Chapter 3
2023 - Note that word "Shigionoth" in vs 1. That word is only in the Bible two times, here and in Psa 7:1. The word "Selah" is also used in this chapter. Habakkuk's prayer is a psalm, possibly intended for singing by many. Yes...because the last vs of 3 says "To the choirmaster: with stringed instruments."
Introduced in vs 1 as "A prayer of Habakkuk the Prophet..." Asks first that God have mercy, even in His wrath. It starts off for all the world like a psalm. It talks about Shigionoth, and ends with Selah. MSB confirms. They think this chapter was a "song".
vs 3 starts a praise of the power of God, His omnipotence over all that is. He is over nations, and over nature. He changes the "planet's features" at will.
vss 7-12 paint a picture of an avenging God, unleashing arrows on/against the earth and sinful man. Anomaly in the heavens is mentioned - sun/moon are still. This God does (vs 13) "...for the salvation of your people..." I would say this is an end times reference. The heavenly signs seem only associated with end times. Here is another good study.
Habakkuk, in context, is also referring to the "near" fulfillment. He is frightened to the core at the prospect of invading Assyrians (or Babylonians?) but this verse:
16 ...Yet I will quietly wait for the day of trouble to come upon people who invade us. [Hab 3:16b ESV] or on the invasion.
Lesson: Knowing God's plan makes us confident in our circumstances.
These vss:
17 Though the fig tree should not blossom, nor fruit be on the vines, the produce of the olive fail and the fields yield no food, the flock be cut off from the fold and there be no herd in the stalls, 18 yet I will rejoice in the LORD; I will take joy in the God of my salvation. [Hab 3:17-18 ESV]
No matter what happens, it is of God, and we joy always in Him.
A good FB post for Nov 2, the day before the election.
(Prov. 16:1-4 all go together, contrasting the discernment of man toward himself with God's perfect discernment. We can be "certain" of ourselves, and still wrong before God.)