7/21 “The End of Violence - Good News & Bad” - Habakkuk 

gntw graphic asleep IN A NUTSHELL “In man’s world wickedness is squelched or propagated by the might of someone more powerful. Until this life is over and eternity begins God uses imperfect strength by imperfect people to reward the good and punish the evil. (Hab. 1:6; Rom. 13:1-7) We live in hope that the most powerful is righteous by God’s definition.  In God’s world wickedness is ended when he takes the wickedness and absorbs it himself. That’s what Jesus taught us in the Sermon on the Mount. (Mt. 5-7) and modeled on the cross. (Lk. 23:34)  The Good News is that someday violence will be over, the Bad News is that that day, has not yet come. (Hab. 3:17-19)

Connecting to the Text:

  1. What in your own words were Habakkuk’s complaints?  Hab. 1 & 2
  2. What was God using the Babylonians to do? Hab. 1:6
  3. How does man’s attempt “labor” affect the problem of violence? Hab. 2:13
  4. Where in lies man’s ultimate solution against violence?  Hab. 2:14,20; 3:2,17-19; Mt. 5:21-26; Rom. 12:9-21; 15:3

Good Resources:

  1. A service of Lament
  2. The story of Saint Telemachus - The end of the Gladiators
  3. Thorncrown Chapel - A true story of how heaping coals of fire on an enemies head has changed lives.
  4. Kill’em with Kindness -  an insightful warning about our motivations for being nice.
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