*!!Due to time restraints I had to end this sermon having preached :7-9 only!!*
The BLINDNESS In MISINTERPRETING GOD’s WAY--V
—Habakkuk 1:7-11(:5-11)
Attention:
I recently returned from visiting family in Iceland. Our last day there, we went for an early evening walk down a trail leading from a dog park just outside the small city of Akranes. Akranes is recognized for it’s small commercial fishing fleet. The temperature was in the upper forties or mid-fifties Fahrenheit. We saw a beautiful sunset beyond the distant mountains across the bay. The water’s edge was rocky in most places. But there were also black sand beaches due to their volcanic composition. Along the path, there were ten or twelve noteworthy points of interest. Each had elevated plaques with their historical significance explained mostly in Icelandic, but some were in English. Our path was also used by the local Icelandic horses, because their hoof-prints & dung were clearly visible.
Along our walk, we came upon a small semi-circular beach. The beach was pristine or so I thought. One thing I noticed there made me chuckle.
You see, in one of my sermons back home, I had used a complaint as an illustration. I had chided ‘who in Marlboro County would do such a thing’, as to throw spent car & truck tires along our county’s ditches?!...What kind of person would blatantly force someone else to clean up the mess that they themselves are responsible for!?
Anyway, there in in lonely Akranes, Iceland....In the middle of the pristine black sand beach, I spied a trashed car tire! I immediately & laughingly said to the family, “Would you look at that! Somebody from Marlboro County has come all the way to Iceland to unload their tires!”
The reality is that ‘the fishermen of Akranes’ regularlly use spent tires as bumpers along docks & sea walls to protect their boats from damage when they are moored. So a stray tire here or there would not be unexpected. Nor would a stray tire be evidence of malicious behavior as in Marlboro County.
Like my initial musings when seeing the used tire on the Akranes beach—People can actually misinterpret vital things....
And PARTICULARLY when a person misinterprets ‘God’s way’!
Misinterpreting ‘God’s way’, blinds a person to the true significance of God’s intentions—His actions, & inactions.
When anyone misinterprets ‘God’s ways’, they ‘naturally’ bring great distress to their life & to the lives of others.
Need:
*When people misinterpret the multitude of heartaches experienced in life, they blame God.
And often, 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 the call to personal godly righteousness. They leave their own God-ordained giftedness, untended.
•Such Christians neglect the seriousness & necessity of maintaining a close relationship with believers thru the local & global Church.
•And such people become disenchanted with God, with the Church at large, & of course, with the local church!
People who misinterpret God’s way, have ‘the audacity’ to think God is uninvolved, impersonal, or vindictive, impulsive, & illogical!
*Whereas people who properly interpret God’s actions, live & share the peace & abundant blessings that are shared among Citizens of the Kingdom of God, thru Christ Jesus, by personal faith.
For some weeks now, in our examination of the prophecy of Habakkuk, we have been in chapter 1. And so far, in verses :5-11, we have found that:
Misinterpreting God’s way, blinds you to...
1. A SUFFOCATING INSULATION(:5)
-&-
2. The EXTREME REACH Of GOD’s COMPASSION(:6a)
And we began to look at Habakkuk’s presentation of:
3. The COST & CASUALTY Of RESCUE(:6b-11)[part-1--:6b-c]
TODAY, in verses :5-11, we are continuing with the truth that:
3—Misinterpreting God’s way, blinds you to...
The COST & CASUALTY Of RESCUE(:6b-11),
So today, we’ll delve into part-2 by looking at verses, :7-9....
:7a—“They are terrible & dreadful;...”
In Habakkuk’s day, the Chaldeans(:6) are a pagan nation who instill fear, “dread”, & awe in all those nations whom they confront & subdue.
That the Chaldeans(:6) are “terrible & dreadful” should not be surprising, given that their ‘moral compass’ is out-of-whack because the Chaldeans set their own standard for morality!(See :7b below)
“Terrible/Feared/Dreaded/Fierce”—Mya aw-yom’—Adj. Masc. Sing. Absolute—1) Terrible, dreadful. Strong—Frightful; from an unused root(meaning to frighten). Used 3X--SOS 6:4, 10; Hab. 1:7.
