Former Blackout Artist

And the LORD said to Samuel, “Heed the voice of the people in all that they say to you; for they have not rejected you, but they have rejected Me, that I should not reign over them. – 1 Samuel 8:7 NKJV

The prophet Samuel deeply cared about his people. So when the Israelites confronted him to say that he was too old to continue leading them and that his sons were too corrupt and unqualified to take his place, their rejection hit him hard. But the Lord spoke to Samuel, telling him, “Don’t take this personally, Samuel. It is not you they have rejected. They have rejected me.”

The sting of rejection hurts. Who wants to be told, “Thanks, but you’re not what I was hoping for” ? Is there anything more damaging to someone’s self-esteem? But we all deal with rejection on some level. We don’t get the job we desperately wanted, or we fall short of meeting the expectations of a parent, or even worse – the parent doesn’t want us at all. Or coming home from work to a spouse that says they no longer love us and want a divorce, or being blindsided by a friend who betrays us, or a child who turns their back on our love… Rejection sucks! And yet we all go through it.

Jesus faced rejection repeatedly, even from his own family. John 7:5 reminds us, “Not even his brothers believed in him.” When he went back to Nazareth to preach, Matthew 13:57 tells us that Jesus’ own hometown “took offense at him.” With the betrayal of Judas and the denial of Peter, and as the rest scattered and went into hiding, even his own disciples had rejected him. And as life was seeping out of him on the cross, Jesus cried out, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” Even his own Father, it seemed, had rejected him.

But Scripture tells us why this is actually a good thing. “For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses” (Hebrews 4:15).

In other words, Jesus can relate to our pain of being rejected. This is where we find our redeeming comfort, knowing that he knows what that feels like. But he didn’t endure rejection just so he could relate to us; he suffered rejection so that we might relate to him.

His death on the cross takes away the curse of our separation from God, His rejection of us. And it is through acceptance of what Christ did for us and the power of the Gospel that we have received the Spirit of adoption. Paul describes this in Romans 8:14-15: “For those who are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God. The Spirit you received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again; rather, the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship.”

So as we endure the occasional pain of rejection, let us find reason to rejoice. For we know that it was rejection that ultimately brought us salvation, which was purchased for us in advance by Christ who shed his blood on the cross.

What can man’s rejection of us do to us if God is for us?!