May 11, 2010 How God Deals With Rejection

There's not a lot you can do when people decide to reject God.  If He doesn't force them to accept Him, then how can we presume to do so?  In today's passages, we have two examples of people rejecting God, and how He responded to them.  Since we humans get rejected now and again, I'd say we could learn something from His example.

The people of Israel wanted a king so they could be like all the other nations (I think this indicates they were a little out-of-sync with God, as He wanted them to be different from all the other nations).  Samuel got instructions from the Lord as to what to do about this (he's one of my Bible heroes: he was so accurate in hearing, seeing and speaking God's word!), and the Lord led him to the king who was to be anointed.  Now, taking into consideration that the people got what they wanted, this is what Samuel said to them:  "But you have today rejected your God, who Himself saved you from all your adversities and your tribulations; and you have said to Him, ‘No, set a king over us!’ Now therefore, present yourselves before the LORD by your tribes and by your clans.” 1 Samuel 10:19  This says to me right away that just because we may have gotten what we asked for doesn't mean that God was pleased with us! 

God wanted to be Israel's king Himself, and how could they have had a better one?  Even though their rejection of Him was "covert" (not direct), He identified their true condition as rejecting of Him, and He expressed His displeasure to them.  Nevertheless, I believe God's heart was to bless the people on whatever level they could accept, so He provided them a king to lead them and deliver them from their enemies.  God did not abandon them.  He even gave Saul the experience of being "possessed by God's Spirit" so that he had enough knowledge to call upon God to be empowered.  Apparently he did so, at least at first.

Now, what did Jesus do when He was rejected?  Again, people were often covert in their rejection of Him, yet He always knew what was in their hearts, and He gave them many chances to change their minds.  And again, most of the people were only looking to have their physical needs met and weren't looking at things from a heavenly (spiritual) perspective.  They wanted Jesus to give them more bread, even demanding that He prove Himself with a miracle of giving them heavenly manna.  He told them that He Himself was the "bread from heaven" that would give them eternal life, but the people got offended with Him and stopped following Him.  Jesus didn't do the rejecting, but He didn't let Himself be manipulated either.  He just told the truth and let the people make a choice.

Jesus didn't reject the people back-- He kept going to their towns preaching, teaching and healing until it was His time to lay down His life for them.  He didn't go around flailing them with "bitter diatribes", although I'm sure Jesus was grieved.  He also didn't fire Judas from being a disciple: but He did confront Him with His inward rejection.  I'm sure Judas had many chances to repent before he gave in to Satan and betrayed Jesus.  But Jesus was no dupe; He knew about it all the time.

You wonder how people can reject a God so great and glorious as He is.  How can people reject Jesus Christ who offers us forgiveness, salvation on all levels, and eternal life!?  Many reject Him outright, and many more reject Him covertly.  As a nation, it seems we have rejected God's rule over us and demanded a king.  How will that turn out, I wonder?  Most seem to reject the Lord Jesus for who He actually is and what He actually said, choosing rather to believe in a Jesus and a Christianity that they have made up themselves to suit their own preferences.   And yet, God still loves them and blesses them as much as they will allow.  This is our example of how to treat people who reject us.  Confront first, as you see God and Jesus did in both examples; do not reject back.  However, the intimacy and "top shelf" blessings are reserved for those who accept Him wholeheartedly.

How often do we do covertly reject God, and maybe don't even realize it?  I am going to ask Him if I'm doing that in any way.  I hope not, but if I am, I know He will be faithful to show me and offer me forgiveness and restoration.  Read the Psalm!  God responds to us when we repent and call out to Him.  Over and over.