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Questions on the Watchtower

Habakkuk argues honestly with God, Micah boils religion down to one verse, and we bring our real questions to the Lord

  • 🏔️ Youth 16–18
  • Week 49
  • 📅 Sunday, December 6, 2026
🤔 Forehead Guess🏆 Showdown
💡 The big idea

The Lord welcomes my honest questions, asks me to live by faith while I wait for answers, and wants my heart more than any impressive offering: to do justly, love mercy and walk humbly with Him.

I can bring my hardest questions to the Lord, keep living by faith while I wait, and build my choices on Micah 6:8.

Come, Follow Me manualOpen this week (Micah; Nahum; Habakkuk; Zephaniah)
Know the chapters

Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk and Zephaniah are four short books. They come from the century and a half before Babylon destroyed Jerusalem. Micah preached in Judah in the same years as Isaiah. Compare Micah 1:1 with Isaiah 1:1. He preached against leaders who took bribes and priests who taught for hire. Yet they bragged that the Lord was on their side, in Micah 3:11. He also named Bethlehem as the birthplace of Israel’s eternal Ruler, in Micah 5:2. Herod’s scribes quoted that verse seven centuries later, in Matthew 2:4–6. Nahum announced the fall of proud Nineveh. He called the Lord “a strong hold in the day of trouble,” in Nahum 1:7. Zephaniah invited the meek to seek the Lord, in Zephaniah 2:3. He promised that the Lord would rejoice over His people with singing, in 3:17.

Habakkuk is the heart of today for 16- to 18-year-olds. His book is a real conversation. He asks God how long violence and injustice will go unanswered, in 1:2–4. The answer confuses him more. The Lord will use Babylon, a nation worse than Judah, in 1:5–13. He climbs his watchtower to wait, in 2:1. He’s told to write the vision plainly and wait, because it will surely come, in 2:2–3. Then comes the line Paul quotes three times: “the just shall live by his faith.” See Habakkuk 2:4, Romans 1:17, Galatians 3:11 and Hebrews 10:38. By chapter 3 nothing outward has changed. Yet Habakkuk sings, “Yet I will rejoice in the LORD,” in 3:17–18. Your youth are making big decisions about missions, school and relationships. Some carry questions about faith, their families or the Church. Habakkuk shows that honest questions and faithful living go together.

Micah 6:6–8 is one of the great summaries of true religion. People offer bigger and bigger sacrifices. Calves, thousands of rams, rivers of oil, even a firstborn child. The Lord answers with three things. Do justly, love mercy and walk humbly with God. Jesus called the same ideas the “weightier matters of the law,” in Matthew 23:23. Elder Dale G. Renlund’s October 2020 talk, “Do Justly, Love Mercy, and Walk Humbly with God,” unpacks each phrase. It’s great preparation. This is also a way to make decisions that your youth can take to college and the mission field. It’s much like For the Strength of Youth: A Guide for Making Choices. That guide invites youth to make Jesus Christ their standard. It says its purpose isn’t to give a yes or no about every possible choice.

Be ready for real questions today. You don’t need every answer. In his April 2013 talk “Lord, I Believe,” Elder Jeffrey R. Holland invited us to be candid about our questions. He also asked us to be true to the faith we already have. The exact line is in the conference quotes. Model that. If a question needs more than class time, write it down and follow up. Or connect the youth with parents or the bishop. Never make a youth feel faithless for asking.

Only have 5 minutes?

Read Micah 6:6–8 and Habakkuk 1:2–4, 2:1–4 and 3:17–18. Shake the jar, or have them picture a snow globe. Tell Habakkuk’s story from your phone or tablet and read Micah 6:8 together. Spend the rest on the Questions Welcome discussion. Check the jar and close with your testimony that the Lord answers in His time.

What to bring4 items

Tick what you have. Forgot something? Every step that needs a supply has a no-supplies version in the plan below.

