Rejection is a horrible and painful feeling for anyone to experience. Regardless of who you are, what class or race you belong to, what you have or are worth, once you feel rejected, you also feel dejected and lonely. Rejection from loved ones especially can be devastating but when it comes from God, it's a hard and bitter pill to swallow.
The good news is that, as bad as the pain of rejection may feel, it can change you for the better if you harness it by applying faith!
Yes Faith. Faith in the knowledge that we serve a God "...who delights in (showing us) mercy at all times (Micah 7:18); faith in the knowledge that "though he slay me, yet will I trust in him: but I will maintain mine own ways before him" as Job said in the book of Job 13:15; faith that He loves you and I with "an everlasting love..." and draws us to Himself daily with unfailing kindness" (Jeremiah 31:3) even if that means Him doing so through the initial pain of rejection.
THE REJECTED BIBLE HEROES
Many people in the Bible suffered feelings of rejection and even abandonment from God but surprisingly, it was actually a manifestation of God’s loving goodness and desire to usher us into yet another of His many supernatural provisions!
It was that painful feeling that God had rejected them, that catapulted various Bible heroes to spiritual greatness. They became heaven’s superstars precisely because God made everything seem and even look hopeless for them. You will even discover that the Bible teaches that even if you receive an authentic personal word from God, proclaiming that you are doomed, you still have oceans of hope just like King Hezekiah who was told by prophet Isaiah to put his affairs in order because God had appointed him to die in his sickness.
Can you imagine how rejected King Hezekiah must have felt at that news?
Why was God abandoning him to die in this illness? After his devoted and pious life before God? Didn't God realize how his death, would give cause his enemies to mock and belittle Him as God? These must have been some of the thoughts of King Hezekiah that caused his resolve to fight his case before God in faith.
God then had a change of heart, gave an immediate response and reversed the prophesy. He granted him another 15 year lease of life after he immediately started pleading his case before God in prayers and sore weeping. He didn't just sit back and accept the verdict of death from the almighty God Himself, but immediately sought the face of God in desperation and faith in the merciful nature of God.
I believe God needed to take the king through a process of spiritual renewal, of breaking and remoulding, perhaps, to draw him closer to Himself again and/or to birth a new thing through him. And this had to be done through something as terrifying as being told that God wanted him dead!
THE FAITH CHALLENGE
Most times, God's rejection is just a faith challenge to us to shift to the next level and leave our comfort zone; a call to come out of mediocrity and spiritual obscurity. It is a call out to us as Christians, to apply our faith and possess the dormant promises of God for us. Remember, it is faith that justifies us with God. Faith alone moves God!
Like a good coach giving an athlete tough training sessions, God makes it hard for us because he longs for us to succeed.
THE REJECTED CANAANITE WOMAN.
My title is inspired by the emotional story of the Canaanite woman who was initially, harshly rejected by Jesus but later found mercy because she persisted in her faith. And her faith, justified her before Jesus, gaining his approval instantly.
This woman was a Gentile before Jesus’ sacrifice opened the way for Gentiles to be included in God’s Covenant. But not only was she a Gentile, she was a Canaanite – the worst of the Gentiles.
She should not even have been born. Had God’s people been obedient to God’s command, her family line would have been wiped out generations ago.
Then, as astounding as it is to imagine our loving saviour doing this, he seals his rejection by calling her a dog, a bitch, if you like. This was the grossest possible insult. Jews despised dogs as unclean. Jesus refers to the people he is called to minister to as “children.”
She, however, he labels as not even human but an animal – and an unclean one at that. On another occasion Jesus said it is not right to give what is holy to dogs, nor to cast one’s pearls to swine. Not only did Jesus say it should not be done, in the same breath he linked dogs with pigs, as does Scripture elsewhere.
So, in biblical thought, dogs are the most repulsive of creatures, totally unacceptable to God, and yet this is the label Jesus slaps on this woman.
Lets look at the story below.
Matthew 15:22 A Canaanite woman from that vicinity came to him, crying out, “Lord, Son of David, have mercy on me! My daughter is suffering terribly from demon-possession.”
(23) Jesus did not answer a word. So his disciples came to him and urged him, “Send her away, for she keeps crying out after us.”
