Hi
In the face of stinging rejection, can you even nibble today’s Holy Nougat?
““Do everything they say to you,” the Lord replied, “for they are rejecting me, not you. They don’t want me to be their king any longer.” 1 Samuel 8:7 NLT
Rejecting God. Not us.
It surely doesn’t feel that way. The sting is like that of a snake and perhaps more venomous in its impact. For, usually the memory returns to haunt us or tries to diminish us time and again.
But here, God was speaking to the great prophet Samuel, after the Israelites declared that they wanted a king. (You remember Samuel right – ‘Speak Lord, thy servant heareth!; also known as the one whom God handpicked to replace Eli of Levitical lineage – same fellow!) Samuel was a prophet, and a judge in Israel, but he was not a king- and from the depth of their insistence, it was evident that people were very ready for change. They wanted what everyone else had – their very own king, not Samuel.
That must have hurt a lot. Especially since he could have been at the ripe old age of 24 or 25 years at the time. (Called at 12/13; served alone for approximately 11 years before Saul called to kingship). By the statistics of the time, that wasn’t old! He had more ministry left in him!
In modern terms, we could say Samuel had been fired. And when he went to ‘Management’ to seek redress, YHWH advised him that there was no recourse. The clas action was against the company, not the worker.
In our own lives, rejection may take the form of a broken relationship, termination of employment, retirement, being benched rather than allowed to play on the team, a no confidence vote, disrespectful subordinates, hard supervisors, lost elections, someone selected in lieu of us, discovery of an affair, betrayal by a teammate, racism or some other form of discrimination/violence, or simply being ignored. And, when it manifests, we may have to step back and discern the intended target – was it truly directed at me the individual or to ‘Management’? If it is the individual, what went wrong? Ask ‘Management ‘ to help me make it right. If not, then it’s ‘Management’. Ask ‘Management’ to help me not to take it personally. And that is a full time job on its own!
I pray each of us strength today to recover from the sting(s) of rejection so that we may live our best lives, with and in Christ’s love, by God’s Spirit. Amen.
In Christ’s love and grace . . .