Before class

  1. Fill the jar with water and a big spoonful of dirt or sand. Put the lid on tight. Shake it once at home to see how long it takes to settle.
  2. Read Habakkuk 1–3 in one sitting. It takes about ten minutes. Notice how the tone shifts from chapter 1 to chapter 3.
  3. Think of an honest question you’ve carried. How did the Lord help you live with it or answer it over time? You’ll share it briefly.

If your class is wild

  • Older teens go quiet when they sense a lecture. Ask a question, then really wait ten seconds. Silence is thinking, not failure.
  • Let the jar do the work. Don’t over-explain it at the start. The payoff is when they see it clearer at the end.
  • If a question stumps you, say, “I don’t know, and I want to find out.” Write it down in front of them. That’s exactly what Habakkuk did.
  • Some youth may be carrying heavy things, like a parent’s divorce or a friend leaving the Church. Keep the talk invitational. Nobody has to share.
  • Phones are fine for Gospel Library. If they drift to other apps, make one youth the scripture looker-upper for the whole group.

The 25-minute plan23 min + bonus

Bonus steps are for when you have extra time. Steps that mention Teach Mode, the Sound Board or other class games refer to the Gospel Sparks app; on the web you can play Forehead Guess and Scripture Showdown from this page.

1. Hook

The Shaken Jar

4 min

A shaken jar of muddy water shows what hard questions feel like, and it quietly settles through the lesson while the class watches.

  1. SAY“This jar is what a hard question feels like.”
  2. Shake the jar of water and dirt hard. Hold it up and ask, “Can you see through it?”
  3. Ask, “What stirs up questions for people your age?” Maybe a friend leaving the Church, a prayer that feels unanswered or a hard decision.
  4. Set the jar where everyone can see it. Say, “Nobody touch it. We’ll check it at the end of class.”
  5. SAY“A prophet named Habakkuk had shaken-jar questions. He took them straight to God. Watch what he did with them.”

Class screen: 🫙 Shake it up. Can you see through it? · Habakkuk 2:1–3

No supplies? Do this instead

Instead of: A clear jar or water bottle with a lid, filled with water and a big spoonful of dirt or sand

The Snow Globe

  1. SAY“Picture a snow globe that just got shaken hard. That’s what a hard question feels like.”
  2. Everyone wiggles their fingers like swirling snow. Ask, “What stirs up questions for people your age?” Maybe a friend leaving the Church or an unanswered prayer.
  3. Start a one-minute Big Timer. While you talk, everyone’s “snow” falls very slowly until every hand rests in a lap.
  4. SAY“Things settle when we stop shaking and keep watching. A prophet named Habakkuk had snow-globe questions. Watch what he did.”

Class screen: 🌨️ Shaken snow globe: wait and watch it settle · Habakkuk 2:1–3

2. Story

The Prophet Who Argued Back

6 min

Habakkuk’s real words show honest questions, faithful waiting and answers that come in the Lord’s time.

  1. SAY“Habakkuk looked at his world and hated what he saw. So he argued with God about it. And God answered. Listen for what he does with his questions.”
  2. Tell the account from your phone or tablet scenes, reading the verse on each one. You read the Lord’s words.
  3. Ask each scene’s question and take one or two answers. Keep it moving.

Class screen: 🗼 The Prophet Who Argued Back · Habakkuk 1–3

3. Scripture

Micah 6:8: What to Do While You Wait

4 min

Micah gives the three things the Lord asks while we wait for answers, short enough to carry anywhere.

  1. SAY“Habakkuk waited on the tower. Micah, his neighbor in the Bible, tells us what to do while we wait. What does the Lord really require?”
  2. Have a youth read Micah 6:6–7 about calves, rams and rivers of oil. Then read Micah 6:8 together and teach the three-beat motions.
  3. Read Elder Renlund’s summary from the conference quotes. Ask, “What’s the difference between doing something merciful and loving mercy?”
  4. SAY“Choosing a school, a job, who to date? These three phrases are a pretty good filter. And they’re short enough to carry anywhere.”

Class screen: ⚖️ What doth the Lord require of thee? · Do justly ⚖️ · Love mercy 💗 · Walk humbly with thy God 🚶

4. Talk it over

Questions Welcome

6 min

An honest, faith-filled conversation about carrying questions and waiting on the Lord.

