The heart may ache even in laughter, and joy may end in grief. You have tasted the bitter darts of mockery, and it has wounded your spirit. But do not marvel that the ungodly world hates the image of Christ seen in His people, it has always been so. When they scoffed at our Master upon the tree, they gave proof enough that the seed of the serpent will strike at the heel of the seed of the woman. Your neighbour’s sneer, the pictures spread in malice, the contagion of discord, these are but the arrows of the archers. Yet there are archers of envy, archers of temptation, and archers of slander who sorely grieve the upright; their weapons fly from the shadows, cowardly and unseen. Feel their sting if you must, but do not reach for the quiver of Elisha. That prophet’s curse stands in the old record as a solemn warning against mocking God’s messengers, but it is not your commission. Under grace we are called to a more excellent way.
If you would rebuke anything, begin with the roots of bitterness in your own soul. That wicked impulse to call down bears upon the tormentors, it is not the Spirit of Christ, but the wounded pride of the flesh. Let the Lord’s business be your business. And His business is not to demolish neighbours with imprecations, but to save souls. If you make His work your own, you will see these provocations in a new light. The pictures passed in scorn, the laughter with its demonic ring, it is the outward eruption of a soul that is perishing. Should you not pity rather than curse? The business of your life is to bring men to Jesus, and every other matter must be made subservient to that end.
Do you cry out for deliverance? Trust your Father for the body, the business, the reputation, and all. When they said of Christ, “He trusted in the Lord, let Him deliver Him,” it was the very mockery that tried His faith. In your smaller measure, you endure the same: let your trust be undashed. If God in wisdom permits this slander to wound you, it is that your bow may abide in strength. Do not be so alarmed as though a strange thing had befallen you; many of us have felt the lash, and have learned that the place where we think ourselves safest is often the point of assault. The Lord may appoint this very trial to thread your armour and show you your need of Him.
Go, then, and love your neighbour. He is your neighbour still, though he works against you in his malice. Pity the emptiness that feasts on another’s misery; pray that his laughter may yet turn to holy joy in Christ. Let none say that you are only business-like, for to be business-like in a cruel spirit is to be devil-like. Be Christian-like: forgive, pray, and seek his good. This is the radical cure that lays the axe to the root. While you gasp for justice, I hear a sweeter cry: “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.” Let that mind be in you.
The saints’ warfare is not with flesh and blood, but with principalities and powers. In the name of Jesus there is power to subdue every demonic influence, but it is wielded on the knees, not in the clamour of retaliation. Go to your chamber, shut the door, and there make your plea against the powers of darkness that stir up this strife. But when you rise, go forth to do your Father’s business in your street, speak peace, live the Gospel, and trust God to turn even this cursed thing to the conversion of souls. Rest not until Christ is preached in your neighbourhood, and let this upheaval only sharpen your resolve to see sinners saved. If you have plenty, take care that no soul perishes on your doorstep for lack of the bread of life. Let your business be God’s, and you will find sweet employment even in the valley of affliction. Bear the cross without complaint, for the servant is not above his Master, and the Master’s business ploughed His back with gory furrows. Yet from His wounds flowed the balm for our healing. So shall your patient love, in the power of the Spirit, be a means to save some.
Prayer Focus: God, Thank You for loving me. Thank You for loving me, Jesus. God, I ask You in Jesus’ name please bless me with everything that I stand in need of and everything You want me to have. 
