakkuk 2:1-20
Bruce A. Hess
Now, if you would, please take out the Word of God and turn in it, in the Old Testament, to the book of Habakkuk, and chapter number 2.
While you are turning there, I want to tell you a little bit about when I went to college. Of course, when I went to college it was back in the covered wagon days. Some of you who are younger, I noticed you just smiled about all of that and you are thinking, ‘Yeah, I think he probably did go to college in the covered wagon days.’ Well, what I did when I went to college is, I traveled from New Jersey to Nebraska. When I got there, I was living in the dorm and my dormitory mate was a guy from the city of Omaha. Doug and I were friends and we would often have long talks. Doug was a budding existentialist. He really thought, well, let me tell you this about existentialists, you might wonder what they believe. Well, basically, they believe that everything is uncertain when it comes to human existence and the essence of what life is all about. An existentialist would stress individual freedom to decide what they really believed. As I tried to share with Doug about the God of the Bible, here is what he would often say to me, ‘Your concept of God does not fit in to my system.’ Your concept, Bruce, of God does not fit into my system.
Really how Doug had it was completely backward. The issue was not, does the God of the Bible fit in my system? The issue is, is my system consistent with God’s revelation?
You might remember, we saw last time that King Nebuchadnezzar of the Babylonians, in Daniel, chapter 4, decided this about God, he said, ‘God is the king of heaven.’ In Psalm 103:19 it says this, “The Lord has established His throne in the heavens, and His sovereignty rules over all.” That is what is true of Him.
Then, also in Psalm 24, and verse 1, it says this, “The earth is the Lord’s,” and notice it says, “And everything in it.” The world and all who live in it. The reality is, He is God and we’re not. That was true of my roomie, Doug, that is true of me, and it is also true of you. He is God, we’re not.
But we often wonder, what is God doing?, especially in times of a pandemic, especially when adversity tends to avalanche on top of us, when we’re having difficulty just pressing in on us. We often wonder, what is God doing when we are experiencing hearts and heartaches, when wicked and evil people seem to prosper and to be successful? We wonder, what God is doing when we see people all around us flagrantly violating God’s truth? We wonder, what is God doing when fairness seems to have fled from our culture?
The book of Habakkuk is a great book, fifty-six verses that make up, really what was Habakkuk’s prayer journal. This book is insightful and this book is helpful to us. If you have ever wondered in your life, what is God doing? If you’ve ever wondered, why does He allow that? If you’ve ever wondered, is He ever going to do something about the things going on around us? If you’ve ever wondered whether or not He was listening, then Habakkuk is a book for you.
The first two chapters of the book of Habakkuk he is dealing with some perplexity in his life and it involves a series of questions and answers. Question number one, which happens in verses 2-4, he asked the question, ‘Where are You, God? You seem to be inactive; all this stuff is going around; I don’t see You doing anything.’
Then, we have an answer from Him in verses 5-11, from God, and God basically says, ‘Be astonished! You are not going to believe what I’m going to do. I’m going to send the Chaldeans to discipline your nation.’ Ultimately, He is saying there, ‘My plan is bigger than you.’
That leads to a second question, a second complaint, in verses 12-17 of chapter 1, and that is where he says, ‘Why, God? I mean, why are You doing this, how could You do this, Lord? It doesn’t make any sense to me at all. You seem to be inconsistent. How can You be a holy God and You can let wicked, evil people prosper?’
Then, God answers, which is bringing us to our study today to chapter 2, in verses 1-20. Here is basically what God says back, ‘Hey, I will make it right. I will make it right. You can trust Me.’ Now, we can break down chapter 2 into three sections.
- First of all, we have Habakkuk’s anticipation, in verse 1.
- Then, we have the Lord’s admonition, in verses 2-4.
- Then, thirdly, we have the judgment to come, in verses 5-20, where basically God’s message is, ‘Wait and watch. I am going to do something special.’
So, let’s begin by looking at Habakkuk’s anticipation, in chapter 2, verse 1. I want to just read verse 1. Here is what he says, notice this, he says,
“I will stand on my guard post and station myself on the rampart; and I will keep watch to see what He (God) will speak to me, and how I may reply when I am reproved.”
