Habakkuk

Habakkuk 1: God rules and remains holy

Begin in prayer

Before we hear Habakkuk ask about evil and the holy God who rules over it, please gather your family for prayer. Ask God to teach us to bring our questions to Him and to show us His holiness in Christ.

Your way, God, is in the sanctuary. What god is great like God?

Psalm 77:13

Father in heaven, please open our eyes as we read Your Word. You are holy, even when we do not understand Your ways. Show us Jesus, who saves sinners without making sin good. Make us more like Jesus. And please bless our family as we worship You together. In Jesus' name, Amen.

See where we're going

Habakkuk sees violence and justice twisted, and he cries to the LORD for help. The LORD answers that He is raising up the Chaldeans, who take dwelling places that are not theirs and gather prisoners like sand. These people are guilty, for their strength is their god. Habakkuk calls the LORD his Holy One and asks why He tolerates those who deal treacherously. Habakkuk compares their victims to fish caught in a net and asks whether killing nations without mercy will continue.

As you read Habakkuk 1, look for the answers:

Reflect together

Key truth

God is holy, and He rules over evil even when His ways are hard to understand.

Habakkuk is a prophet in Judah, and he cries out because he sees violence and twisted justice among God's people (verses 2 to 4). The LORD answers with news Habakkuk will find hard to believe, for He is raising up the Chaldeans (verses 5 and 6). The Chaldeans are the Babylonians, a bitter and hasty nation that marches out to take dwelling places that are not theirs. The LORD uses them to judge, yet He still calls them guilty, because their strength is their god (verse 11). Habakkuk calls the LORD his Holy One and asks why He stays silent as the wicked swallow up the righteous (verses 12 and 13). Holy means God is set apart from all sin, so the LORD uses the Chaldeans without sharing in their evil. The chapter closes with Habakkuk's question still open, and the LORD answers in chapter 2. Please help your children bring hard questions to the LORD, as Habakkuk did.

How does Habakkuk 1 show us that God is holy and rules over evil even when His ways are hard to understand?

Habakkuk brings the wrong he sees to God in prayer.

Habakkuk cries out about violence and asks why justice comes out perverted (verses 2 to 4). The law is paralyzed, so the wrong he sees is among God's own people. He asks how long he must cry out, and it seems to him that God does not hear (verse 2). Please let your children tell you when someone hurts them, and show them they may tell God too.

God raises up the Chaldeans, who are still guilty of evil.

The LORD says He is raising up the Chaldeans, a bitter and hasty nation (verse 6). They march to take dwelling places that are not theirs. They gather prisoners like sand and scoff at kings (verses 9 and 10). Their success does not make them innocent, for their strength is their god (verse 11). The LORD uses them to judge, and He still holds them guilty.

God is holy even when Habakkuk cannot understand His ways.

Habakkuk calls God his Holy One, then asks why God tolerates those who deal treacherously (verses 12 and 13). He says God's eyes are too pure to look on evil with approval. Perversity means what is wrong and twisted. Please do not promise that every hard question will be answered at once. At the cross, Jesus bore His people's sin and showed God's holiness.

Memorise

Aren’t you from everlasting, Yahweh my God, my Holy One?

Habakkuk 1:12

Looking to Jesus in my life

Ask yourself in your heart, what wrong in my own heart must I bring to Jesus?

Habakkuk calls the LORD “my Holy One”, and the same LORD calls the Chaldeans guilty. Their power does not make their wrong right. Jesus is the Son of this holy God, and He shows us what God has done about sin.

Every one of us has sinned against this holy God, and good behavior cannot remove guilt. On the cross Jesus died in the place of His people and bore the punishment for their sin in full. God did not wink at sin there, and He did not leave sinners without hope. Then God raised Jesus from the dead.

So come to Him, turn from your sin, and put your trust in Jesus. Everyone who comes to Him will be forgiven. You can bring Him your hard questions too, because at the cross God showed that He is holy and that He is merciful.

Parent's note

Tell your children that the holy God sent Jesus to bear the punishment for His people and rise from death. Please do not tell them they are saved just because they grew up in a Christian home. Call each child to turn from sin and trust Jesus, and pray that God would give them a new heart.

Pray together

Now please close your time together in prayer. Thank God that He is holy even when His ways are hard to understand, and bring the heart question to Him. Every child can pray, so let each one say a short prayer if they want to.

Oh how great is your goodness, which you have laid up for those who fear you, which you have worked for those who take refuge in you, before the sons of men!

Psalm 31:19

Holy God, You rule over the nations, and You never approve of evil. Thank You for sending Jesus to save guilty people. Please lead each one here to turn from sin and trust Him. When we see wrong this week, help us to ask You for help and to tell the truth. Amen.