*!!Due to time restraints I had to end this sermon with having preached :6b-c only!!*
The BLINDNESS In MISINTERPRETING GOD’s WAY--IV—Habakkuk 1:6b-c(:5-11)
Attention:
I was watching a 'Hallmark Movie’ the other day.
Actress Candice Cameron Bure(a Hallmark staple)—was sitting at a dining table with her boyfriend/beau/man.
Candice’s character was so excited & all aglow(as it were), because she had received hints that her beau was going to propose to her during their supper together.
She was a soon-to-be practicing Medical Doctor who was awaiting acceptance of a lucrative medical assignment in a prestigious Boston hospital.
The couple sat at the nice supper table, with all the finery. And they both told each other that they were excited to be together, because they had important news to divulge to the other.
She excitedly informed her ‘soon-to-be-fiancée’ of her upcoming medical appointment, & how their lives would be blissfully wonderful in Boston.
On the other hand, her ‘soon-to-be-fiancée’ excitedly & very decisively explained that he knew that they should ‘break up.’ He knew that she was not following her heart, & was not truly ‘in love with him’, but was rather completing her ‘list’ of things to accomplish in life.
Like Candace Bure’s character, people can badly misread or misinterpret vital things in their lives.
And a person can ALSO do that with their relationship to/with God.
People can so badly misread or misinterpret God’s ways, so as to bring great distress to their life & to the lives of others.
Because, Misinterpreting God’s way, easily blind-sides a person to the true significance of God’s actions & inactions.
Need:
*Some people misinterpret the multitude of heartaches experienced in life, & blame God.
And those who are so blinded, regularly misinterpret God’s way.....
....Such Christians are not concerned with reading God’s revelation of Himself(the Bible) so they can know God better, grow closer to Him, & understand His ways. they neglect fellowship with believers. They neglect their own God-ordained giftedness.
•Such Christians neglect the seriousness & necessity of maintaining a close relationship with believers thru the local & global Church.
•And thru such neglect, such people become disenchanted with God, with the Church at large, & of course, with the local church....!Dangerous Territory!
People who misinterpret God’s way, have ‘the audacity’ to think God is impersonal, vindictive, impulsive, & illogical!
*Whereas people who properly interpret God’s actions, live & share the abundant blessings that are common to Citizens of the Kingdom of God, thru Christ Jesus, by personal faith.
Last week in Habakkuk, we were in verses :5-11, & found that:
Misinterpreting God’s way, blinds you to...
1. A SUFFOCATING INSULATION(:5)
-&-
2. The EXTREME REACH Of GOD’s COMPASSION(:6a)
TODAY, in verses :5-11, we’ll find that:
3—Misinterpreting God’s way, ALSO blinds you to...
The COST & CASUALTY Of RESCUE(:6b-11)[part-1--:6b-c]
Explanation:(:6-11)Collateral/Price/Loss/Hurt
:6—A bitter & hasty nation Which marches through the breadth of the earth, To possess places that are not theirs.
:7—“They are terrible & dreadful; Their judgment & their dignity proceed from themselves.”
:8—“Their horses also are swifter than leopards, And more fierce than evening wolves. Their chargers charge ahead; Their cavalry comes from afar; They fly as the eagle that hastens to eat.”
:9—“They all come for violence; Their faces are set like the east wind. They gather captives like sand.”
:10—“They scoff at kings, And princes are scorned by them. They deride every stronghold, For they heap up earthen mounds & seize it.”
:11—“Then his mind changes, & he transgresses; He commits offense, Ascribing this power to his god.”
Here in :6-11, God is letting Judah/Israel know, in no uncertain terms, that they will be ‘chastised’ or punished for their continual disobedience to God.
•And particularly so, after Judah had personally witnessed the God-ordained downfall of the Northern Kingdom of Israel some one-hundred years prior(722BC)!(cf. Jer. 3:6-11)
Jer. 3:6-11—“The LORD said also to me in the days of Josiah the king: “Have you seen what backsliding Israel has done? She has gone up on every high mountain & under every green tree, & there played the harlot. And I said, after she had done all these things, ‘Return to Me.’ But she did not return. And her treacherous sister Judah saw it. Then I saw that for all the causes for which backsliding[conscious abandonment] Israel had committed adultery, I had put her away & given her a certificate of divorce; yet her treacherous sister Judah did not fear, but went & played the harlot also. So it came to pass, through her casual harlotry, that she defiled the land & committed adultery with stones & trees. And yet for all this her treacherous sister Judah has not turned to Me with her whole heart, but in pretense,” says the LORD. Then the LORD said to me, “Backsliding[conscious abandonment] Israel has shown herself more righteous than treacherous Judah.”
•And now, YHWH-God is going to accomplish JUDAH’s punishment in the same way & for the same reason, by turning them over to the Chaldeans, or more specifically, the Babylonians(:6a). YHWH-God is turning His people Judah over to the ungodly & worldly, to the ways of utter pagans, whom Judah has proven herself to trust in!
*Judah has fully-invited God’s punishment upon themselves, & Judah is being warned thru Habakkuk’s record, of the dire consequences of their trusting worldly alliances, INSTEAD of trusting YHWH-God, the Lord!
And God presents the Chaldeans to Judah as...
:6b—“...A bitter & hasty nation...”
“The Chaldeans” are known to many nations thru the testimony of their authoritarian military accomplishments/deeds.
•In Habakkuk’s day, “the Chaldeans” were known to be ‘resentful’ & ‘arrogant’ in heart & mind.
•Because YHWH-God Himself thru Habakkuk, tells us that “The Chaldeans” are “a bitter” “nation.” They are Unforgiving.
?Is unforgiveness a weak spot in YOUR God-offered armor?