“Dreadful/Feared/Terrifying”—ary yaw-ray’—Niphal(passive/reflexive) Participle - Active Masc. Sing. Absolute—1) To fear, revere, be afraid; 1b) (Niphal)—1b1) To be fearful, be dreadful, be feared, 1b2) To cause astonishment & awe, be held in awe, 1b3) To inspire reverence or godly fear or awe. Strong—To fear; morally--To revere; causatively--To frighten; a primitive root.
:7b—“...Their judgment & their dignity proceed from themselves.””
The “terrible & dreadful” nature of the Chaldeans in general, is due to the fact that their understanding of “judgment &” “dignity” is self-derived. That is, “their judgment” describes that which is laid down in their own law. So the ‘officially sanctioned determinations’ within the governance of the Chaldeans, is determined by themselves. They do not depend upon any other nation.
•For the Chaldeans, the “judgment &” “dignity” that they operate by & with, DOES NOT “proceed from” or originate with the Almighty Creator God!
•INSTEAD the Chaldean’s principles for guidance for themselves “proceed from themselves” alone.
•And with no guidance of even ‘God’s principles’, much less His direct intervention, the Chaldeans are driven solely by flesh alone, with it’s fleshly desires alone.
•And we know from our own day-to-day American experience, that wherever & whenever the Creator-God of-the-Bible is not freely granted influence, then ANYTHING goes!
*Ironically, Judah is like the pagan “Chaldeans” themselves, in that they are far too ‘self-dignified’, INSTEAD OF having their “dignity” “proceed from” YHWH God!
In contrast to the Chaldeans, those who are truly ‘God’s people’, are expected to point others to YHWH-God by ‘judging with righteous judgment!’
Jn. 7:24—Jesus said,—“Do not judge according to appearance, but judge with righteous judgment.”
•But that is NOT a recent concept for God’s people!
Deut. 1:12-17—Moses to the seminal nation of united Israel—“‘How can I alone bear your problems & your burdens & your complaints? ‘Choose wise, understanding, & knowledgeable men from among your tribes, & I will make them heads over you.’ “And you answered me & said, ‘The thing which you have told us to do is good.’ “So I took the heads of your tribes, wise & knowledgeable men, & made them heads over you, leaders of thousands, leaders of hundreds, leaders of fifties, leaders of tens, & officers for your tribes. Then I commanded your judges at that time, saying, ‘Hear the cases between your brethren, & judge righteously between a man & his brother or the stranger who is with him. You shall not show partiality in judgment; you shall hear the small as well as the great; you shall not be afraid in any man’s presence, for the judgment is God’s. The case that is too hard for you, bring to me[Moses], & I will hear it.’”
*It is no doubt true, that some seated here today, as well as some holding membership in & attending other churches, that in the manner of the Chaldeans, they also live by a “dignity” that “proceeds from themselves”!
:8a—“Their horses also are swifter than leopards, And more fierce than evening wolves....”
YHWH is letting Habakkuk & those of Judah to whom Habakkuk ministers, that Judah will face an unbeatable pagan military that will be something out of Judah’s nightmares.
Here YHWH-God describes the “horses” of the Chaldean military.
•Large “horses” with hooves that can kill, are imposing threats to infantry. They can easily overrun & trample-to-death, any Judean soldier.
•Unlike a ‘trail horse’, these are ‘military “horses”’ that are trained for battle! They are not frightened by a snake in the path, or a dog barking & growling, or a tree limb that might brush them!
•These “horses” would not be swayed by a foot-soldier brandishing a frightening mask, helmet, shield, sword, or spear.
•These “horses” can’t be outrun even by any military warrior, because they are bred & trained to be “swifter” “than leopards.”
•And along with such creaturely attributes, the Chaldean’s “horses” are not bred for the ‘Kentucky Derby’, but are bred & trained to exhibit a “fierceness” about them that can only be compared to a pack of “evening wolves” that swarm their prey from every angle.
