Before We Get Started

For our discussion today we will be using the sermon series discussion guides. If you would like to follow along you can access this discussion guide on the website at mosaicchurchaustin.com and then select “community group resources” in the menu options.

Prayer

Because the main goal of our time together is to establish relationships and learn how to walk with one another in all that God has called us to be and do, we’d like to begin by praying for one another. So, does anyone have anything you’d like us to pray for, or  anything to share regarding how you’ve seen God moving in your life that we can celebrate together.

This Week’s Topic

Today, we continue our new series, Return to Me, a study of the Minor Prophets in the Old Testament. This week we take a look at Habakkuk, a Prophet called by God to confront the injustice both in the world, and within the nation of Israel. Habakkuk saw the pain, suffering, and evil in his world wondered why God wasn’t doing something about it. God’s response? His plan was in motion. The real question was whether Habakkuk would have the faith to trust in the goodness of God amidst the waiting for justice? This same question is posed to us today as we dive into our discussion.

Today’s Topic

Habakkuk and the Justice of God

Discussion Questions

When it comes to the pain and struggles in your life, or in our world, do you take your frustrations and questions to God? Why or why not?

Habakkuk 1:2-4

“O Lord , how long shall I cry for help, and you will not hear? Or cry to you “Violence!” and you will not save? Why do you make me see iniquity, and why do you idly look at wrong? Destruction and violence are before me; strife and contention arise. So the law is paralyzed, and justice never goes forth. For the wicked surround the righteous; so justice goes forth perverted.”

What is justice?

What makes something unjust? 

Why do you think, in general, people get frustrated, or even outraged, when they witness injustice? When life doesn’t seem to be “fair?”

Habakkuk 2:1-3

“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. And the Lord answered me: “Write the vision; make it plain on tablets, so he may run who reads it. 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.”

Dr. Martin Luther King, JR. – Letter from Birmingham

“Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly.”

What things might keep us from feeling the pain of injustice, either in the lives of others or in our own lives as well?

How might allowing ourselves to feel that pain help us respond appropriately to those situations? 

And, what does an appropriate response to injustice even look like? In other words, what role might you play when it comes to injustice in our world?

Habakkuk 2:4

“Behold, his soul is puffed up; it is not upright within him, but the righteous shall live by his faith.”

‭‭Habakkuk‬ ‭3:17-19‬ ‭

“Though the fig tree should not blossom, nor fruit be on the vines, the produce of the olive fail and the fields yield no food, the flock be cut off from the fold and there be no herd in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the Lord; I will take joy in the God of my salvation. God, the Lord, is my strength; he makes my feet like the deer’s; he makes me tread on my high places.”

Injustice, evil, and pain in our world are all common reasons people give as to why they can’t/don’t believe in God. Why do you think that is? 

How do you think God feels about the injustice, evil, and pain we cause each other?

How does the Gospel both inform and empower us, as followers of Christ, to reflect God’s heart and model God’s design when it comes to injustice?

Closing Thought

Let’s take a few minutes to pair up and pray for one another. If there’s anything, or anyone, in your life today that you know is struggling with injustice in one way or another, then share that with your prayer partner and ask them to pray for you.