The Negative Power of Mockery

Principle: What you mock you disqualify yourself from the benefit of.

Often we see things that we do not understand or that we think are foolish or outlandish. I have often heard mocking comments in relation to when a leg or arm is lengthened miraculously. Whether by fractions of an inch, or by several inches, such demonstrations of God’s working are an illustration of the spiritual manifestation known in 1 Corinthians 12 as “working of miracles.”

Doctors are unable to do anything remotely resembling such a lengthening of a shortened limb. The best they can do is to break a bone, put the limb in traction and be begin a long and painful process of stretching the limb while allowing the bone to “fill in the gap” created by the break. Too many times have I heard people sarcastically or degradingly refer to the growing out of limbs as “stretching legs” or that “leg growing thing”, not realizing that what they mock may indeed be a demonstration of the power of God and if it is it certainly should not be mocked—especially by believers. When was the last time they grew out an arm or leg?

One of the most remarkable demonstrations of this sort of miracle occurred a few years ago at a church meeting we attended. This particular church had an auditorium that seated around a thousand people. We were on the last row and a young lady was brought to the stage whose arm (I don’t recall whether it was her right or left arm) was about four to five inches shorter than the other (enough distinction in length as could be noted from approximately seventy-five feet away). As we watched, the short arm grew out longer than the other, then drew back, then grew out again and drew back once more settling at the same length as the other. Why the growing back and forth?  Possibly so I could recall it as so dramatic these many years later. It was undeniable to those witnessing this occurrence.

Others mock this particular phenomenon as being no big deal or being fakery. I would remind them that it may not be a big deal to you, but it can be a huge deal to the one experiencing it. In our arrogance we think some miracles are of more value than others. It is like the old saying about minor surgery. Minor surgery is what someone else is having. If it is happening to you—it is no longer minor surgery—it is major.

We need to realize that when God chooses to do something He is not asking our opinion, nor is he asking for our approval. Our lack of appreciation of such workings will disqualify us from the benefits that might be available to us by such a miraculous working. It can even disqualify us from seeing other workings of His power. The writer of Psalm 1 cautioned us about even associating with those who are mockers or scorners.

Proverbs 3:34 tells us that God will mock the mockers but give grace to the contrite. Proverbs 14:6 indicates that a scornful person can disqualify himself from further knowledge due to his mockery. We must understand that when we mock something we set ourselves up as the judge of that which has occurred. Neither you, nor I are qualified to judge and we need to leave the judgment issues up to God and stay out of his business. Proverbs 19:29 even tells us that scorners qualify themselves for judgment. Proverbs 24:9 goes so far as to tell us that a mocker is an abomination to men. That my friends is reason enough to stay away from mocking what may well be the working of the Lord.

Understand that God does need our approval of anything He chooses to do. If you don’t understand something, keep your mouth shut until you have understanding of the truth of the issue. A foolish man is one who will speak without knowledge. Even if we have seen things done to excess (in our opinion, at least), it is doubtful that we are the ones whose responsibility it is to “straighten them out”  Again, we need to understand lines of authority and let God be God. We are not very good at being God ourselves.

God wants to do much in our midst, but we can hinder, or even stop the miraculous if we do not honor it. Mocking is dishonoring and should not be partaken of. Proverbs also warns us that mockers are hard to correct and often not likely to receive correction, but to caution them that what they don’t understand they may want to keep their mouth off of might not be a bad thing. If we as a people will honor the miraculous we will have the benefit of what we honor. Let’s honor what God chooses to do!