Living by the Book/Living by the Book Workbook Set (105 page)

• Why did the author portray such a bleak setting? Why did he feel the need to be so affirming in light of the scene he described?

So what? As you look at this passage, what light can it shed on your life today? How can you take the things you’ve observed and begin to interpret them in a way that makes sense to you?

TODAY’S PASSAGE:

Habakkuk 3:17–19

TIME COMMITMENT:

30 minutes

“Context refers to that which goes before and that which follows after. . . . Whenever you study a verse, a paragraph, a section, even an entire book—always consult the neighbors of that verse, that paragraph, that section, that book. Whenever you get lost, climb a contextual tree and gain some perspective” (pp. 231, 233).

A
s we look again at Habakkuk 3:17–19, we want to move from content to context. Read these verses again. What’s your first impression of Habakkuk’s level of faith in God?

To begin to form a
literary context,
go back and read Habakkuk 3:16. How does that single verse influence the tone of the verses that follow?

Now go back and read the entire book of Habakkuk. (It’s short.) What is the context of the closing passage in light of the rest of the book?

What is significant from a
historical context?
You should have already determined when the book was being written. What else was going on in the world at that time? What is significant about Habakkuk’s message from a political aspect?