What is a rampart? Well, some of the versions of the Bible translate it, ‘watch tower.’ I had the privilege of going to the Poconos Mountains in northeastern Pennsylvania and we did a FamilyLife Weekend to Remember several times at the Sky Top Lodge. Now the Sky Top Lodge, you see a picture of it here, was built in 1920, after World War 1. It has, on top of it, an observation post that allows you to look in miles in every direction around. What is interesting is in 1939, before World War II started, our country was worried about foreign airplanes coming over to attack America. So, what would happen in that observation post on top of the Sky Top Lodge is, there would spotters there twenty-four hours a day and they would be up there looking for enemy aircraft.
Well, that is sort of the feeling that we have of Habakkuk. He is waiting for God to fill in the blanks. How can a holy God let unholy things happen? So, what he is really doing is, he is looking to God, he is anticipating God’s response. He is teachable and he is reachable at this point. He wants the Lord to show him. What he has really done is, he has stopped fretting. He has decided, ‘I am going to stop whining and complaining and I am going to listen for God’s perspective.’ Here is what is interesting to me: his listening stance precedes God speaking to his situation. Sometimes that is what we need to do, to pause and truly listen for God to give us perspective.
All of that leads into the second section of chapter 2, where we see the Lord’s admonition, in verses 2-4. Look with me at verse 2. It says, “Then the Lord answered me and said, ‘Record the vision and inscribe it on tablets, that the one who reads it may run.” The whole idea is: He said, ‘I want you to write this down. I want you to get it clear.’ Then, this idea that the one who reads it may run, the New Living Translation translates it this way, “So a runner can read it and tell everyone else.” Really, what God was communicating to Habakkuk is, ‘What I am about to say, Habakkuk, is for more than just you. What I am about to say needs to be shared with other people,’ even those in the twenty-first century, if you would.
That gives us another common principle of God and that is that God’s truth is designed to be shared, not just something that we hold on to, but that we share with others.
Notice verse 3, he says, “For the vision is yet for the appointed time.” Really what God is saying is, ‘It is already on my schedule, it is already on my timetable.’ There is one thing about God’s schedule and God’s timetable, He never gets behind schedule.
You see this illustrated with Jesus in John, chapter 11, with the death of Lazarus, His good friend. You remember, his sisters, Mary and Martha. Lazarus had been sick for a while, if you remember the story, and then he dies and Jesus really delayed coming and eventually He came to visit them in the community. Mary runs up to Him and basically she says to Jesus, ‘Your timing was off, you should have been here a few days ago. Where were You?’ Basically what God communicates then is, ‘Hey, My timing is never off.’ Jesus says, ‘I’m right on schedule.’
Notice it says there in verse 3, “The vision is for the appointed time; it hastens toward the goal.” Literally in the original language, it is ‘pants,’ it is panting after the goal.’ That is how sure it is. “And, it will not fail…it will certainly come.” Again, I like the way the New Living Translation translates this, “These things I plan,” notice this, “won’t happen right away. If it seems slow, wait patiently.” Here comes the key phrase, “For it will surely, surely take place.” It is certain, is what God is saying, judgment is on the way, you can count on it.
Sometimes we forget that judgment is going to come on the entire world. We really do. Yet, the Bible is very clear about it. In 1 Thessalonians 5:2-3 it says this, “The day of the Lord will come just like a thief in the night. While they are sleeping,” this is talking about those in the world, “saying, ‘Peace and safety!’ this is hard to believe, but it is true, “then destruction will come upon them.” Notice it comes on them suddenly, when they’re not expecting it, “Like labor pains on a women with child, and they will not escape.” Judgment is coming on those in the world. The Bible is clear about it.
In the second letter to the Thessalonians, he says this, this is about judgment coming upon the world, “The Lord Jesus will be revealed from heaven with His mighty angels and flaming fire.” Why is He coming back? “Dealing out retribution to those who do not know God.” Then it goes on to say this, “And these who do not know God will pay the penalty of eternal destruction.” Think about that, “eternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His power.”
Now, it is very important for us to understand that there are two paths in life. They are given to us in verse 4. He says, “Behold, as for the proud one, his soul is not right within him.” That is one path. “But the righteous will live by his faith.”
So, we have two paths in life. First of all, we have the proud one, or we could say the proud person. Literally, in Hebrew it means, ‘this is the person who is swelled up,’ who is puffed up with pride. You notice that he says that they are self-reliant. That is really what the idea is, they are self-confident. They are self-sufficient. The person who fits on this first path in life says, ‘I don’t need God, I will do it my way.’ Notice, of those on that path, and by the way, everyone is on one path or the other, every single one of us, he says the person on the proud path, their soul is not right. Why is that? Well, because that path ultimately leads to ruin and the judgment of God.
