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"Your chariots of salvation"

Text: Habakkuk 3:8

THE ANGER OF THE LORD

Habakkuk’s musing about God led him to ponder a difficult aspect- “The anger of the Lord!” The anger of the Lord was one of the themes found in Psalm 90 written by Moses. The prophet Isaiah also wrote on the subject of the anger of the Lord in his book (Isaiah 5:25; 9:12, 17, 21; 10:4).

“O LORD, were You displeased with the rivers,
Was Your anger against the rivers,
Was Your wrath against the sea,
That You rode on Your horses,
Your chariots of salvation?
Your bow was made quite ready;
Oaths were sworn over Your arrows.
You divided the earth with rivers.”
Habakkuk 3:8-9

1. “O LORD”

a) Habakkuk used this word formally.

b) This was to express utmost respect of God as “the LORD”.

c) His majesty and sovereignty were in mind.

2. Use of personification

a) Rivers (Water covers the larger part of the planet earth!)

b) Sea

c) Reference to God’s anger

i) Perhaps a reference to a huge storm.

ii) Swollen rivers.

iii) An angry tumultuous sea.

3. “You rode on Your horses, Your chariots of salvation”

a) This was an attempt to describe God on a warpath.

b) Horses

i) The Chaldeans had a powerful cavalry (Habakkuk 1:8).

ii) But God’s horses were more than a match against the cavalry of the Chaldeans.

iii) God’s chariots were for the salvation/deliverance of His people.

4. Weapons of God

a) The bow symbolized the power of God.

b) God made an oath over His arrows to consecrate them.

The sacred arrows would be sent to defeat the enemy and to deliver His people!