Rejection

Rejection. We all face it at some time in our lives. It can begin as children, when, rightly or wrongly, a child can feel that they are not as loved by a parent as their siblings. It can certainly happen in schools where friendships can be fickle and some children feel as though they are on the outer in the peer group for their entire school lives.

As a person progresses to adult life one can feel rejected in the workforce. The job application is turned down, sometimes dozens of times. Someone else receives the promotion that you hoped for. You are retrenched in a company reorganization.

Some of the most distressing forms of rejection happen in the sphere of personal relationships. A love affair that you thought would lead to marriage and a permanent relationship ends. Your partner in your marriage admits to an extra-marital affair. A divorce leaves a person shattered.

The core of rejection is a feeling of unworthiness. I’m not good enough. Someone else is preferred. Satan, the father of lies, whose ultimate goal is to destroy a person works on those thoughts to destroy families, marriages, friendships and sadly, in some cases, ministries and churches.

Rejection can enter one’s spiritual life as well. Disappointments and struggles with sin can cause a person to feel that God has rejected them. This could not be further from the truth.

We need to look to God’s word to know how he feels about each one of us. The Bible tells us that even before we were born, God thought of us and created us to be the individual human that we are.

“For you created my inmost being;
    you knit me together in my mother’s womb.
I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
    your works are wonderful,
    I know that full well.
 My frame was not hidden from you
    when I was made in the secret place,
    when I was woven together in the depths of the earth.
 Your eyes saw my unformed body;
    all the days ordained for me were written in your book
    before one of them came to be. “Psalm139: 13-16

 

Whenever we feel rejected, God’s word assures us that He has not rejected us:

I have chosen and not rejected you.

Do not fear, for I am with you;

do not be afraid, for I am your God.

I will strengthen you; I will surely help you;

I will uphold you with My right hand of righteousness. Isaiah 41:9,10

 

Throughout the Bible we are assured that God’s love is different to the ways of people. His love is constant, steadfast and faithful:

 

“How priceless is your unfailing love, O God!” Psalm 36:7

 

“Whoever is wise, let him attend to these things; let them consider the steadfast love of the Lord.” Psalm 107:43

 

“Praise the Lord, all nations! Extol him, all peoples! For great is his steadfast love toward us, and the faithfulness of the Lord endures forever. Praise the Lord!” Psalm 117:1,2”

 

When you are a Christian, despite the rejections that you face in life, God will never reject you. He is your Saviour, your closest friend your heavenly Father. In fact, you are part of His bride, the true church of all believers, and as such loved as a true partner should be in a marriage. His word tells us that He has a plan for every life, so if our earthly plans fail, we can trust in His Holy Spirit, the great Counsellor to lead and guide us into a new direction.

 

“Shout for joy, O heavens; rejoice, O earth;

break forth in song, O mountains!

For the LORD has comforted His people,

and He will have compassion on His afflicted ones.

But Zion said, “The LORD has forsaken me;

the Lord has forgotten me!”

 “Can a woman forget her nursing child,

or lack compassion for the son of her womb?

Even if she could forget,

Behold, I have inscribed you on the palms of My hands;

your walls are ever before Me.”   Isaiah 49:13-16