•Technically the Hebrew word translated as “fierce” carries the sense of sharpness or keenness, as applied to the senses of the Chaldean “horses.” The Chaldean’s “horses” have keen senses as do wolves in that they know when & where to strike a victim.
:8b—“Their chargers charge ahead; Their cavalry comes from afar; They fly as the eagle that hastens to eat.”
Here the RESOLVE of the military men of the Chaldeans themselves is made plain.
The “Chargers”, “Horsemen”, or “Cavalry” as they are variously translated, are the military warriors of the Cavalry unit, that is they are warriors who are mounted on those horses that were just described.
The Chaldean/Babylonian cavalry is dead set on their goal to devastate Judah.
•They determinedly “charge ahead” in that quest.
•They determinedly “come from afar.” That is, they are prepared for battle in Judah in particular, which is a land “far” from their own land. They have readied & steeled themselves for their victory over other nations whom they do not know, including Judah.
•And they determinedly “fly as the eagle that hastens to eat.”
•?And how & why does “the eagle” “hasten”?--It “flies” with great intent, to descend upon & subdue, whatever food item it has chosen to consume! That will be the Chaldean’s intent for Judah--For the Chaldean’s own personal advantage!
*That is what YHWH-God has determined for Judah to face, BECAUSE of their continuing disregard for their covenant God.
:9—“They all come for violence; Their faces are set like the east wind. They gather captives like sand.”
“All” the Chaldeans/Babylonians will approach Judah with the intent of bringing “violence” upon & against the nation of Judah & the individual Judeans. The Chaldeans do not care that Judah are God’s covenanted people.
The Chaldeans/Babylonians are as determined as is the “east wind” to bring devastation to Israel.
•The “east wind” is a persistent, hot, dry wind that sucks the life out of crops, animals, & people, & thus devastates the land!
The Chaldeans/Babylonians are bent on “gathering captives” of the Judeans. For the Babylonians their “gathering” of slaves, is a cold, calculated business. The Babylonian’s slave-holdings are as commonplace as “sand” comprises a beach or a desert—innumerable! There is no notion of business without forced slavery!
Sadly, I personally cannot help but think of how American ‘businessmen’ & privateers gathered & maintained slaves for their own ends. And how that practice set the tone for America’s early economic successes!
Illustration:
In order to rid someone of the scourge of cancer, medical science generally offers ‘chemotherapy’ & ‘radiation.’ Those two things ‘wreak havoc’ on a person’s immune system. But science has found that since the ‘natural’ system has failed to prevent the cancer’s growth, then healing must come by damaging a great deal of what is good in order to be rid of the cancer.
A person undergoing such therapeutic measures, will become horrible nauseous. Their hair will fall out.
And the hair will ‘usually’ come back differently than what it used to be—color & characteristics(usually curly). However, the hair WILL eventually come back!
The nauseousness may return when attempting to eat what used to be your favorite foods. However you WILL be able to eat other things WITHOUT the nausea!
The COST & CASUALTY Of RESCUE
*When God’s people step out of God’s will, it makes it ‘dangerously difficult’ for them & everyone around them!
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:
Similarly to my thought when seeing the used tire on the Akranes beach—People can actually misinterpret VITAL things....
And PARTICULARLY when a person misinterprets ‘God’s way’!
Misinterpreting ‘God’s way’, blinds a person to the true significance of God’s intentions—His actions, & inactions.
When anyone misinterprets ‘God’s ways’, they ‘naturally’ bring great distress to their life & to the lives of others.
Action:
Misinterpreting God’s way, blinds you to...
3. The COST & CASUALTY Of RESCUE(:6b-11)[part-2--:7-9]
1. A SUFFOCATING INSULATION(:5)
2. The EXTREME REACH Of GOD’s COMPASSION(:6a)
3. The COST & CASUALTY Of RESCUE(:6b-11)[part-1--:6b-c]
Presented 08/24/2025 am to:
Salem Baptist Church
1618 Salem Rd.
Bennettsville, SC 29512
*!!Due to time restraints I had to end this sermon having preached :7-9 only!!*
