Laughing Stock
It is Sunday morning, 19th December, the year 2021, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today.
“We have become a reproach to our neighbours,
A scorn and derision to those who are around us.”Psalm 79:4
Yes, the laughing stock, have you ever felt like that? Have you ever been mocked by your neighbours? Have you ever felt that you are just no good? Well, let's go to Acts 4:13:
“Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John and perceived that they were uneducated and untrained men, they marvelled. And they realized that they had been with Jesus.”
We must never ever despise small beginnings. You know, William Carey stood up and said, “We need to go to India and tell the Indian people about Jesus Christ.” And the theologians basically told him to sit down and shut up. “If God wants to save India, He will do it. He doesn’t need you.” But William Carey nevertheless went. That man translated the Indian Bible into many Indian languages.
A man was rebuking him and humiliating him one day. He said, “I believe that you are a shoemaker by trade.”He replied: “No Sir. I am not a shoemaker, I am a cobbler - I can’t make shoes, I can only repair them.”
And yet, when the Holy Spirit came upon him, that man translated the Indian languages into English and he became the Chief Interpreter in New Delhi, for the English government. I want to say to you that God is no respecter of persons. He will use any man who puts his hand up.
C.H. Spurgeon is regarded by the Baptists as the prince of preachers and yet he had no formal theological training. He had a very strong country accent and yet at the age of 21, he used to fill the churches in London - They built the London Tabernacle especially for him, it could seat 10,000 people.
We must not listen to the mocking and become a laughing stock because if the Lord is with us, He becomes our ultimate teacher. If we go to Acts 17:6, listen to what the word of God says:
“But when they did not find them, they dragged Jason and some brethren to the rulers of the city, crying out, “These who have turned the world upside down have come here too.”
We just need to use what we have got and the Lord will do the rest. This holiday time, take time out to see what the Lord has got prepared for you next year. Remember, if you aim at nothing, you are sure to hit it. We say here at Shalom, “If your vision does not scare you, it is not big enough.”
Have a wonderful Sunday as you contemplate what God has got prepared for you.
God bless you and goodbye.