45. MOCKING MOTIVATES ME

In your brokenness, some people will genuinely desire to help you (although in the minority) but others can be so unmerciful. If they perceive you are in pain, they come with words calculated to rub it in. If they perceive you’re down, they extend not a helping hand but a foot to kick you down. Even if you are dealing with a difficult season but by the grace of God are in a joyful mood still, they come hoping that you are feeling down because they take twisted pleasure in you feeling pain.

Yesterday, I suffered another bout of ridicule and mocking from someone I had not seen in some years. In the short time that she spent around me, not surprisingly, she used it to say things that made me realize that she was mocking me. She brought up what she knew of some difficulties I had experienced in life, difficulties that she and others had obviously spent quality time to gossip about, without even knowing all the facts.

This morning, in thinking on what transpired yesterday, I wrote:

  • People have said so much but thanks be to GOD that HE has the final say. He knows how to silence the naysayers and when he intervenes to do so, he usually does it in style. He works in such a way that they KNOW that it was him that wrought the miracle. It was him that turned the tide. It was him that sent the blessing. If God be for you, WHO can be against you?

Then, deep in thought again, I wrote:

  • We all need some Penninahs in our lives. As painful as their words of mischief are they drive us to the foot of the cross, to pray prayers that are so fervent and effectual, that sometimes, God intervenes and moves his hand to help us. He silences the Penninahs with the extent of the miracle he works and when this happens, nobody but HE gets the glory.

I can’t speak for anyone else but when people relentlessly come after me, unprovoked, to mock me and to have fun at my expense because they find my difficulties in life to be entertaining, I feel pained and saddened yes but it motivates me to pray, even more effectually and fervently than I would have, had there been no provocation.

In this way, the Penninahs which come are a blessing. They push me closer to God because (1) they remind me of how utterly dependent on him I am and (2) I know that he has the power to turn my situation around and to wipe every mocking smirk off the faces of those who in their pride, find what I have been through (and only almighty God knows all that I’ve been through), funny.

See, I am weak BUT HE IS STRONG.

I take the view that surely, God created me to be more than a laughing stock, to be more than the subject of gossip, mocking and ridicule. This is something I suffered a lot of, as a child, due to my dark complexion and other issues and in adulthood, the devil has not stopped. He keeps sending people to mock me, some with words and others with their treatment of me. Yet, the more they mock, the more I will pray and sometimes, when God’s children pray in this way, fervently and effectually, God, who sees and hears everything, answers.

Sometimes, the God of all power intervenes and brings comfort to your soul, letting you know that:

  • “The Lord shall fight for you, and ye shall hold your peace.” (Exodus 14:14).
  • “When the poor and needy seek water, and there is none, and their tongue faileth for thirst, I the Lord will hear them, I the God of Israel will not forsake them. I will open rivers in high places, and fountains in the midst of the valleys: I will make the wilderness a pool of water, and the dry land springs of water. I will plant in the wilderness the cedar, the shittah tree, and the myrtle, and the oil tree; I will set in the desert the fir tree, and the pine, and the box tree together: That they may see, and know, and consider, and understand together, that the hand of the Lord hath done this, and the Holy One of Israel hath created it.” (Isaiah 41:17-20).
  • “For I will restore health unto thee, and I will heal thee of thy wounds, saith the LORD; because they called thee an Outcast, saying, This is Zion, whom no man seeketh after.” (Jeremiah 30:17).

I may not have much strength or means of my own but I am a dreamer. I’ve always been. I like to think of achieving those things that people think are impossible for me to achieve and to do things that they thought I would never do or that I was disqualified from and in ways that blow their minds. The more they mock, the more it motivates me to dream bigger than before and to take my petition to the Lord.

See, while I can’t make things happen for myself, thankfully, I serve a God that is able to bring dreams to pass. I entrust my dreams into his hands (every one of them) and he causes to flourish what he will. He does away with some things but there are some dreams that he intervenes to bring to fruition, much more beautiful than I could have ever hoped, envisioned, dreamed or imagined.

The Penninahs in my life don’t stop me therefore. They may temporarily contribute to my discouragement but by the grace of almighty God, I don’t stay there. I get up and continue to press on, knowing that I serve a God that is able to work miracles and able to blow the minds of the naysayers.

My life and future are in God’s hands, not man’s. If he wills it therefore, he is able to bring my dreams to pass, despite what the naysayers have said, gossiped or ridiculed me about and despite how people in their pride, thinking that they have arrived because God in his mercy, has allowed them to have something that I don’t have, treat or regard me.

And my dreams are not mediocre. I dream big dreams and dreams of excellence because the God I serve is a big, great and excellent God.

The latest person to take on the role of Penninah and to come after me with mocking, probably went away feeling satisfied with herself because she used the time spent around me strategically, to say mischievous and malicious words. Yet, she is in for a rude awakening because while what she did, hurt, it didn’t stop me. It simply spurred me on. She came hoping to derail and discourage (with instructions from the one who is always trying to kill, steal and destroy) but I only feel more determined, to be everything that God has purposed for me to be and to bring him honour and glory.

(Written on 18th July, 2022)

Dear Reader, if you found the above Article to be interesting, informative or beneficial, you may also be interested in reading the following under the ‘SINGLE Daughters’ page:

  • Note 122 – ‘The Woman Who Wanted A Baby – Key Points From Hannah’s Story’
  • Note 161 – ‘Overcoming Oppression – Spiritual Warfare’
  • Note 171 – ‘Dear Peninnah’
  • Note 305 – ‘The Lady With The Issue Of Blood’

Additionally, under the ‘COURTING Daughters’ page:

  • Note 26 – ‘Pain Fuels The Fire Of My One-Day Vision’
  • Note 30 – ‘What Will Be Your Wedding Day Message?’

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