  1. SAY“Write down one real question, about the gospel or about life. Maybe you’ve wondered it, or a friend has. No names. I’ll read them this week.”
  2. Collect the cards in the box.
  3. Ask the questions on the screen one at a time. Wait ten seconds before anyone answers. Share your own answer too.
  4. If a question needs more than class time, say so and promise to follow up.
💬 Ask the class
  • Habakkuk basically argued with God, and God answered him. What does that tell you about the kinds of prayers the Lord welcomes?
  • Habakkuk’s first answer raised new questions. What did he do next, instead of quitting?
  • Elder Holland had advice for unanswered questions. He said to “hold fast to what you already know and stand strong until additional knowledge comes.” What’s one thing you already know that you can stand on?
  • “The just shall live by his faith.” How is living by faith different from having every answer?
  • Think of where you’re waiting on the Lord right now. A mission, school, family, friends. What would climbing the watchtower look like for you this week?

Class screen: 💬 Questions welcome: what do you do while you wait?

No supplies? Do this instead

Instead of: Index cards or slips of paper, one per person, and a few pens, A small box, bag or envelope to collect anonymous question cards

  1. SAY“Got a gospel or life question you’d like me to look into? Tell me after class or text me this week. No question is a bad one.”
  2. Ask one question at a time. Wait ten seconds before anyone answers. Share your own answer too.
  3. If a question needs more than class time, say so and promise to follow up.
5. Testimony

Testimony & Watchtower Notes

3 min

End quiet, with the settled jar and a real way to take their questions to the Lord this week.

  1. SAY“Look at the jar now. Or picture the snow globe, all settled. It’s not perfect, but it’s clearer. That’s what watching and waiting with the Lord does.”
  2. In a minute or less, share an honest question you carried. Tell how the Lord helped you over time, even if the full answer hasn’t come.
  3. SAY“Your questions don’t disqualify you. Habakkuk’s questions are in the Bible.”
  4. Introduce the Watchtower Notes challenge. Invite a youth to say the closing prayer.

Class screen: 🗼 Ask. Watch. Write it down. Live by faith while you wait. · Habakkuk 2:1–4

6. Wiggle break

Justly, Mercy or Humbly?

3 minBONUS

A quick move-to-a-wall game applies Micah 6:8 to real dilemmas and gets everyone on their feet.

  1. SAY“Everyone up. This wall is DO JUSTLY. That one is LOVE MERCY. That one is WALK HUMBLY. For each situation, walk to the one it takes most.”
  2. Read these: “Your manager paid you for ten extra hours by mistake.” “A friend posts something cruel, then apologizes.” “You got into your dream school, and your friend didn’t.”
  3. Two more: “Your companion is slower at the language than you.” “Someone in your group project did nothing.” One person per wall explains in a sentence.

Class screen: 🧭 Which part of Micah 6:8 does this take? Pick a corner. · Do justly · Love mercy · Walk humbly

7. Game

Lightning Showdown

3 minBONUS

A fast team quiz locks in the four prophets and their big ideas.

  1. SAY“Two teams, pick captains. Five seconds to huddle. Only the captain answers.”
  2. Tap Scripture Showdown. Play as many questions as fit in about three minutes. On a miss, the other team can steal by naming the verse.
▶ Play Scripture Showdown on the web

Class screen: ⚡ Lightning Showdown: four prophets, three minutes

Object lesson

The Prophet Who Argued Back

Habakkuk 1–3; Romans 1:17 ↗

Scenes

  1. 🏙️⚖️ Habakkuk looks around and hates what he sees

    About six hundred years before Christ, Judah is a mess. Violence. Corrupt courts. The law ignored. The prophet Habakkuk doesn’t pretend it’s fine. He takes it straight to God. And his prayer sounds more like a complaint.

    🙌 Read Habakkuk 1:2 aloud. Ask, “Is it okay to pray like that?”

