In the world in which we live, we will often feel the pain of rejection. It may be the rejection of a job, the beginning of a new career, or furthering the one we have. It may be family members who don’t understand our biblical standards or convictions. Sometimes, it is a friend who has been in our lives for a long time. Someone you have shared your deepest thoughts and needs with. These all hurt, and the value you place on each situation determines the impact it will have on your life. However, no rejection goes without pain.
Joseph, the son of Jacob and Rachel, was rejected by his brothers. In Genesis 37:3-4, we see a father who loved one son more than the others. “Now Jacob loved Joseph more than all his children, because he was the son of his old age: and he made him a coat of many colors. And when his brethren saw that their father loved him more than all his brethren, they hated him and could not speak peaceably unto him.” Later, Jacob sent Joseph to check on his other sons, who were away tending sheep. They saw him coming and conspired to kill him. Genesis 37:18 gives us this account. “And when they saw him afar off, even before he came near unto them, they conspired against him to slay him.” Reuben intervenes and keeps them from killing Joseph. However, when he left the scene, they sold Joseph into slavery. He grew up in Egypt, not seeing any of his family until the famine came, and his brothers came to Egypt to buy corn. Because of Joseph’s integrity, he does well in Pharoah’s house. Joseph was now governor of Egypt, second in command, and overseer of the Royal Estates. His brothers did not recognize him, but he knew them. He was gracious to them even though they had treated him with contempt. Joseph handled rejection with grace and proclaimed in Genesis 50:20, “But as for you, ye thought evil against me; but God meant it unto good, to bring to pass, as it is this day, to save much people alive.”
While I cannot imagine being hated by your brothers, I know it still happens. This rejection is painful, but as in Joseph’s situation, God has a plan. Nothing catches God off guard. He is always working on His children’s behalf. He can turn a bad situation into something good if we surrender to Him.
Psalm 27:10 “For my father and my mother have forsaken me, but the LORD will take me in.”
In I Samuel 16:14, God removed His spirit from Saul because of Saul’s rebellion. No longer would he have the presence of God with him. This would leave Saul wide open to evil spirits. “But the Spirit of the LORD departed from Saul, and an evil spirit from the LORD troubled him.” God rejected Saul forever. This was not God’s desire because God longs to live within each of us. He will not reject those who are seeking Him. He is not concerned with external forces; He can control those, but He is concerned with the heart. In I Samuel 16:7, we find a truth that is comforting. God looks at the heart and measures us by that. He sees everything, and He knows us better than we know ourselves.
I Samuel 16:7 “But the LORD said unto Samuel, Look not on his countenance, or on the height of his stature; because I have refused him: for the LORD seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the LORD looketh on the heart.”
God knows the pains of rejection. He suffered those pains when His Son died for our sins. Jesus was mocked, spit upon, and crucified in our place. He fully understands the pains of rejection. He also experienced this when all those who had followed Him, seen His care for them and saw the miracles He had done left Him when things got dangerous. In Isaiah 53:3, it was prophesied that He would be rejected. “He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not.”
What do we do when we face rejection? Do we retaliate? No, we act as Jesus and other great saints when rejected. Paul withstood the rejection and was beaten and left for dead in Acts 14:19-20. We see in verse 20 that after they left him for dead, he rose and returned to the city.
Act 14:19-20 “And there came thither certain Jews from Antioch and Iconium, who persuaded the people, and, having stoned Paul, drew him out of the city, supposing he had been dead. Howbeit, as the disciples stood round about him, he rose up, and came into the city: and the next day he departed with Barnabas to Derbe.”
When Jesus was rejected and left to die on the cross, he cried to the Father in Luke 23:34: “Then said Jesus, Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do.” He felt the physical agony and the mental pains of rejection, but He responded with love. Rejection can scar us and stop us if we let it. Yet, we can deal with it in a manner that will not control us.
If this world rejects you, you are in good company. In John 15:18 Jesus reminds us “If the world hate you, ye know that it hated me before it hated you.”
Deal with it by turning to God in prayer. He will hear, and He will give you answers through His word. Take time each day to reflect on His goodness and love for you. Sometimes, those rejections are what is best for us. We don’t see the future, but God does. Seek out and spend time with those who love you and love God. Stay focused by staying in the Word. Forgive those who have rejected you and get busy making a difference for Christ. We don’t know the future or the plans God has for us, but we can trust that God does. He will never leave us or forsake us. If you stand for Christ, there will probably be many times in this life you will feel rejected, but remember this life is just a staging ground for eternity.
Hebrews 13:5 “I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.”
