Daily Devotional – I’m Normal.™ I AM Ministries
“To promote Godly living in a culture committed to destroying it”
Monday, December 5, 2016
Prophet and Loss
Are you satisfied with your physical appearance? If so, you’re not alone. Beauty is the gold coin of human worth, and those who lack physical desirability are often mocked. Even God’s prophets fell victim, and today’s devotional discusses how the world’s artificial standards assaulted the prophet Elisha.
Because the world values superficial beauty, many people wish they could change certain features of their bodies. However, God made each of us in His image (Genesis 1:27), with our bodies shaped and designed just the way He wanted them (Jeremiah 1:5, Psalm 139:13). He constructed our physical beings to meet His standards for our life plan and they are perfect in His sight. We are all the perfect height, have the right nose, mouth, teeth, ears, hands, feet, hair, and other body parts for the person God wants each of us to be. In short, everyone’s body was created to be normal, according to His will.
The problem is that we, and sometimes the world, do not always agree. Certain attributes are revered more than others. None of us is exempt from the taunts of the world, but we should take comfort in the fact that God is aware of our suffering and will ultimately punish those who come against us.
God warns us not to make fun of those we perceive as different or substandard. “He who mocks the poor shows contempt for their Maker.” (Proverbs 17:5). Just as God chooses to bless some with wealth, but not others, He blesses some with desirable physical features, but not others. If we mock His decision, whether it pertain to our economic blessings or our body’s appearance, we mock Him at our peril. Paul reminds us, “Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows.” (Galatians 6:7).
God gives us a preview of how He treats mockers in 2 Kings Chapter 2. Elisha the prophet was headed toward Bethel where the school of prophets was located. As he walked along the road, minding his own business, some youths came out of the town to jeer at him. These teenagers were very full of themselves and were proud of their young, more perfect bodies. They mocked the fact that the elder Elisha had lost much of his hair. They jeered him repeatedly, calling out “You baldhead!” over and over (2 Kings 2:23).
No doubt these youths considered themselves better looking than the bald prophet, and most likely all sported full heads of hair. But instead of being grateful for their position, a temporary blessing, they hoped to inflict pain on the prophet by mocking his hair loss. They reasoned falsely that they would appear to be superior if they could point out the faults of others. They assumed their status would somehow be exalted if someone else’s infirmities were exposed. What they didn’t realize was the biggest loss was about to be theirs.
In an instant, Elisha turned around and called a curse on them in the name of the LORD. God must have agreed that Elisha was justified, for if the curse had come from any bad principle, God would never have allowed it. Our God must be glorified as a righteous God, One who hates sin, and who will demand that each person account for his actions, sometimes presently and sometimes in the future. In this case, two bears came immediately out of the woods and mauled the youths. The loss of life totaled forty-two of the disobedient young people (2 Kings 2:24).
God tells us through this story how wicked an act it is to embarrass people for their natural infirmities, deformities, or shortcomings. God made each of us exactly according to His will and to mock His work is to mock the Creator of the Universe. If we have a bald head, it is normal. If we are short or tall, we are normal according to His plan. It is our loss if we belittle anything God has done. His handiwork is perfect and we mock it at our peril. We must refrain from mocking the sick, the old, the lame, or, as He shows here, His prophets, for we shall surely suffer loss if we do.
Jeff Myers
A servant of Jesus Christ
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