  2. 🐎🔥 God answers… and it makes things worse

    The Lord does answer Habakkuk. He’s raising up the Chaldeans, the Babylonians. They’ll sweep over Judah. Habakkuk is stunned. Why would a holy God use a nation even more wicked than Judah? So he asks that too.

    🙌 Read the Lord’s answer in 1:5–6, then Habakkuk’s reply in 1:13. Ask, “What new question did the answer raise?”

  3. 🗼👀 He climbs the watchtower to wait

    Habakkuk doesn’t walk away from God. And he doesn’t pretend to understand. He climbs his watchtower. He decides to watch for what the Lord will say next. His questions didn’t push him away from God. They pushed him up the tower.

    🙌 Read 2:1. Ask, “Why climb the tower instead of walking away?”

  4. ✍️📜 Write it down. Make it plain. Wait.

    The Lord tells Habakkuk to write the vision down. Make it so plain a runner could read it on the go. It has an appointed time. It may feel slow. But it will surely come.

    🙌 Read 2:2–3. Glance at the jar, or picture the snow globe. It’s still settling.

  5. 🧭✨ “The just shall live by his faith”

    Then comes one line that echoes through the whole Bible. Paul quotes it three times. The just shall live by his faith. Faith isn’t having every answer. It’s how you live while you wait.

    🙌 Read the second half of 2:4, then Romans 1:17. Ask, “How is living by faith different from having every answer?”

  6. 🌳🎶 No figs, no crops… “Yet I will rejoice”

    By chapter 3, nothing outside has changed. Babylon is still coming. But Habakkuk is different. He writes a song. Every crop might fail. Every animal might be gone. He will still rejoice in the Lord.

    🙌 Read 3:17–18 slowly. Ask, “What changed? His circumstances, or Habakkuk?”

Key verse

Micah 6:8 ↗
“He hath shewed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the LORD require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?”
In plain words: God has already shown you what matters: act fairly and honestly, love showing mercy (not just putting up with it), and walk through life humbly beside Him.
🙌 Keep it simple for teens: three beats. “Do justly” = one hand flat like a level · “love mercy” = hand over the heart · “walk humbly with thy God” = two fingers walking across the palm. Say it together twice, then try it with eyes closed.

More verses

Habakkuk 1:2 ↗
“O LORD, how long shall I cry, and thou wilt not hear! even cry out unto thee of violence, and thou wilt not save!”
In plain words: Lord, how long do I have to keep praying before You hear me? I keep telling You about the violence, and You don’t fix it!
Habakkuk 2:3 ↗
“For the vision is yet for an appointed time, but at the end it shall speak, and not lie: though it tarry, wait for it; because it will surely come, it will not tarry.”
In plain words: The answer has its own right time. It will come, and it will be true. If it feels slow, keep waiting; it is coming.
Habakkuk 3:17–18 ↗
“Although the fig tree shall not blossom, neither shall fruit be in the vines; the labour of the olive shall fail, and the fields shall yield no meat; the flock shall be cut off from the fold, and there shall be no herd in the stalls: Yet I will rejoice in the LORD, I will joy in the God of my salvation.”
In plain words: Even if everything I was counting on falls apart, I will still find joy in the Lord, because He is the one who saves me.
Nahum 1:7 ↗
“The LORD is good, a strong hold in the day of trouble; and he knoweth them that trust in him.”
In plain words: The Lord is good. When trouble hits, He is a fortress, and He personally knows everyone who trusts Him.

