Bible Study: Habakkuk 3

I lead two Bible studies at my church and generally write original Bible studies for them. Here is one for the third chapter of the Book of Habakkuk, a seldom-studied minor prophet. My format is typically to place the Biblical text on top, followed by discussion questions and study notes on a single sheet of paper. I have yet to figure out how to upload files onto this blog, so I will simply copy and paste the questions and notes. Just copy the text, paste it onto a single side of legal sized paper, copy and paste these notes, and presto! You have a Bible study -- handy late on a Saturday night when you're leading the Sunday school class. So, to wit:

Background: Habakkuk was a contemporary of Jeremiah and wrote at a time of
increasingly chaotic international politics, as Judah became a battleground for warring major powers. He may have lived to see the destruction of Jerusalem at the hands of the Babylonians.

Theme: Habakkuk does not prophesy, but rather asks God questions. Why does corruption and strife fill Judah? Why doesn’t God do anything about it? And if God
punishes Judah by destroying it with nations more corrupt than itself, is God being fair? To Habakkuk, God’s actions seem increasingly incomprehensible, if not unjust. God responds that although Judah and Babylon will both be destroyed, a faithful Judah shall be resurrected. The key, Habakkuk learns, is to have faith and wait patiently for God’s plan to unfold.

Notes: Habakkuk is mentioned in the apocryphal work Bel and the Dragon, a Jewish satire on idolatry found in some 2nd Century B.C. texts of The Book of Daniel. In it, God instructs Habakkuk to give food to Daniel, who is in the lions’ den. Habakkuk balks at the long journey to Babylon, so an angel picks up Habakkuk by the hair and flies him to Babylon so that the prophet can provide the captive Daniel with stew. The whole amusing tale can be found at:
http://www.hope.edu/academic/religion/bandstra/BIBLE/BEL/BEL1.HTM

Questions:
1. What comfort may we find in Habakkuk’s song in times when God’s plan for victory seems unclear?
2. What does Habakkuk teach us about God’s will and the consequences of sin?
3. Who do you know who had retained joy in the Lord in the midst of terrible suffering?