Devotionals

Facing Rejection

by Henry Jaegers
06/09/21
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Jesus said, follow me: What happens next?

Part 14

Facing Rejection

By Henry Jaegers

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.  Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.  But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him, and with his stripes, we are healed. (Isaiah 53: 3-5)

Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat: Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.(Matthew 7:13,14)

Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. . Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake.  Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you. (Matthew5:10-12)

Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you: 13But rejoice, since ye are partakers of Christ’s sufferings; that, when his glory shall be revealed, ye may be glad also with exceeding joy. (I Peter 4: 12,13)

Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless,s afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby. Wherefore lift the hands which hang down, and the feeble knees; 13And make straight paths for your feet, lest that which is lame be turned out of the way; but let it rather be healed. (Hebrews 12:11-13)

Have you ever faced rejection? If you have, you will find that it is something that you cannot talk to others about, even those who are closest to you. If we talk to others about it, the response that we sometimes get is “You are just feeling sorry for yourself”. Maybe that is true and maybe it is not. Rejection is an integral part of walking in the “Narrow Way that leads to life” and Jesus said, “few there be that find it”.

 Maybe you were faced with a response “well, you brought it on yourself. You should not have done that or said that”. That is why rejection is something that we cannot talk about because only Jesus understands it perfectly. That is why turning to Jesus is the only solution to the problem of rejection. Remember those final words from the cross that none of us will ever know or understand when he cried out “my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?”

Remember that Jesus was despised and rejected by men and why should we think it strange if we are also? If you are facing rejection, I hope that you will think carefully and consider the verses above.  When we consider with our limited understanding, the great rejection by his father that Jesus suffered, he did so, so that we would never have to face those terrible words “depart from me, I never knew you”. Instead, when we take them to Jesus, the after-effects result in the peaceable fruits of righteousness that we find promised in Hebrews 12:11-13.

So, if by chance you are facing the experience of rejection, remember, it is one of the pieces of evidence that you are on the straight and narrow way. That is the way that no one wants to walk or to experience, but it is the way that leads to life and true happiness. I desire, that if you by chance are facing that experience, that you will find the verses I have listed above as great comfort and help to you. I know, because they have been a blessing to me as well.

Think of Jeremiah. His whole life was a life of how God helped him to face that rejection. In the case of Elijah we know how his life turned out, but do you know before the glorious experience took place and at this time when he was feeling rejected, what God did? He gave him three important tasks to perform. First, to anoint Hazael to be king of Syria and second, to anoint Jehu to be king of Israel, and third, to prepare Elisha to take his place. And I wonder if when facing rejection, that God may ask us as in the case of Elijah to do some unusual thing that it never entered into our minds to do.

Following Jesus: what happens next? The life of faith cannot think about that. The answer to that question is not for us to try to figure out. Only God knows the answer to that question, and our response should is simply to follow him and trust him as to what happens next