But you notice in verse 4 we have the word, ‘but,’ there, this is a contrast, it says, “The righteous will live by faith.” By the way, this is one of the key verses that we have in the book of Habakkuk, some people feel is it the most key verse in the entire book. Some people have said that Habakkuk, chapter 2, verse 4, that last phrase, “But the righteous will live by faith,” is the verse that started the Reformation. By the way, this verse, this phrase, “the righteous will live by faith”, is repeated three times in the New Testament. We find it occurring in Romans, chapter 1, verse 17. It occurs secondly, in Galatians, chapter 3, in verse 11. And, then, thirdly it occurs in the book of Hebrews, chapter 10, and verse 38. The righteous, or the just, shall live by faith.
This is how we begin a relationship with the living God. And, this is how we live in our relationship with the living God.
It is kind of interesting how central this phrase is. Rabbi Simlai, in the third century A.D., wrote this in the Jewish Talmud (the Talmud was the Jewish commentary on the Old Testament), I find this interesting, he says, ‘Moses wrote 613 commandments,’ then he says, ‘David reduced the 613 to 10 in Psalm 15, where he says, ‘Who can abide in Your tent O Lord and have fellowship with You?’ and he lists ten things.’ Then, the Rabbi says, ‘Micah, then, takes the 10 and he reduces it to 3, in Micah, chapter 6, and verse 8, where it asks what does the Lord require of you? And it lists 3 things.’ Then, he says, ‘Isaiah came along and he took the 3 and he reduced it to 2, in Isaiah 56:1, where it just simply says, “Preserve justice and do righteousness.” Then, the Rabbi says, ‘Now, you come down to Habakkuk and he reduces it down to 1 and that is, the righteous, or the just, shall live by faith.
In Isaiah 26, in verse 4, it says this, “Trust in the Lord,” have faith in the Lord, “do it forever, for in God the Lord, we have an everlasting Rock.” Isn’t that a great truth? Trust in Him forever, no matter what is going on around us, “For in God the Lord, we have an everlasting Rock.” In essence, this is what God is communicating to Habakkuk. He is saying this, ‘Hey look, running the universe, that’s My job. Habakkuk, your job,’—and we could say our job—‘is to trust Him to live by faith.’
Now, all of that leads us up to the next section in the book, where He emphasizes the judgment that is to come, in verses 5-20. His message is really, wait and watch, it is coming and He is going to develop five woes. We could call them five declarations of doom. They are the basis of the judgment that God is going to bring. Now the primary focus of the judgment that He is talking about here is a judgment that is going to come on the Chaldeans, it is going to come on the Babylonians. But there is a secondary focus and that is, these are the basis for which Judah might be judged by God. And, also, by which we in our own culture today, might be judged by God.
So, let’s look at these five declarations of doom, these five woes. The first one is found in verses 5-8 and the first woe, or declaration of doom, why judgment is coming upon you, is insatiable greed. Look at verse 5. It says there that “Wine betrays the haughty man.” What does haughty mean? That is not a word we use a lot. Well, it means, arrogant. Wine betrays the arrogant man and the Babylonians were known for getting high. They were known for getting drunk and they were insatiable about their behavior. Verse 5 says they do not stay at home, they were restless, they were dissatisfied, they were always trying to get more.
Notice, he goes on to say here, and he has sort of personified the nation as a person, “He enlarges his appetite like Sheol.” The NIV says, “He is as greedy as the grave.” He is never, ever satisfied at all. They were being an indulgent people and they were making multiple attempts to fill a void in their life.
Notice, He says in verse 6, “Take up a taunt-song against him.” A taunt-song was a song that was done to the tune of a funeral dirge. Here is what God is really saying, ‘From My point of view, a funeral has already started.’ They are going to still come, and they’re going to attack the nation of Judah, but in God’s world the funeral has already started.
And, they are going to seek to enrich themselves at the expense of other people. Notice, in verse 6, He says, “They increase from what is not theirs.” Isn’t it interesting that in our own country a lot of time we see this insatiable greed? I don’t know if you feel this, I feel this from time to time and it’s not everybody, but a lot of times it seems like many politicians are out to enrich themselves. Has that bothered you like it’s bothered me, that the people that are in our Congress have this incredible gold platinum healthcare, better than anything else that the rest of us can get? Is that really right? And, even their own retirement that they seem completely satisfied, is so much more than we get through Social Security? Then, we have, often times, unjust taxation. Sometimes, I think we forget that everything the government gives has been taken from somebody else. Everything the government gives has been taken from somebody else.