Forehead Guess words18 words

  • 🗼 Habakkuk
  • ⚖️ Micah
  • 🏰 Nahum
  • 🎶 Zephaniah
  • 👀 Watchtower
  • 🐎 Babylon
  • 🏙️ Nineveh
  • ⭐ Bethlehem
  • 🛢️ Rivers of Oil
  • 🌳 Fig Tree
  • 🧭 Faith
  • 💗 Mercy
  • 🙇 Humility
  • 🧑‍⚖️ Justice
  • 🛡️ Stronghold
  • 🚜 Plowshare
  • 🌊 Depths of the Sea
  • ✍️ Vision
Clues for each word
  • Habakkuk: Prophet who asked God “How long?”
  • Micah: Prophet who summed it up: justly, mercy, humbly
  • Nahum: Prophet who called the Lord a strong hold
  • Zephaniah: Prophet who said the Lord rejoices over us with singing
  • Watchtower: Where Habakkuk waited for an answer
  • Babylon: The Chaldeans’ empire that shocked Habakkuk
  • Nineveh: Assyria’s capital; Nahum said it would fall
  • Bethlehem: Micah 5:2 named it 700 years early
  • Rivers of Oil: Ten thousand of them still miss the point
  • Fig Tree: Even if it doesn’t blossom, I will rejoice
  • Faith: The just shall live by it
  • Mercy: The Lord delights in it (Micah 7:18)
  • Humility: How we walk with God
  • Justice: Acting fairly and honestly
  • Stronghold: A fortress in the day of trouble
  • Plowshare: Swords get beaten into these (Micah 4:3)
  • Depths of the Sea: Where forgiven sins get thrown
  • Vision: Write it plainly so a runner can read it
▶ Play Forehead GuessFull screen, 60-second timer, works on any phone.

Scripture Showdown9 questions

  1. What three things does Micah 6:8 say the Lord requires?
    • A. Fast, pray, tithe
    • B. Do justly, love mercy, walk humbly
    • C. Build, sacrifice, obey
    Show answer

    ✅ B. Do justly, love mercy, walk humbly Micah 6:8. Jesus called the same ideas the “weightier matters of the law” (Matthew 23:23).

  2. Which town did Micah name as the birthplace of Israel’s eternal Ruler?
    • A. Nazareth
    • B. Jerusalem
    • C. Bethlehem
    Show answer

    ✅ C. Bethlehem Micah 5:2, quoted by Herod’s scribes in Matthew 2:4–6.

  3. Habakkuk’s first question to the Lord was basically…
    • A. “How long?”
    • B. “Where should I go?”
    • C. “Who are You?”
    Show answer

    ✅ A. “How long?” Habakkuk 1:2: “O LORD, how long shall I cry, and thou wilt not hear!”

  4. Why did the Lord’s first answer confuse Habakkuk even more?
    • A. It never came
    • B. God would use wicked Babylon to discipline Judah
    • C. It was in a language he couldn’t read
    Show answer

    ✅ B. God would use wicked Babylon to discipline Judah Habakkuk 1:5–13. He couldn’t see why a holy God would use a worse nation.

  5. Where did Habakkuk go to wait for the Lord’s answer?
    • A. His watchtower
    • B. The temple
    • C. A cave
    Show answer

    ✅ A. His watchtower Habakkuk 2:1: he set himself upon the tower to watch for what the Lord would say.

  6. Which line from Habakkuk does Paul quote three times?
    • A. “Yet I will rejoice”
    • B. “How long shall I cry”
    • C. “The just shall live by his faith”
    Show answer

    ✅ C. “The just shall live by his faith” Habakkuk 2:4; Romans 1:17; Galatians 3:11; Hebrews 10:38.

  7. Nahum called the Lord “a strong hold in the day of” what?
    • A. Battle
    • B. Trouble
    • C. Harvest
    Show answer

    ✅ B. Trouble Nahum 1:7: the Lord is good, and He knows those who trust Him.

  8. In Habakkuk 3, what had changed by the time he sang “Yet I will rejoice”?
    • A. Habakkuk himself
    • B. Babylon had been defeated
    • C. The crops had come back
    Show answer

    ✅ A. Habakkuk himself His circumstances were the same. His trust in the Lord had grown.

  9. Micah 7:19 says the Lord casts our forgiven sins where?
    • A. Into the fire
    • B. Into the depths of the sea
    • C. Behind a mountain
    Show answer

    ✅ B. Into the depths of the sea The Lord “delighteth in mercy” and doesn’t keep repented sins on display.

▶ Play Scripture ShowdownTeams take turns on one screen.

From general conference

“To do justly means acting honorably with God and with other people. We act honorably with God by walking humbly with Him. We act honorably with others by loving mercy.”

