The Sting of Rejection

I Peter 2:4 says, ” As you come to Him, the living Stone–rejected by humans but chosen by God and precious to Him.”

Last week,  Farmer Dean called me and asked, “Ma’am, did you change the password on our computer?”

“No,” I stated flatly.

“Well, it won’t let me in,” he answered.

We tried again and he was right … nothing worked.  My password was rejected.

We took it to computer techs.  They said, “No worries.  We have the power and the authority to override the rejection.”  Rejected … but with a small black jump drive inserted into our computer … they did it.  Life was recovered.

I’ve dealt with rejection many times throughout my life.  I have been rejected by others.  I have rejected others.

To reject something means:  to refuse to accept or agree in something because it is not good enough or not the right thing.

I have been rejected for employment, rejected in love, rejected in friendship, and rejected by church people.  There have been moments in this life where I have felt rejected by God.

But here’s what I know about rejection~ if you don’t DEAL with it, rejection will bury itself into your spirit and soul and will begin to wield its way into how you think and act.

Out of any human being on earth … Jesus understands rejection.

Isaiah 53:3 says, “He was hated and rejected by people.  He had much pain and suffering.  People would not even look at Him.  He was hated, and we didn’t even notice Him.” NCVB

I believe people can reject our ideas, our actions, our looks, our ethnicity, our accent, our faith for all kinds of reasons.

Sometimes it’s jealousy, control, competition, no connection, not their taste, or a trigger that reminds them of hurt in their own life.

3 simple points that  help us focus on how to deal with rejection are as follows:

Rejection is Part of Life
Rejection is Painful
Rejection has Purpose
In Genesis 29, we find the story of Jacob and his two sister-wives, Leah and Rachel.

Jacob sees Rachel in a field and  automatically loves her at first sight. He works for her father for seven years to obtain her as a wife, but the next morning discovers he has been tricked and he’s married Leah.

He works another seven years to obtain Rachel as a wife. But scripture is very clear on his feelings for Leah.

31 “When the Lord saw that Leah was not loved, he enabled her to conceive, but Rachel remained childless. 32 Leah became pregnant and gave birth to a son. She named him Reuben, for she said, “It is because the Lord has seen my misery. Surely my husband will love me now.’”

33 She conceived again, and when she gave birth to a son she said, “Because the Lord heard that I am not loved, he gave me this one too.” So she named him Simeon.

34 Again she conceived, and when she gave birth to a son she said, “Now at last my husband will become attached to me, because I have borne him three sons.” So he was named Levi.

Leah desperately wanted to be loved.  She felt like if she just had sons, her husband would love her.  Have you ever done this …  convinced yourself if I just do this, they will accept me?

But something changed in Leah’s attitude in verse 35.

35 She conceived again, and when she gave birth to a son she said, “This time I will praise the Lord.” So she named him Judah. Then she stopped having children.

Judah means: PRAISE.

Leah finally got it!  Leah had been looking for her self-worth from another human but was continually rejected.

Our worth can’t be placed in the hands of humans.  When we are looking for affirmation in places other than God, looking for our self worth in what we do, how we look, what we can accomplish, we will place our lives in the hands of those who can reject us and our footing will be offset.  We’ll fall!

The job you didn’t get, well, it wasn’t God’s best for you.  The man who said you didn’t do it for him, well, he wasn’t God’s best for you.  The person who didn’t want to be your friend, well, they weren’t God’s best for you.

Don’t focus on those who are rejecting you and what you don’t have.  Remember the truth of the One who loves you, created you, and thinks you’re fabulous!  He never rejects us. Give your life over to the one who has the power and authority to override rejection!

Psalm 94:14, “For the Lord will not reject his people; He will never forsake his inheritance.”