The Blindness In Misinterpreting God’s Way-6

The BLINDNESS In MISINTERPRETING GOD’s WAY--VI

—Habakkuk 1:10-11(:5-11)

Attention:

A girl asked a her boyfriend if he thought she was pretty. He said... ‘No.’

She asked him if he would want to be with her forever ... & he said ‘No.’

She then asked him if she were to leave would he cry, & once again he replied with a ‘No.’

She had heard enough. As she walked away, tears streaming down her face the boy grabbed her arm & said:

You're not pretty, you're beautiful. I don't want to be with you forever, I NEED to be with you forever. And I wouldn't cry if you walked away...I'd die.

People can actually misinterpret vital things in their lives....

And likewise, misinterpreting ‘God’s way’, devastatingly blinds a person to the true significance of God’s intentions—they are blinded to the absolute perfections of His actions, the perfections of His inactions, & the perfections of His heart.

So when anyone misinterprets ‘God’s ways’, they paint an inaccurate picture of God for themselves & others, & so they ‘naturally’ bring great distress to their life & to the lives of others.

Need:

*When people misinterpret God’s ways, they find reason to blame God.

Those who misinterpret God’s ways, are not concerned with applying God’s revelation—written & otherwise— to their lives. 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.

•Those who misinterpret God’s ways, find themselves 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, as well as, vindictive, impulsive, & illogical!

*Whereas people who correctly 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.

Quick history:

Following King Solomon’s reign as king of Israel, Israel became split into two kingdoms...The ‘Northern kingdom’ called ‘Israel’, & the ‘Southern Kingdom’ called ‘Judah.’

‘The Northern Kingdom of Israel’ immediately broke from serving YHWH as their God. So God brought the Assyrian armies upon them to scatter & humiliate them.

At the time of Habbakkuk’s writing, the largely governing population of the ‘Northern Kingdom’ had long been conquered by the pagan Assyrians(100+ years), who had forceably exiled ‘The Northern Kingdom’ into various land areas under Assyrian control. And likewise, certain of the populations of other nations whom the Assyrians had conquered, were forceably planted within the Kingdom of Israel, which Assyria then controlled. The purpose was to wrest control away from the conquered inhabitants & assimilate them into Assyrian society.

At the time of Habbakkuk’s writing, ‘Judah’ ALSO had broken from serving YHWH-God! They had not learned from ‘the Northern Kingdom’s’ example! And so Judah as well, was about to be severely punished, but thru the currently reigning pagan Kingdom of the Babylonians(who were considered Chaldeans(1:6)), particularly under King Nebuchadnezzar. Those whom the Babylonians conquered were, in like manner as the Assyrians, exiled, repopulated, & assimilated.

So even we, God’s people, Christians, having had the payment for mankind’s sin accomplished by the promised Messiah, Jesus Christ...And having the Holy Spirit of God permanently indwelling them, are expected to grasp & live our lives with solemn seriousness!

And that leads us to wrestle ‘victoriously’ with the intricacies of, & the doctrinal realities associated with, God’s Good News in Christ, AKA--The Gospel!

The BLINDNESS In MISINTERPRETING GOD’s WAY--VI

—Habakkuk 1:10-11(:5-11)

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:

3A. The COST & CASUALTY Of RESCUE(:6b-11)[part-1--:6b-c]

3B. The COST & CASUALTY Of RESCUE(:6b-11)[part-2--:7-9]

TODAY, we’ll conclude our look into The COST & CASUALTY Of RESCUE(:6b-11), by delving into our third installment of those verses, specifically dealing with verses, :10-11.>.>.>.>.>.>.>

:10a—“They scoff at kings, And princes are scorned by them...”

The Chaldeans(:6)/Babylonians are not swayed by any supposed power wielded by either “kings” or “princes”, regardless of the nation they might attack.

“Princes” would be those in direct lineage to the king. “Princes” would have direct influence thru their father the King, in the workings of the kingdom under whichever King might be in power.

These Chaldeans completely disregard such commonly accepted social norms, such as a fearful regard for those of royalty & the positions those ‘royals’ would hold in a land.

“Scoff/Mock/Deride”—olq kaw-las’—Hithpael(reflexive/reciprocal) Imperfect 3rd Masc. Sing.—1) To mock, scoff—1b) (Hithpael)--To mock, deride, make fun of. Strong—To disparage, i.e. Ridicule; a primitive root. Used 4X--2Kgs. 2:23; Ezek. 16:31; Ezek. 22:5; Hab 1:10.