— Elder Dale G. Renlund, “Do Justly, Love Mercy, and Walk Humbly with God,” October 2020

Read in the Micah 6:8 scripture step, before the question about loving mercy.

Read the talk ↗
“When those moments come and issues surface, the resolution of which is not immediately forthcoming, hold fast to what you already know and stand strong until additional knowledge comes.”

— Elder Jeffrey R. Holland, ““Lord, I Believe”,” April 2013

Read with the third Questions Welcome question, after the Habakkuk story.

Read the talk ↗

Songs

  • How Firm a Foundation Hymns, no. 85

    A hymn about the Lord as a sure foundation through fire and flood: Nahum’s strong hold and Habakkuk’s faith in song. Find it ↗

  • I Need Thee Every Hour Hymns, no. 98

    Walking humbly with God, put to music. Find it ↗

  • O Little Town of Bethlehem Hymns, no. 208

    The first Sunday of December and Micah 5:2: a natural start to the Christmas season. Find it ↗

This week’s challenge

Watchtower Notes

Open a note on your phone called “Watchtower.” Write one question or decision you’re bringing to the Lord. Pray about it every day this week. Each night, add one line: a verse, a thought, a talk or a feeling that helped. Also choose one Micah 6:8 action each day. Do something honest, something merciful, or say a humble, real prayer.

Text the parents

Today in class we studied Habakkuk. He asked God hard questions and waited on his watchtower. He learned that “the just shall live by his faith,” in Habakkuk 2:4. We also read Micah 6:8: do justly, love mercy, walk humbly with God. Your youth started a “Watchtower” note for one question or decision they’re bringing to the Lord. Ask: “Is there anything you’re waiting on the Lord about that I could pray about with you?”

📝 After class

What worked? Who needs a check-in this week? Jot it here on a printed copy, or in the app’s private class notes.

Got extra time?

👯 Twin Prophecies · 5 min

  1. Half the class reads Micah 4:1–3. The other half reads Isaiah 2:2–4. Race to spot what’s the same.
  2. Micah and Isaiah lived at the same time. They saw the same vision of people streaming to the mountain of the Lord’s house.
  3. Ask, “What is the mountain of the Lord’s house today?” Then ask, “What would ‘beating swords into plowshares’ look like in your friend group or online?”

📈 Chapter 1 vs. Chapter 3 · 6 min

  1. In pairs, skim Habakkuk 1 and Habakkuk 3. List three words that describe his mood in each chapter.
  2. Ask, “What happened in between? What does chapter 2 teach about getting from chapter 1 to chapter 3?”
  3. Invite them to write their own private, two-line “Yet I will rejoice” statement about something hard right now.

📦 Questions from the Box · 8 min

  1. Pick one question from the anonymous box that would help the whole class. Do it now if there’s time, or next week.
  2. As a class, search Gospel Library, the Topical Guide and general conference talks for help. Give different youth different sources.
  3. Model the pattern. What do we already know? What do the scriptures and prophets say? What’s still unknown? How do we live faithfully while we wait?

🎶 The Lord Sings over You · 4 min

  1. Read Zephaniah 3:14–20 together. List every reason the verses give to rejoice.
  2. Ask, “Zephaniah pictures the Lord rejoicing over His people with singing. How does that change how you picture His feelings about you?”
  3. Compare 3 Nephi 17:20–21. Jesus says His joy is full as He blesses the people.

🔨 Bidding War · 4 min

  1. Pick a loud auctioneer. Say, “We’re auctioning off God’s approval. What would you offer to impress Him? Bids, please!”
  2. Let the bids climb. Perfect seminary attendance. Two missions. A 4.0 and a full-ride scholarship.
  3. Stop at the peak and read Micah 6:6–7. Say, “Same auction, 2,700 years ago.” Then read Micah 6:8 as God’s answer.

Sources

Scripture quotations are from the King James Version, the Bible used by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Tap or click a reference to open it in Gospel Library. Start with the official Come, Follow Me manual; these ideas are here to help it come alive.

All Youth 16–18 lessons