The Blindness In Misinterpreting God’s Way-5

*!!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.