“For truly my words are not false: He who is perfect in knowledge is with you. Behold, G-d is mighty, and yet does not despise anyone [nor regard any as trivial]; He is mighty in the strength and power of understanding.”
Job 36:4-5 AMP
Remember the game you’d play when you were young to determine if someone loved you or not? Holding a flower you’d pull off a petal – he loves me, pull off another – he loves me not – all the way around the stem until you were left with either “he loves me” or “he loves me not”. While it’s unknown if was a fortune telling game or just for fun, you could always change the outcome by redoing it.
For someone like me who always worried about rejection and always worked hard to “earn” approval, I hated it because I was too afraid that it had meaning.
I remember my mentor and Pastor, Pastor Olen Griffing, saying often from the pulpit: G-d doesn’t have favorites – He just has intimates. What a powerful thought! The G-d of the entire universe isn’t annoyed by me after all!
Rejection is real and it is painful. I watched my son be rejected by a church. I experienced rejection by mature Christians because I divorced an abusive man before I was saved. I’ve watched friends reject us over vaccine beliefs. I’ve seen girls reject my girl because she was different. Rejection is all around us.
So what’s the solution? This:
G-d is mighty, and yet does not despise anyone [nor regard any as trivial]
If we could get this truth deep in our hearts and minds, neither the rejection – or the praise – of man would affect us. I want that!
I John 4:8 says that G-d perfects His love in us and casts out all fear – fear of failure, or rejection, of… [fill in the blank].
In a world full of judgement and thereby rejection, we have to battle the lies of the enemy with the Truth from G-d. He LOVES you! He is crazy about you! He even LIKES you! He’s LONGS to spend time with you! He’s working out things right now on your behalf! He sees and He knows!! You don’t drive Him crazy. He isn’t mad. He cares deeply for you and for me. He is for us and not against us.
Too often I draw close to the “lies” of the enemy because it’s what I know. It feels familiar. I want my story and legacy to be this: that I was an intimate of G-d. May I – may we – become so familiar with His voice that we draw close to the Truths of the One who gave His only Son for us.
Father – forgive me for giving attention to the enemy. Quicken my heart to hear Your truth. Uproot the lies of the enemy and perfect Your love in me. Amen.