Habakkuk, You Had Me at Hello

(So glad you are here! If you want to take full advantage of this study, I would suggest either printing out the lessons or having a journal nearby to answer the questions. I would also have a Bible or Bible App open. Go about this at your own pace. I will be posting lessons twice a week - Wednesday/Friday - with homework you can do in between. And please offer any feedback. I'm a first-timer at this!)

Have you ever met someone, and within your first 10 minutes of talking, you just knew?

You knew that this person “gets” you.

She’s a complete stranger at the bridal shower, but she made a joke about wearing Spanx as you were both drooling over the brownie tray.

You laugh and tell her how you have on your favorite pair of “Trust Your Thinstincts” -  by far the best thing they sell. She comes back saying, “No way girl. You haven’t come close to paradise until you try on their “Heaven Tank Romper.”’

And that was all it took.

You sat and ate your brownies, made jokes about the smile the bride-to-be forced after opening her 10^th picture frame, tear-ed up talking about both of your grandmothers in nursing homes, both confessed your obsessions/borderline additions to Netflix…

And before you knew it, 2 hours of chatting had flown by.

And you just knew.

She gets me.

As in, she understands me. We click. We may even just be friends for life.

I’m about to make a pretty pathetic transitional statement.

Promise you won’t judge me too harshly?

Okay, here it goes.

That’s how I felt about Habakkuk the first time I “met” him.

Ha! Okay, even typing that out made me laugh out loud.

Habakkuk, a prophet from 2,400 years ago, my new best friend?! 

But it’s sadly true.

It was his opening line that grabbed me. (Yes, he had me at “hello.”) 

But read his first quotation, and see if it grabs you a little too.

“O Lord, how long shall I cry for help, and you will not hear?” (Habakkuk 1:1)

I read it, and I just knew. 

I get him.

I had been having one of those years where I felt like almost every other day I was thinking Habakkuk 1:1 in my heart (or my own version of it).

“God are you listening? Can you throw me a stinkin’ bone here? Are you going to do something? What are you doing?!”

Have you ever questioned God like that? (Maybe not in the exact, immature verbiage as mine.) But have you ever questioned God’s plan, His character, His … well … even His existence?

If so, how do you usually handle those thoughts?

Try to mark your answer on the line below:

---

Far Left: You are super honest with God about your questions. Yell it out, cry it out with Him.

Middle: You think it and stuff it. You have the doubting thought but don’t actually bring it before God. You just stuff it away and keep going.

Far Right: You stop the thought before it fully surfaces thinking it’s bad to even think those sort of words.

Explain your answer here, if you want : ____________________________________________________________________________________________

There was something in me that just loved that a prophet, a PROPHET in the Bible was whining to God. I guess it made me feel better about my own whining.

Although I have to admit, Habbakuk probably had a lot more justification behind his whining than I did. My year of suffering paled in comparison to what he was seeing.

What was he seeing? Why ask God such a bold question? 

Well, let’s find out together through a little historical context. In the next post (Friday), I’ll give you the short version so you history-haters don’t doze off on me.

But before we do that, I just want you to meet Habakkuk for yourself, hang out with him. 

His book is short. Only 3 chapters. In my Bible that’s all of 2 ½ pages. 

Why don’t you sit down and read through it?

And as you read you may want to do the following:

• Write down questions you have, or just put a question mark next to confusing verses.

• Underline verses that stand out to you, that you like or that you don’t like. 

• Write down initial observations such as: What do you observe about Habakkuk (personality, concerns, tone, transformation, etc)? What do you observe about God (tone, character, response to Habakkuk, etc)? What do you observe about the setting (what is happening now and what is about to happen)?

After meeting him, I can't help but wonder if he will have you at hello too:) 

See you Friday! 

P.S. Answer today's questions or leave observations about Habakkuk in the "Comments" section below if you want to have a conversation. I would love it! And I know others would too.