Isaiah 53:3 – He is despised and rejected by men, A Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. And we hid, as it were, our faces from Him; He was despised, and we did not esteem Him. NKJV
Is there any pain greater than the pain of rejection? I’m sure that we can have a healthy debate on the subject and all have valid points! Whether there is or not, rejection is a hard thing to handle and is the root cause of a lot of messed up people in the world.
I’m sure that I don’t have to define this term for you, but I will do so anyway. Rejection is the act of throwing away, the act of casting off or forsaking, or the refusal to accept or grant. All extremely negative actions that basically leave a person feeling unwanted.
Children can grow up feeling a strong sense of rejection. Not just poor kids, but middle class kids, and rich kids, also. Rejection knows no color barriers, no financial boundaries, and no cultural differences. Everyone is a candidate for rejection. Rejection, in and of itself, doesn’t have to be negative, but more times than not, it is viewed as a negative, painful, situation that paralyzes and poisons the lives of far too many individuals.
The sad thing about rejection, is that it causes the individual who is rejected to internalize those feelings as the truth about themselves. They feel unwanted, unloved, not valued.
I heard it said of young man who proposed to his girl and she rejected him. His friends asked him why wasn’t he sad. He replied, why should he be sad. He lost someone who didn’t love him, and she lost someone who loved her. I like this, for the young man may have been rejected, but he had a right response to the rejection.
In our text, we read of someone who was rejected. Jesus! If you think you have it bad, it probably hasn’t been as bad as what He experienced. As a matter of fact, Isaiah prophesied that He would not only be rejected, but that He would also be despised.
What did Jesus ever do to become despised and rejected? He was born! That’s it in a nutshell. And because He was born, the devil unleashed attacks on Him to destroy Him using a spirit of rejection as a weapon against Him. That same devil is still using this same spirit against people, and the end result is the same, to destroy them. But it doesn’t have to destroy us anymore than it destroyed Jesus, or the young man.
I want to share a few scriptures to help you when the spirit of rejection tries to control your life and your way of thinking:
John 1:11-12 -He came to His own, and His own did not receive Him. But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name. NKJV
I like this scripture. Jesus was rejected by His own, but He wasn’t rejected by everyone. And everyone who received Him was given the right to become children of God. See yourself in this same predicament. Maybe your very own family members have rejected you and caused you a lot pain. It’s time to give that to the One who can heal of you and then open your eyes to all those who will receive you and love you. Sometimes, we are so stuck on the one person who so thoroughly rejected us, (a father or mother, a husband or wife, a sibling) that we cannot see the ones who offer us love and acceptance. They are the ones who will help you to become who God intended you to be, while you help them to become all God intended them to be.
When my father and my mother forsake me, Then the Lord will take care of me. Psalm 27:10 – NKJV
David may have been a lonely person in his family. He may have felt rejected. But he came to place of understanding where he was able to say, even if his parents rejected him, the Lord would take care of him. That’s where healing starts. Knowing that it doesn’t matter who rejects us, God never will!
For the Lord will not cast off His people, Nor will He forsake His inheritance. Psalm 94:14 – NKJV
These are promises. If you have been following me for some time, then you know that I have written several blogs on the faithfulness of God to His promises. These verses qualifies as promises. When you belong to God, He will never reject you or cast you away. He will never forsake you!
I like this verse:
The stone which the builders rejected Has become the chief cornerstone. Psalm 118:22 – NKJV
Yes, Jesus was the stone that the builders rejected, but He ended up being the rock that carried the weight of the building. You can be just like Jesus. His being rejected didn’t cause His destruction or stop Him, or hinder Him. And it certainly didn’t define Him. He knew who He was and His purpose for coming into the world. He focused on those truths and what God said about Him. And became the chief cornerstone.
It’s time to allow God to break the power of rejection off your life. It’s held you down long enough. It has held you back one day too many. It’s time for moving forward, and moving ahead, and you can’t do that with this spirit dominating your thoughts, and every move and decision you make. Let it go, and let God’s view of you become the only view that matters!
I don’t usually go outside of the word of God, but today I want to leave you with some great quotes:
Rejection doesn’t mean you aren’t good enough; it means the other person failed to notice what you have to offer.
And here’s another cute one with a lot of truth:
Don’t be upset when people reject you. Nice things are rejected all the time by people who can’t afford them.
As cute as these quotes are, here’s the bottom line:
Each and every individual will experience some form of rejection in life. It’s not the rejection that’s the worst problem of all, it’s giving the rejector the power to control your life. Just don’t let them control you anymore. God’s love for you is greater than all of that. Remember His promise, when others reject you, even your parents, He never will! Wonderful Jesus!
