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October 24, 2016

Our Joy in God’s Righteousness

Rosemary D. Gooden   |   Read Habakkuk 1:1-4

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Lectionary Week
October 24–30, 2016
Scripture Overview

Habakkuk stands aghast at the “destruction and violence” all around and wonders how justice never seems to conquer. At the end of the reading, God contrasts the proud, whose spirit “is not right in them,” with the righteous who live by faith. The psalmist delights in God’s righteousness and in the commandments of God; however, he admits that “I am small and despised.” The psalmist’s “trouble and anguish” appear in Second Thessalonians also, but here the “persecutions and the af ictions” endured by the faithful serve a particular end: They stand as signs of the imminent return of Jesus Christ. In the Gospel reading Jesus tells Zacchaeus, “Today salvation has come to this house,” which reminds us that the righteous who live by faith are not necessarily the socially or religiously acceptable.

Questions and Suggestions for Reflection

• Read Habakkuk 1:1-4; 2:1-4. What situations in your life and world cause you to cry out to God, “How long?”?
• Read Psalm 119:137-144. Who have you known who trusts God implicitly? How has that person’s example helped you in the past? How might you let it help you in the future?
• Read 2 Thessalonians 1:1-4, 11-12. How will you offer Christ’s peace to someone you meet today?
• Read Luke 19:1-10. Jesus’ interaction caused Zacchaeus to trust God and straighten out his life. Where and with whom might God be leading you to share with others the heart of Christ?

Respond by posting a prayer .

Habakkuk 1:1-4

1 The oracle that Habakkuk the prophet saw. 2 LORD, how long will I call for help and you not listen? I cry out to you, “Violence!” but you don’t deliver us. 3 Why do you show me injustice and look at anguish so that devastation and violence are before me? There is strife, and conflict abounds. 4 The Instruction is ineffective. Justice does not endure because the wicked surround the righteous. Justice becomes warped.

Unless otherwise indicated, scripture quotations are from the Common English Bible. Copyright © 2011 Common English Bible. Used by permission.

In today’s passage, the beginning of a dialogue between the prophet Habakkuk and God, Habakkuk complains vehemently to God and questions God, who seems to be silent and inattentive in the face of the tyrannical rule of the Chaldeans: “O Lord, how long shall I cry for help, and you...

O Lord, hear my prayer. When I call, answer me. O Lord, hear my prayer. Come and listen to me. Amen.


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