DESPISE DESPITE
(7-minute read)
The word ‘despise’ means to loathe, scorn, reject and feel contempt towards someone or something. We can despise a person or group of people, ideas and beliefs, some professions, or certain attitudes and behaviour.
The New Testament mentions a long list of despised people group like the tax-collectors who were seen as dishonest in their transactions, the Samaritans whose worship and religious practices were appalling to Jewish Puritans, the Gentiles who were avoided by the Jews, and diseased peoples such as lepers and a woman suffering incurable haemorrhage. Importantly, prophesies in the Old Testament also introduced the Son of God as a person who would be despised by others for his humble background and his lack of standout physical appeal.
In fact, prophecies about Jesus described Him this way, “…a scrawny seedling, a scrubby plant in a parched field. Who would have thought God’s saving power would look like this?... There was nothing attractive about him, nothing to cause us to take a second look.” What a lowball introduction! It’s almost like saying, He is a nobody.
He was looked down on and passed over, a man who suffered, who knew pain firsthand. One look at Him and people turned away. We looked down on Him, thought He was scum. But the fact is, it was our pains He carried - our disfigurements, all the things wrong with us. (Isaiah 53:1-3 The Message).
Fast forward to us today: do we also despise the Lord? The uncomfortable truth, often is, yes. But we might argue and say, When do we despise the Lord?
Whenever we do not trust Him, we despise Him. When we think His counsel doesn’t really serve our purpose and we think we have better ideas than Him. When we think our therapists and friends have a more superior compassion than Him.
DO NOT DESPISE THE LORD’S COMMANDS
The Bible tells us that whenever the people of Israel experienced hardships, they would turn to God and promise to obey His commands, only to turn their backs on Him again as soon as God came through for them, and ended their suffering. This cycle of behaviour would be repeated over and over again and we often see that God was always conciliatory towards them, “Yet I will remember the covenant I made with you in the days of your youth, and I will establish an everlasting covenant with you.” (Ezekiel 16:60). So each time the people cried out to the Lord, He would deliver them from their distress (Psalm 107:6, 13, 19, 28).
To be clear, God is not tolerant of disobedience, and He had strong warnings for the Israelites against their defiance and contempt for His commands. “Because they have despised the Lord’s word and broken his commands, they must surely be cut off.” (Numbers 15:31). “I will deal with you as you deserve, because you have despised My oath by breaking the covenant.” (Ezekiel 16:59).
Believers may find some biblical warnings stern and uncompromising. But let’s not forget that our spiritual health depends on our growth, which should be normal and not optional. Let’s not also minimize the damaging consequences of despising God’s commands by allowing sin to appear normal in our lives. As children of God, we are called to present our bodies as a living sacrifice to Him because it is an act of spiritual worship. Ordinarily, this can involve overreaching ourselves whether with responsibilities at home, at work or doing anything in the name of ‘ministry’. But to downplay what we need for a healthy body and mind is a deliberate sin.
As our faith grows, we need to raise the bar for ourselves and deepen our experience of life with God. If not, we will stay stuck with rigid life goals, constantly limiting our experience of His Word in all aspects of our lives.
DO NOT DESPISE THE LORD’S PROVISION
Out of Egypt, the Israelites relied heavily on God’s provision from day to day, with strict instructions for how they would receive food supplies. “Then the Lord said to Moses, “I will rain down bread from heaven for you. The people are to go out each day and gather enough for that day. In this way I will test them and see whether they will follow my instructions.” (Exodus 16:4). This meant they had to follow God’s instructions and listen carefully to Moses as a way of life, and they resented it.
Very soon, the people despised Moses’ leadership and doubted that God’s provision would be adequate. God had given everyone specific rations, but some applied their own estimation of demand and supply instead, and saw their food turning into maggots (Exodus 16:20 ). They also came against Moses to demand for drinking water. While there was nothing wrong for them to address their water shortage, they accused Moses of mistreating them by saying, “Why did you bring us up out of Egypt to make us and our children and livestock die of thirst?” and “… but you have brought us out into this desert to starve this entire assembly to death.” (Exodus 17:2-3, Exodus 16:3). The rabble-rousers among them also incited the rest to say “‘If only we had meat to eat!’” (Numbers 11:4-5).
It is one thing to approach leadership to tell them what is needed, what is currently lacking, and the gaps to be addressed. It is another thing to despise God’s provision, including the leadership that He has positioned in our lives - even if it is weak and dysfunctional.
DO NOT DESPISE THE LORD’S PLANS
Why would an estimated 11-day journey take the Israelites 40 years to complete (Deuteronomy 1:2). Was it due to Moses’ lack of familiarity with the new territories, his lack of navigation skills, or his lack of intelligence? No! It was because God was taking them on a journey of spiritual rehabilitation that would take a generation to complete! Although they were out of Egypt, God had to take their bondage to the past Egyptian way of life out of their system!
And God was not wrong in doing so. Exodus 14:11-12 tells us that the Israelites kept up their grumbling against Moses, saying how good things were when they were slaves in Egypt! “What have you done to us by bringing us out of Egypt? Didn’t we say to you in Egypt, ‘Leave us alone; let us serve the Egyptians’? It would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the desert!”
By criticising Moses’ leadership, the Israelites were, in essence, showing contempt for what God was doing in their lives. They thought they knew better how to lead a nation, and later on, they refused to listen to Samuel (a God-anointed prophet) and demanded to have a king over them. “We want a king over us. Then we shall be like all the other nations, with a king to lead us and to go out before us and fight our battles.” (1 Samuel 8:19-20).
Do you despise the Lord’s plans for your life? Do you find His plans moving too slow? Are you unhappy about the ‘errors and faults’ you find in His plans for your situation? We despise God’s plans when we despise our bosses, forgetting that it is God who promotes us. We despise God’s plans when we despise our prebelieving spouse, forgetting that God’s plan of salvation is for all. We despise God’s plans when we despise the sanctity of marriage, forgetting His power to take us through the vicissitude of single life.
Look, no matter how ludicrous God’s plans appear to us, none of His plans ever fail, none can be faulted for being inadequate, and none can be stopped by anyone or anything! And God has a track record of 100 percent success rate. “For I know the plans I have for you,’ declares the Lord, ‘plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” (Jeremiah 29:11).
God desires to write your story in His plans. So stop trying to take the pen from His hands! Check your heart to see if you have acted in ways that despise God’s commands, His provisions and His plans despite His goodness to you.
This is a summary and reflection based on a virtual BIR Session held on 10 May 2025.
