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bigmike

Habakkuk 3:3 (LSB) 3 God comes from Teman, And the Holy One from Mount Paran. Selah. His splendor covers the heavens, And the earth is full of His praise.
As Habakkuk spoke the words of his appeal to God, he painted an image of God rescuing His people.
Verse 3, above, was just one of many verses written by this method.
His imagery was largely drawn from past experiences and happenings involving the nation of Israel and God’s covenant people.
The Jews were known for their idolatry; spiritual adultery committed against God.
This frequently resulted in God’s chastening of His people. The punishment would often involve purging the idolaters in massive numbers. Seeing this would cause the remaining Israelites to repent and humble themselves before God, at least for a time.
Habakkuk’s cry was that God would once again purge the idolaters as in days gone by instead of allowing the nation to be ransacked and marauded by outsiders, with people being exiled to foreign lands in mass numbers.
Habakkuk 3:4-5 (LSB) 4 His brightness is like the sunlight; He has rays flashing from His hand, And there is the hiding of His strength. 5 Before Him goes pestilence, And plague comes after Him.
As we continue through chapter 3, we see numerous allusions to these past events.
Verses 4-5 above revisit God’s dealings with Pharoah, as He punished him for not releasing His people from their slavery in Egypt.
And here, in verse 6, Habakkuk reinforces God's sovereignty as he recounts the events that took place at creation.
Habakkuk 3:6 (NKJV) 6 He stood and measured the earth; He looked and startled the nations. And the everlasting mountains were scattered, The perpetual hills bowed. His ways are everlasting.
And as Habakkuk continued, he painted a picture of the future redemption of God’s people.
Habakkuk 3:10-11 (NKJV) 10 The mountains saw You and trembled; The overflowing of the water passed by. The deep uttered its voice, And lifted its hands on high. 11 The sun and moon stood still in their habitation; At the light of Your arrows they went, At the shining of Your glittering spear.
Habakkuk trusted God and His plan for the Israelites, even though he struggled to understand what he was seeing in the present.
Please join us again tomorrow as we bring this study to a close.
Pastor Curt & Pastor Ellie

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