Younger Group (Preschool-3rd)
Memory Verse
2 Chronicles 7:14 (NIV) if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land.
Prophet Habakkuk
Time for us to meet another prophet to Judah: Habakkuk. While most prophets delivered messages from God to the people, in the book of Habakkuk we get to see a conversation between him and God. Habakkuk came to God wrestling with why evil and bad things continued to go unpunished by God. Little did he know that God had a plan to use Babylon to crush Judah and judge them. Habakkuk didn’t understand God’s plan, but he still trusted and had faith in Him. We will focus on the final verses of the book, Habakkuk 3:17-19.
Read Habakkuk 3:17-19
- Habakkuk has fig trees and vines, fields and stalls, but does he have any fruit, food, or animals? (v. 17)
- No! It talks about a time when he would have nothing.
- How does Habakkuk respond even though he has no food or animals? (v. 18)
- He rejoices in God! He finds joy in Him. Habakkuk learned that things will not make him happy. Even if he lost everything, he could still rejoice in God.
- Who gives Habakkuk strength? (v. 19)
- God! He will help Habakkuk get through hard times.
- What can you thank God for today? (Discussions)
Older Group (4th-Teen)
Memory Verse
2 Chronicles 7:14 (NIV) if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land.
Review
Last week we learned that the people of the southern kingdom (the kingdom of Judah) were sinning against God. The people were mean to each other and they were selfish. They worshipped idols and did many wicked things. God sent his prophet Jeremiah to warn the people of punishment. But God knew that the people were too wicked to follow his laws. God had a plan to save them from their sin by bringing a new covenant. God promised that through this new covenant he would save his people from sin and give them a clean heart. But this new covenant would not come immediately. The new covenant would come at the time decided by God.
Today we will read about the prophet Habakkuk. He was a holy man of God who lived in the kingdom of Judah during all their wickedness. We will see how Habakkuk cried out to God for help and how he waited for God to come and to save them just like God promised.
Read – Habakkuk 1:1-4
- Habakkuk prayed to God.
- What was Habakkuk praying about?
- Answer – Habakkuk was complaining that there were wicked people all around him and they were getting away with being evil. It seemed like God didn’t care.
- Do you ever feel like bad people just get away with being bad? Why doesn’t God just get rid of bad people right away?
- Answer – God is patient with everyone and he gives bad people time to repent and love him. (Read 2 Peter 3:9).
- Will God let people get away with evil? Does he really care?
- God does cares about right and wrong. God is patient with bad people but the day will come when God will judge each person for what they have done. (Read 1 Corinthians 4:5).
Read – Habakkuk 1:5-8
- God hear Habakkuk’s complaint and God answered him with a prophecy about the future.
- What was the prophecy about?
- Answer – God told Habakkuk that he would bring the Babylonian army and they would destroy the kingdom of Judah and punish them for their sins. God was going to bring justice.
- Would this punishment solve the real problem? Would this punishment teach people to love God?
- Answer – No. This punishment would teach the people that they cannot get away with sin but it would not give them a clean heart that loves God. They would still have a dirty heart.
- Habakkuk knew that even after this punishment came the people of Judah would still have evil inside their hearts and the real problem wouldn’t go away.
- Habakkuk prayed to God again about this problem of evil and waited for God to tell him more.
Read – Habakkuk 2:2-4
- God answered Habakkuk and promised that he was going to do something good in the future. It was going to happen later and people would have to wait a while, but God was not going to be late.
- Do you feel like God takes a long time to do things? What are some things you are waiting for?
- Answer – God does everything the right way and at the right time. (Read Deuteronomy 32:4).
- God will not be late with his promises. God will save us like he promised and we will be with Jesus forever.
Read – Habakkuk 3:11-14
- Habakkuk had a revelation of the future when God was going to come and defeat the satan and save his people.
Read – Habakkuk 3:17-19
- Life was hard for Habakkuk but he decided to hope in God and to wait for him. Habakkuk knew that God can make him strong even in the hard times.
- What are some things that make your life hard right now?
- How can you be more like Habakkuk?
- Answer – You can choose to worship God even though life is hard. You can choose to trust God and wait for his promises.
