But, they laughed!

When God asks us to believe, to trust Him, in our faith we risk looking ridiculous.

Remember when Moses led the people of Israel out of Egypt and a few days later found himself up against the Red Sea with the chariots and horsemen of the Egyptian army coming to reclaim their slaves? To any reasonable person, it looked like the thing was over, dead, and done! The super-power of that era had a disorganized bunch of former slaves trapped against an impassable body of water.

So, what was Moses to do? Negotiate the best settlement possible? Fall on his sword and let the Egyptians kill him in retribution for the rebellion? Run off into the night and save his own skin? Each of those solutions had some merit, but here is what really happened –
“Then the Lord said to Moses, “Why are you crying out to me? Tell the Israelites to move on. Raise your staff and stretch out your hand over the sea to divide the water so that the Israelites can go through the sea on dry ground.” (Exodus 14:15-17) The act was utterly ridiculous. I have a feeling that some of the people expressed real scorn, but he did it and we have the miracle of their deliverance as well as the destruction of the army!

Even the Perfect Man, Jesus, felt the scorn of those who did not believe, who found His complete faith a thing to be mocked. One day He was asked to go to the home of Jairus, a respected leader, whose daughter had died. When He got there, He was met with “reality.” The mourners were already there doing the rituals of grief common in the day.

Jesus ‘saw’ a different fact, informed by obedience to His Father and HE said, “Go away. The girl is not dead but asleep.” But they laughed at him.”  (Matthew 9:24) Based on the evidence, His assertion was ridiculous, except for a greater reality! Matthew goes on to tell us that He dismissed the mockers, those who only saw ‘reality.’  Then, “He went in and took the girl by the hand, and she got up.”

If we choose to walk with God, we will find ourselves the objects of ridicule, not because we actually try to be weird or offensive, but because faith collides so often with what is seen and known with natural senses.

How dumb does it seem to ‘turn the other cheek’ to that person who takes advantage of us?
How can we possibly forgive those who offend us 77 times, in other words, without limit?
How silly is it to pass up riches on earth to ‘store up treasure in Heaven?’
How can we actually think it is great to serve, to give up our life, to gain eternal reward?

Yet, each of those things are choices Jesus tells us are the values of the person who claims to be His follower!

God invites us to ‘walk with the Spirit’ listening to a drum that those who lack spiritual insight cannot hear. In so doing, we will face laughter, regarded as fools for Christ. Paul wrote to the Corinthian church, one where there were sophisticates who mocked his simple Gospel. He told them, “Do not deceive yourselves. If any of you think you are wise by the standards of this age, you should become “fools” so that you may become wise. For the wisdom of this world is foolishness in God’s sight. As it is written: “He catches the wise in their craftiness.” 

When the ‘wise’ ones pointed out Paul’s suffering as evidence of his apparent failure, his reply is sarcastic, acknowledging the very real pain he had endured. “For it seems to me that God has put us apostles on display at the end of the procession, like those condemned to die in the arena. We have been made a spectacle to the whole universe, to angels as well as to human beings. We are fools for Christ, but you are so wise in Christ! We are weak, but you are strong! You are honored; we are dishonored! To this very hour we go hungry and thirsty, we are in rags, we are brutally treated, we are homeless.”  (1 Corinthians 4)

He concludes with an appeal to them to consider the way of faith, to let God lead them rather than just ‘common sense’ or human reality.

This, too, is our call. It is not that we discard all reality or counsel. We live in this world and need to pay attention to the laws of gravity, the best advice for health, to pay our bills, and meet our obligations of work and productivity. BUT, at the very same time, we become people with eyes that see beyond time, who are led by the Spirit, shaped by the wisdom of the Scripture, and kept in the counsel of the godly.

Are you willing to risk ridicule for God’s sake?
He will lead you to life to the full and ultimately to the reward of eternity.

Here is a word from the Word. May this Psalm inspire us to greater obedience.
“Oh, the joys of those who do not follow the advice of the wicked,
or stand around with sinners, or join in with mockers.

But they delight in the law of the Lord, meditating on it day and night.
They are like trees planted along the riverbank, bearing fruit each season.
Their leaves never wither, and they prosper in all they do.

But not the wicked!
They are like worthless chaff, scattered by the wind.
They will be condemned at the time of judgment.
Sinners will have no place among the godly.

For the Lord watches over the path of the godly,
but the path of the wicked leads to destruction.” – Psalm 1 NLT

Now let’s walk with God!

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