In verses 7 and 8 here is what God says, He says, ‘This insatiable greed you have is going to boomerang back on top of you. Verse 8, “Because you have looted many nations, you, yourselves are going to be looted.”
By the way, this is a basic principle, if you would, of God’s judgment in the Bible. In the book of Obadiah, and verse 15, here is what He says regarding His judgment, “As you have done, it will be done to you.” Isn’t that interesting? Your dealings will return on your own head. This is a basic principle of God’s judgment. We sometimes wonder, is it going to be fair when people who have been evil or very, very evil, is it going to make any difference? The answer is, yes.
Then, in Jeremiah 24:14 God is speaking and He says, “I will…” (listen to this) “I will recompense them according to their deeds.”
When you come to the book of the Revelation, in chapter number 20, what is called the Great White Throne Judgment occurs there. What happens is, all these people are gathered together to be judged by God, those who do not know God. And it says two times there that they are judged, listen, according to their deeds, according to their deeds, according to the deeds. Here is what God is saying, ‘Hey, I make it right. I will make it right.’
The second woe, or declaration of doom, that brings the judgment of God, is unbridled exploitation. We see that in verses 9-11. Verse 9, “Woe to him who gets evil gain for his house to put his nest on high, to be delivered from the hand of calamity!” Those who are into illegal gain, especially to develop their own self and their own self world are worthy of judgment. Babylon, was an amazing nation known for their hanging gardens, known for their magnificent palaces, known for their impenetrable walls, but all of that was built by ruthlessly exploiting other people.
Then, there is a third woe, or declaration of doom that deserves judgment and that is ruthless violence. We see that in verses 12-14. Look at verse 12, “Woe to him who builds a city with bloodshed and founds a town with violence!” You know it’s maybe one of the most disturbing things I see in our culture today is this incredible outbreak of violence.We see domestic violence, we see sexual violence, we see senseless shootings. We just had one this past week at a mall in Arizona. Then, when we talk about violence that brings us again to the subject of abortion, killing babies in the womb of their mother. One of the things that has really bothered me about the things that we have done in the last number of weeks here in the United States is, we have said abortion clinics, they are “essential” [abortion clinics were allowed to be open when many businesses were told to stay closed] . Many surgeries that someone might need, not essential. Many serious medical tests that someone needs, not essential. But, killing babies in the womb of their mother, essential. That’s scary stuff. Startling stuff.
Look at verse 14, He is talking about a day is coming when the Lord is going to make it right, He says, “The earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea.” He is going to make it right. His glory is going to shine forth, you can count on it.
Then, we come to a fourth woe, or judgment doom, and that is for shameless debauchery. We see that in verses 15-17. Look at verse 15, “Woe to you who make your neighbors drink, who mix in your venom even to make them drunk so as to look on their nakedness!” It’s one of the things that they practiced as a people, they would mix alcohol and drugs to have sex and all this lewdness grew out of that. They were getting others drunk to take advantage of them.
Taking you back to my college years at Nebraska. I lived in Abel Hall and in Abel Hall we had a male student there and what this male student did is he made a poster and it had a thermometer on it. He said, ‘My goal for the year is to make a dozen girls drunk and then to have sexual intercourse with them.’ As soon as that happened, he would move on to the next target. Guess what? He filled the chart out. He was sooooo proud of himself. And that is the same kind of thing he is saying here can bring the judgment of God, where we view people merely as an object to be exploited or an object to be trafficked. I don’t have to tell you we’ve seen a lot of sex scandals breaking out in our nation, particularly among the wealthy and the influential and the powerful. I want you to know those kinds of things are the kinds of things that can bring the judgment of God.
It is interesting, in verse 17, He talks really about also environmental abuse being part of the shameless behavior. You will notice there He talks about, in verse 17, “Violence done to Lebanon,” which was the location of the famed forests of Lebanon. He says, “That violence is going to overwhelm you and the devastation of its beasts (its animals) by which you terrified them.” There was cold-hearted devastation of the environment that the Babylonians did. Sometimes, people ask the question, does God care about the deliberate devastation of the environment? And, the answer really is, yes, He does.