(24) He answered, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of Israel.”
(25) The woman came and knelt before him. “Lord, help me!” she said.
(26) He replied, “It is not right to take the children’s bread and toss it to their dogs.”
(27) “Yes, Lord,” she said, “but even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters’ table.”
(28) Then Jesus answered, “Woman, you have great faith! Your request is granted.” And her daughter was healed from that very hour.
In this emotional story, we can't help but sympathize with the Canaanite woman pleading with Jesus, detailing her desperate plight to him. We then find it equally shocking to know that Jesus without so much as uttering a word, turns his back on her and walks away. Despite reeling in the pain of rejection and being emotionally flattened by the hopelessness of it all, she still follows Jesus, crying out to him.
As if Jesus’ reaction were not enough, his chosen followers soon pile on their own rejection. Her persistence so annoys them that Jesus’ disciples plead with him to tell her to get lost.nSo Jesus tells her that his divine mission – the command of God on his life – is to minister exclusively to Jews, not Gentiles like her.
Instead of resigning herself to the sovereign will of God, she begs even harder. Jesus is unyielding. He states even more emphatically that it was not right for him to do what she is asking.
By now her devastating feelings of rejection could have turned to anger and a determination to reject Jesus like he has rejected her. Yet despite all the pressure to give in to feelings of hopelessness and bitterness, she still refuses to take ‘No’ for an answer.
WHY WAS JESUS SO HARD ON HER?
Because he knew she had what it takes to rise to the challenge and that, her doing so would bring her rich reward. Jesus’ seeming rejection brought out the best in her.
Yes, she got her miracle like so many other people, but because Jesus let her suffer rejection, she soared far beyond getting her miracle to gaining Jesus’ high praise resounding through the tunnels of time for two thousand years around the world and continuing for all eternity. Amen. Halleluja!
Her refusal to accept Jesus’ apparent rejection not only thrilled the heart of God, but has inspired countless multitudes of Christians throughout every successive generation.
And the same is true for you and I. God has faith in us and he loves us dearly.
His intelligence soars far too high above us for his ways to be predictable by mere humans, but his loving heart never changes. Everything God does – even his anger and judgments – is driven by love. Behind his every action beats a tender heart that longs to forgive and bless.
The Canaanite woman’s experience was not an isolated case. For assurance, let’s consider another woman.
SINGLED OUT FOR SPECIAL REJECTION.
Ruth was not just a Gentile; she was a Moabite, and as such she was singled out for special rejection from God. Deuteronomy 23:3 "No Ammonite or Moabite or any of his descendants may enter the assembly of the LORD, even down to the tenth generation. . . . (6) Do not seek a treaty of friendship with them as long as you live.
How’s that for rejection!
Ruth wanted to join the Israelites, but every indication was that God did not want her. Her only contact with God’s people had been with a family who seemed cursed.
They had arrived in her country as economic refugees – hardly a sign of God’s blessing. Moreover, their impoverishment (due to God withholding rain ) had forced them out of the land of God’s people.
Then, one by one, every male member of the family died, including Ruth’s own husband.
Then the surviving family member said:
Ruth 1:11 . . . “Return home, my daughters. Why would you come with me? . . . (13) . . . because It grieveth me much for your sakes seeing that the LORD's hand has turned against me."
FAITH NEVER GIVES UP.
Over and over, Naomi kept insisting that it was unwise for her daughters-in-law to go with her to the land of God’s people. They would be better off where they were.
Eventually, Ruth’s sister-in-law gave in to Naomi’s pleas. Ruth, however, kept pushing through all the objections and rejections. The result? God chose her over all the women in Israel as ancestress of King David and of the Messiah.
And the same is true for us. God has faith in you and I. We too can rise to the challenge and refuse to be defeated by all the surface indications of rejection.
We can ignore all the worrying superficiality and by faith, see past them to the loving heart of Jesus. We can keep following Jesus even when he seems to have turned his back on us and walked away.
And as we persist, we will thrill the heart of God, and inspire other Christians with our testimony.
Let's use our faith to keep pushing through the objections and rejections we experience.
Stay in charge.
LC