“Bitter”—rm mar, OR(fem.)--hrm maw-raw’—•Adj. Masc. Sing. Absolute—1) Bitter, bitterness—1a) Of water or food, 1b) Of harlot's end, end of wickedness, cry(fig.), 1c) Of pain(substantive). Adverb—2) Bitterly. Strong—Bitter(literally or figuratively); also (as noun)--Bitterness, or adverbially--Bitterly Used 38X.?From—rrm maw-rar'—properly--To trickle[see rm—a drop](To not have enough-BKS); but used only as a denominative from rm OR(fem.)--hrm; To be(causatively--Make) bitter(literally or figuratively); a primitive root.
•And so, they were ‘imperialistic’ in political practice. That is, they sought to extend their country's power & influence to & through other countries by brute military force.
•“The Chaldeans” were ALSO recognized by God to be a “hasty nation.” That is, their resentful “bitterness” would have led them to quickly act on whatever advantage they might have over their enemies, regardless of any moral direction other than their own(:7).
•And in so doing, “the Chaldeans” did not fully consider nor care about the ramifications of their actions.
•They were more concerned to act against other nations, including Judah, while they had the upper hand.
:6c—“Which marches through the breadth of the earth, to possess dwelling places that are not theirs.”
•“The Chaldeans” are known to “march thru the breadth of the earth.”
•That is, in their military exploits, “the Chaldeans” are not deterred or hindered by ‘political boundaries’ that other countries have established for & between themselves.
And in their resentful & inconsiderate manner, “the Chaldeans” “march” for the purpose of expanding their own land holdings & possessions...so that they could “possess” the lands & homes that other nations had built & called ‘home.’ No “nation” would escape “the Chaldean’s” entry into their territory.
•Ironically, when Israel first entered ‘the Promised Land’, they knew that by YHWH-God’s power, they had done the very same thing to the Canaanites, who dwelt there!
•And now, because Judah/Israel did not continue to trust in YHWH-God, He is “raising up the Chaldeans”, in order to give them free reign, to ‘come-down-on’ the Judeans/Israel.
So in answer to Habakkuk’s frustrating quandary of verse :2, to loosely quote Adrian Rogers—“Life is not [so much] a problem to be solved, but is [rather] a mystery to be lived”—by the power of God that has been granted to us thru His Holy Spirit.
*These verses—:6b-11— describe the humanistic bent of that nation that God has chosen & given authority to, in order to ‘chastise’ Judah.
•Jesus ALSO warned us of the seriousness regarding true discipleship:
•Luke 14:26-33—“If anyone comes to Me & does not hate his father & mother, wife & children, brothers & sisters, yes, & his own life also, he cannot be My disciple. And whoever does not bear his cross & come after Me cannot be My disciple. For which of you, intending to build a tower, does not sit down first & count the cost, whether he has enough to finish it-- “lest, after he has laid the foundation, & is not able to finish, all who see it begin to mock him, “saying, ‘This man began to build & was not able to finish.’ “Or what king, going to make war against another king, does not sit down first & consider whether he is able with ten thousand to meet him who comes against him with twenty thousand? Or else, while the other is still a great way off, he sends a delegation & asks conditions of peace. So likewise, whoever of you does not forsake all that he has cannot be My disciple.”
Illustration:
The danger of living in a known ‘flood plain’ is real & mortally telling! When certain atmospheric conditions come together in a ‘perfect-storm’ situation, certain parcels of land become flooded. It then becomes apparent that someone should have done their homework, & their job, & prevented the sale of such land for residential use. It becomes apparent that the County Commissioners should have been more concerned about the safety of the county’s residents, than increasing the per-capita income, by poorly thought-out means.
‘Greed reigns’ wherever private homes & planned communities become located in & along ‘flood-prone’ areas.
*There is an area in Tallahassee Florida, that floods regularly. You drive by it & it is obvious that no one should have a house there. Yet an entire neighborhood is in that flood zone, & I am sure there are others. Again, No one prioritized the safety of future residents!
And the ‘tax-payers’ will eventually have to come to the rescue of those effected!
*Bennettsville, SC houses entire neighborhoods are within the floodplain of ‘Crooked Creek’!
The COST & CASUALTY Of RESCUE
*When God’s people step out of God’s will, it makes it ‘dangerously difficult’ for everyone around you!
In regard to the Judah of Habakkuk’s day, a nation with an opposing & detrimental morality & mores(môraz), will take Judah to task, to Judah’s detriment, for their(Judah’s) failure to honor God!
Application:
?Do YOU see The COST & CASUALTY Of RESCUE, needed to bring a proper interpretation & application of God’s way?
?Do YOU have an unwarranted frustration with God’s way?
?What is the COST & CASUALTY Of 'YOUR' RESCUE?
CONCLUSION:
Visualization:
Recall the shock & disappointment suffered by Candace Bure’s character in the Hallmark movie.
She badly misread & misinterpreted the actions of her ‘anticipated’ fiancée.
She badly misread & misinterpreted the very things that were vital to both their lives.
And we can ALSO do that with our relationship to/with God.
People can so badly misread or misinterpret God’s ways, so as to bring great distress to their life & to the lives of others.
Misinterpreting God’s way, easily blind-sides a person to the true significance of God’s actions & inactions.
Action:
Misinterpreting God’s way, blinds you to...
3. The COST & CASUALTY Of RESCUE(:6b-11)[part-1--:6b-c]
1. A SUFFOCATING INSULATION(:5)
2. The EXTREME REACH Of GOD’s COMPASSION(:6a)
*!!Due to time restraints I had to end the sermon with having preached :6b-c only!!*
Presented :6b only! 08/03/2025 am to:
Salem Baptist Church
1618 Salem Rd.
Bennettsville, SC 29512
