Listen to me, you who know righteousness, the people in whose heart is my law; fear not the reproach of man, nor be dismayed at their revilings. (Isaiah 51:7)
Some things are scarier than others.
Remember that cartoon picture in which a small fish is about to be eaten by a slightly bigger fish? Which is about to be eaten by a bigger fish? Which is about to be eaten by an even bigger fish? And eventually, the biggest, ugliest, scariest fish of all envelops the other fish in its huge fanged jaws?!?!
No matter how dangerous a threat you face, there is a bigger threat behind it.
And the most dangerous thing in the natural world is not a tornado, nor a Saharan dust storm, nor a contagious virus, nor economic disaster, nor government over-reach. The most dangerous thing is the bad opinion of other humans.
Ok, maybe that was melodramatic. But it is true that we are motivated by others’ opinions. We worry about others’ opinions. Others’ opinions make our lives hard.
The bad opinion of others is perhaps even higher than death, public speaking, and running out of money on our list of fears. At least on an immediate, practical basis.
Isaiah writes encouragement to those who know we fear the bad opinion of others.
But Isaiah does not give us something specific to do.
He gives us something specific to be.
Those who know righteousness and have the law of God in our hearts are, not to put too fine a point on it, Christians.
Those who know righteousness and have the law of God in our hearts, Christians, do not need to fear someone else’s bad opinion. In fact, we might as well expect it. Those who are not Christian WILL reproach Christians. Those who are not Christians DO revile Christians.
But that big bad ugly fanged fish can not harm our soul, our faith, or our true lives. It might seem like it. It might threaten and roar and hurt… But God is.
(I first attempted to complete that sentence with adjectives like powerful, bigger, influential, and involved… and then considered broader words like able, present, and the Lord. But in the end, I liked, “God is.” It explains how much MORE He is than the bad opinion of some finite, foolish, unaware, sleeping human.)
Fear not, because opinions do not matter.