Then He says, in verse 16, “The cup in the Lord’s right hand will come around to you.” What does that mean? What is that referring to? Well, in Jeremiah 25:15, it talks about the cup of the wine of the wrath of God.
Then, there is a final fifth declaration of doom that He delivers and that is regarding foolish idolatry in verses 18 and 19. Notice in verse 18, He says, “What profit is the idol when its maker has carved it, or an image…for its maker trusts in his own handiwork.” Remember, they would make these idols out of wood and stone and other precious metals. They are speechless, ultimately. He says, “Woe to him who says to a piece of wood, ‘Awake!’ and to a mute stone, ‘Arise!’” Then, He asks, “That is your teacher?” They tell us that in Babylon there were fifty different pagan temples to various gods. Fifty different ones. And they had built their life around creating their own god.
In Isaiah, chapter 46, verse 7, He says this about these idols that people would create, that take the place of God, “It cannot help you when you cry for help.” Because it’s not really a god. “It cannot deliver you from distress.” It cannot do that. Then, you say, ‘Well, Bruce, you know, idols…I mean, people don’t do idols today. They don’t carve idols.’ Some people do around the world. But let’s note that a lot of times we make idols out of certain things in our life. We can make an idol out of money. We can make an idol out of stuff. We can make an idol even out of our career. We can make an idol out of sex and that is happening all around us with the explosion of pornography. That’s really what it is, worshipping sex, instead of worshipping God.
It is interesting to me that we even make mini gods out of athletes and actors. We really do. We spend multiple hours following them on Twitter, much more time than we do interacting with the Lord. A lot of times athletes and actors can become the focal point of our life. We do it today. Some of us in our world today worship the planet without acknowledging the Creator.
You will notice in verse 20, the true and living, eternal God speaks and basically, He says, in verse 20, ‘I am reigning.’ Notice, He says, “The Lord is in His holy temple.” He is reigning right now. Then, He says this, “Let all the earth be silent before Him.” That word, that phrase, ‘be silent,’ in Hebrew is the word ‘hasah’ [from the exclamation “has”, pronounced haas] It’s like our word [in English], hush. He is saying, ‘Listen, “has”, be quiet, be silent. “Has”, stop all this insanity about asserting that you are just independent of Me. “Has”, stop all the futile attempts to dictate the way God should be in your mind.’ “Has”, is what He says.
Judgment is going to come and it is foolish to assert that it doesn’t fit in my system. It is coming, it is certain. Really, what He is saying to Habakkuk and the people of Judah—and really to all of us—is ‘Fall to your knees in silence,’ because God is saying, ‘I will make it right. Wait and watch. It is going to happen.’
Now, what I want to do is, I want to take a moment to bring our study in to focus. I want to talk about, for a few moments, these two paths in life. Again, everyone who is listening to my voice today is either on one path or the other path. The first path is the path of the proud person, who is self-reliant and self-confident, whose soul is not right. Really, the person on this path is saying, ‘I don’t need You, God. I want to do it my way, thank You very much.’
What is interesting is that path, we learn from Matthew 7:13, leads to judgment, destruction and to hell. Who wants to be on that path?
Then, the second path is the path of the righteous who live by faith. This second path leads to forgiveness. It leads to deliverance from judgment. It leads to new life.
Here is what I want to ask for a moment, I don’t know where you are today, but if you are on this first path that leads to judgment and destruction and hell, the key question is, how do you get off that first path? How do you get off that first path?
I want to ask some important questions, if you think you might be on that path and you do not know God. Do you know God in a personal way? Do you have confidence in your eternal destiny today? Do you have assurance about what awaits beyond the grave? Do you know that you have eternal life? Are you ready to face your Creator? If you cannot answer yes to all of those, I’ve got good news for you. You can, even today, answer yes to all of those.
The Bible tells us that all of us have sinned. That means we’ve all fallen short of God’s standards. We’ve done that in our thoughts; we’ve done that in our words that have come out of our mouth; we’ve done that in our deeds. Our situation, apart from the person of Jesus, is helpless and hopeless, we are in line for the judgment of God. But here is the good news in that, Jesus came to take your judgment and my judgment.
I love Romans, chapter 5, and verse 6. It is very simple, it says, “While we were still helpless,” (here it comes) “Christ died for the ungodly.” You can put your own name in there, ‘While we were still helpless, Christ died for Bruce.’ What a wonderful truth that is.
