Determination From Mockery
The arrogant mock me unmercifully, but I do not turn from your law. Psalm 199:51
This past Tuesday my husband’s girl’s basketball team played a team that they were predicted to be able to beat. Our team played very hard the entire night and was able to stay ahead in points, an average of 4 points the entire game. However, in the 4th quarter the other team started to close in and bring the point system to an even closer range. With 17 seconds left in the last quarter our team was ahead by 1 point. The girls knew they had to push hard and play tough defense so that the other team didn’t score a basket in the few remaining seconds.
My husband called a time out to draw up a last play for the team. After the time out, his player who had the ball was instructed it to inbound it to her team mate, who was supposed to drive to the basket for a layup. The 2 girls did exactly that. The first girl passed the ball to her teammate, who was wide open, who sprinted towards the basket and made a very athletic layup. After this happened, instead of the crowd cheering, the entire gym grew silent. She shot at the wrong basket!
Our team ended up losing by 1 point – because the girl made a basket for the other team…
The next day in school this girl was teased, ridiculed, and mocked.
As followers of Christ, often times Christians are teased, ridiculed, and mocked as well. Psalms 119 portrays an example of this, “The arrogant mock me unmercifully…”
During that basketball game there were still 12 seconds to go in the 4th quarter after the girl shot and made the wrong basket. She felt bad; she made a mistake; she had tears in her eyes. What did she do? She decided to stick in the game and play even harder, hoping to make up for her mistake and possibly taking another chance to maybe win the game. The next basketball game she played her heart out, regardless of the teasing and mocking eyes who were watching her from the crowd.
The last part of the sentence of Psalms 119: 51 – “The arrogant mock me unmercifully, BUT I DO NOT TURN FROM YOUR LAW.”
Again, as Christians sometimes we are mocked. We make mistakes at times no matter how hard we try to do right as a follower of Christ. What should we do when we are mocked and teased, what should we do when we make a mistake and want to run and hide? Do as this basketball player did, play your heart out. Come back even stronger.
EM
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