"Have faith in God."
Something good is about to happen to you. I mean, what can go wrong with trusting God? Absolutely nothing. So here is another four-word sermon to change your world!
Mockings may not cut the flesh, but they tear away at the heart; they may shed no blood, but they desire to cause the mind to bleed internally. Whether the cruel mockings come from another blind soul, or your internal conversations with yourself as you persist in faith, believing that God has your back—the end of it all is to 'Have faith in God'
David in the wilderness is hunted by Saul—you, in the 'apparent wilderness' of you standing in hope and faith waiting for the promise, have need of strength and patience. For you too will be hunted by a thousand 'Sauls' each prefering to do things their own way, the old way, the way of the world, the flesh and the devil.
The solution?
'Have faith in God.'
Your day of vindication is coming. Having done all, stand!
Psalm 22:8 reveals the essence of cruel mockings: "He trusted on the Lord that he would deliver him: let him deliver him, seeing he delighted in him.” This happened to Jesus on the cross.
Oh and what a deliverance it was that defeated every last foul and wicked spirit with their ever-deep cesspool of cruel mockings.
Resurrection! Life! Abundance! Redemption!
Wisdom and her children dance in the streets and laugh at those once savage mockings; and all that which once vexed the soul shall be flooded with the light of life.
Come now ye scoffers and mockers and behold the deliverance of the Son of Man: “Never did a man speak like this Man.” Faith and hope and trust flowed from his lips, despite the mockings of religion and state.
Know this: the unsaved world (blind and deaf and dumb and crippled as it is) have no clue what "Have faith in God" means—their only recourse is to mock, to laugh, to jest and snigger. Even your own thoughts rise up against you and say "What a fool I am for trusting in the Lord—even this appears too hard for God."
Ah, but silence those thoughts with the Sword of the Lord.
Say to the giants that rumble and stomp in from Gath, shield-bearers at their side (for they rarely travel alone), these are they that come a mocking. These are they that taunt the very foundations of your fragile house of faith; peering in the windows of your soul and shouting, 'I'll feed your flesh to the ravens you stupid fool!'— then say to them, 'who is this uncircumcised Philistine, that he should defy the armies of the living God?'
Are you not under the Blood Covenant? Under that crimson writ of heaven do you abide. Cut off the heads of those thoughts immediately, boasting fools they be. For the Lamb who was slain has deemed thee more than a conqueror.
Place a promise in your sling young David and let it fly fast and sure...
Every devil has a chink in their armor and the Word will surely find it out, for it will not return void.
'Have faith in God.' is code for 'It is written!'
We are the ones who see and hear and speak and dance, not they. So do not let their impoverished state of pretense to power and influence dictate to kingdom royalty what you should or should not believe. One little word will slay them.
The ungodly world (and perhaps the educated ungodly world even heat their fires seven times hotter here) love to judge the saints by saying - "See, your healing did not come", "See your provision did not arrive." "See, your miracle never happened." "See, your Jesus has not returned has he."
And on and on it goes, ad infinitum - day after day, week after week. They scoff at faith itself: they count faith itself to be a folly of weak minds. The solution?
'Have faith in God.'
Simple. Precise. Beautiful. Powerful.
“God delights in his people.”
Also simple, precise, beautiful, and powerful.
Whereas the ungodly ridicule the idea that God delights in his people, the day shall come when they shall be made to see that he does in fact delight in them. The wicked shall either gnash their teeth at such delight, or repent and join with us in joy unspeakable. Yes Lord!
Remember the prophetic implications of this: Dives sees Lazarus in Abraham’s bosom: what a sight for him! And you who rest in the bosom of faith with the confession of ‘have faith in God’ forever ready on your lips, with Abraham being the father of faith, shall cause that old Dives to say, “dip the tip of your finger in water, and cool my tongue; for I am tormented in this flame.” Make no mistake, that Dive’s tongue, from whence come all cruel mockings, was in desperate need of the water of life!
(In some European countries, the Latin description dives (Latin for "the rich man") is treated as his proper name: Dives.)
They that scoff at God’s people here, shall see them exalted to be kings and priests, to reign with Christ for ever and ever, and what will they say then? “Would to God I had not been such a fool. Would to God I had not been that arrogant mocker. Would to God I had not opened my mouth and made fun of the saints of God—cool my tongue; for I also am tormented in this flame.”
And then men and women scoff at the very idea of divine intervention.
They mock your hope of a miracle, of a deliverance, or a healing
And even within the church this ugly serpent of 'unbelief' rises as a coiled python, hissing and spitting its venom in every direction - chat threads, social media, YouTube, even some Sunday morning pulpits and seminaries.
It has one unrelenting focus; one unrelenting blade, one unrelenting point of contact with your soul—your unrenewed mind—and that is to make the Word of no effect in your life. Remember, persecution and opposition always come BECAUSE of the Word and the utter devastation it will bring on the serpent’s kingdom. The hiss always sounds like a convincing, ‘did God say?’
What is that? Merely an attack on the Word from the beginning of time itself. The serpents origins also cause us to discover his prime attack. “Did God say?”
"He trusts in God to interfere on his behalf. What a fool!”
They do not believe that God fulfils promises, or answers prayers, or delivers his people. He is the Lord of the Exodus still. The solution to the barking and hissings of the world?
'Have faith in God.'
My confession to myself:
“Laugh if you like cruel world, and laugh as long as you like; laugh as loud as you like—but know this: your laughter no more affects me than the noise of a barking dog by the Nile disturbs the flow of that mighty river. For anon, all your mocking and scorn will be turned to rags, and that fit of madness you think as common sense, and that jest of rage that thinks it be so bold; alas it's wickedness shall be manifest at the end, for such be the cankered crown of vile unbelief—and if it still pleases you to go on with your laughter, so be it— I will also go on with my faith.”
Cruel mockings laugh at us—at Joseph in his pit or his prison, or at Jeremiah in the dungeon, or with Lazarus left among the dogs, or at Jairus’ dead daughter, or the cripple at the Gate Beautiful—even Jesus on the cross. They like to spy us out in our time of trouble (yeah, you know that time well; the time between prayer's first breath and the manifestation of redemption). They taunt us with our confidence in God.
Our very presence irritates them.
As a side thought, did you know that demons are irritated by our very presence? Well lets flip the script on them— I am also irritated by their very presence too.
But there is STILL only one thing needful.
Only one thing necessary.
And there will only ever be ONE THING NECESSARY (to rid the atmosphere of every demonic influence)
Tis such a simple thing as well, a thing that will further infuriate the mockers due to its simplicity—and that is to 'Have faith in God.'
Jesus says, "I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you.”
Did I not tell you above that ‘this world with devils filled’ is also irritated by your presence. And in the hymn of Luther it continues: The Prince of Darkness grim, We tremble not for him; His rage we can endure, For lo! his doom is sure, One little word shall fell him.’
Get that one little word on your lips: 'Have faith in God.'
One little word: Faith!
No wonder our confessions and decrees; our standing strong for the God of miracles; the God of Elijah, the God of Israel, the God of Jesus—no wonder the ways of the world often hate us. Because if they cannot mock us into unbelief, if they cannot cause us to stumble and become like them, then they shall hate us all the more. And even here the solution is as simple as it is bright as the morning sun:
'Have faith in God.'
Talk to yourself and say, "Hey soul, what part of 'beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning' don't you understand? What part of 'The Lord hath done great things for them.' did you forget? What part of 'favor encircles me like a shield' did you fail to notice? What part of 'forget not all his benefits' have you indeed forgotten about?'"
'Have faith in God.'