You see, men and women, our only hope is finding safety in Christ and you can get off that first path today. Here is what we need to do,
- Number one, acknowledge our sins and that we are in line for judgment from God. That is the first thing we do, we acknowledge that.
- The second thing we do is, we turn to Jesus as our only hope. The fact that He died for me, that we have faith in that, that we trust in that, that we rely on that.
Then, when we acknowledge those sins—that we’re in line for judgment—and we turn to Jesus as our only hope, we trust in that, we rely in that, then God, Himself, in the person (this is amazing) in the person of the Holy Spirit will take up residence in our heart and life.
So, the first life response for many of us, is that we Turn to Jesus as our Savior, to put our faith and trust in what He accomplished for us on the cross when He died for us. You can do that right now if you are listening to my voice, right now, right where you are. You acknowledge your sins; you trust in Him. Human hearts are restless until they rest in Him.
Then, the second life response is to look. For those of us who have already turned to Jesus as our Rescuer from sin and judgment, to Look to Jesus as our Shepherd, to put our faith and trust that He is at work in the world and He is at work in us. Even when it doesn’t look like it, He is at work. So, we should not be looking at the circumstances, which are often overwhelming to us. We should not be looking to things, which are fleeting and temporary. We should not be looking to our self in our own strength and our wisdom. When our world is shaking all around us, we need to trust in the one who is unshakeable. We need to trust Him, as followers of Jesus, even when the answers are not there, even when we don’t really understand what is going on, even when we’re not sure of His ways or the whys, we trust in Him.
Several times we have ended with a classic hymn of the faith, words that can encourage us, and I want to talk for a moment and go through the lyrics of the fact that Jesus is the Solid Rock. Here are how the words of that song go, I love these words,
My hope is built on nothing less
Than Jesus’ blood and righteousness
When darkness veils His lovely face (when all this difficulty comes)
I rest on His unchanging grace
In every high and stormy gale
(Oh, I love this!) My anchor holds within the veil
Then, the words go on to say this,
His oath, His covenant, His blood
They support me in the whelming flood
When all around my soul gives way
He, then, is all my hope and stay
On Christ the Solid Rock I stand
All other ground is sinking sand
All other ground is sinking sand
Let’s pray together. Father, we again thank You for the Word of God. We thank You for the perspective it gives us, what we learn from it. What a reminder that this world is going to be judged and it is going to be very harsh when it happens. For any that don’t know You, Father, we would realize that today they can change it all by turning to Christ, acknowledging their sin, trusting in Him, having the Holy Spirit come and reside inside of them. For those of us who know You, Father, may we always, always remember that on Christ the Solid Rock we can stand, even though everything around us is sinking sand. He is our Solid Rock and we thank You for that truth and we thank You in Jesus’ name. Amen.
Questions for Reflection
Habakkuk 2:1-20
“God will make it right!”
1. What are some of the evils or injustices you see in our world today?
As Habakkuk underscores, God’s promise is to “make it right.” How do passages
like Obadiah 15 and Jeremiah 25:14 help with our perspective about this?
2. Habakkuk 2:3 emphasizes that God’s judgment and ultimate justice is already on His
divine schedule—“it will not fail.” How does that truth help us as we are affected by
ungodliness and wickedness in our world today?
3. Let’s honestly apply the principles of God’s judgment on the Chaldeans (Babylonians).
Ask yourself truthfully:
Do I ever try to enrich myself at the expense of others?
Do I ever hit others and get violent to get my way?
Do I ever walk over others to reach my own selfish goals?
Do I ever use deceit and manipulation to take advantage of others?
If so, what changes must you make?
4. An idol can be anything that we turn to that takes priority over the place of God in our
life. What are some “idols” that people struggle with in our day?
What “idol” is a temptation for you to seek?
5. In Habakkuk 2:2 God emphasizes that His truth is designed to be shared. Brainstorm
about some practical ways you can share God’s truth in your world.
6. Matthew 7:13-14 emphasizes that there are two paths in life. One path is wide and
leads to destruction. Why are there so many people on the wide path?
The narrow path leads to life. How does one take the narrow path? Explain
7. For those who like to dig deeper. The phrase, “the righteous (or just) shall live by faith”
originally occurs in Habakkuk 2:4. What aspect of living by faith is the focus in the three
places in the New Testament where the phrase is quoted? (see Romans 1:17;
Galatians 3:11; Hebrews 10:38.)
8. Read out loud Isaiah 26:4 Give God thanks for being our everlasting rock!