Originally posted 3/13/20
Last week I told you a story about how rejection turned to insecurity, and insecurity turned into pride in my life. This week I want to show you how two different guys in the Bible dealt with rejection. The first guy allowed the root of rejection to grow into insecurity and pride, while the second guy wasn’t ruled by rejection, but instead turned rejection into ministry and was eventually promoted to the second most powerful person in the land.
The first guy I want to look at is the brother of the Prodigal Son. You will find the whole story in Luke 15:11-32. There are two brothers. The younger brother decides that he doesn’t want to wait for his father to die to receive his inheritance. He is young and free and wants to live the life that shows it. The father is a good and loving father and gives his son his inheritance. Meanwhile, the older son stays behind and works for the father. He does everything he is supposed to in order to be loved and accepted by his father.
Eventually the younger son runs out of money and starts living with pigs. He decides that he should go back to his father and ask for a job. When he gets within eyesight of the father, the father runs to him and hugs him and throws a party for his son, who was lost but is now found.
When the older son comes in from working all day, he finds out that his father is throwing a party for his irresponsible brother, and becomes jealous. The father reassures the older son that everything he owns also belongs to him, and he doesn’t need to be jealous.
As I was thinking about this older son, it occured to me that he was rejected by his younger brother. I can imagine that as they were growing up these two boys were best friends, and suddenly his brother no longer wanted him in his life. He felt rejected, and rightfully so. Because he didn’t deal with his rejection properly, this rejection planted a seed of insecurity. As a result of his insecurity, he worked really hard in order to please his father. He was the guy who was doing everything the right way because he felt insecure about his relationship with his father. When the seed of insecurity is full grown, it becomes pride. We see this pride come out in his reaction to his brother’s homecoming.
“Meanwhile, the older son was in the fields working. When he returned home, he heard music and dancing in the house, and he asked one of the servants what was going on. ‘Your brother is back,’ he was told, ‘and your father has killed the fattened calf. We are celebrating because of his safe return.’ “The older brother was angry and wouldn’t go in. His father came out and begged him, but he replied, ‘All these years I’ve slaved for you and never once refused to do a single thing you told me to. And in all that time you never gave me even one young goat for a feast with my friends. Yet when this son of yours comes back after squandering your money on prostitutes, you celebrate by killing the fattened calf!’”
Luke 15:25-30 (NLT)
The older brother believed that it was wrong to celebrate the homecoming of his lost brother, and instead the celebration should be his. This is pride in full swing. Not very flattering, is it?
The next guy I want to talk about is Joseph. Joseph was the oldest of two boys that Jacob and Rachel had. Rachel was Jacob’s favorite wife, and thus Joseph became Jacob’s favorite child. It is evident that because Jacob favored Joseph, his brothers started to reject him. One night Joseph had a dream, and the meaning of his dream was clear. Joseph’s brothers would one day bow down to him. While I can imagine that Joseph told his dream to his brothers just to make them more jealous of him, his older brothers didn’t respond to him very nicely.
“His brothers responded, “So you think you will be our king, do you? Do you actually think you will reign over us?” And they hated him all the more because of his dreams and the way he talked about them.” Genesis 37:8 (NLT)
I have a younger brother. My brother may have been, well, a brother to me when we were kids, but I have never felt hatred for him. As kids he loved to pick on me and just torment me. I remember I would get so mad at him, but I never ever got so angry I felt hatred toward him. Joseph’s brothers couldn’t say the same. They allowed Jacob’s behavior toward them to turn into hatred. This hatred grew until one day they decided to get rid of their “problem” once and for all.
“When Joseph’s brothers saw him coming, they recognized him in the distance. As he approached, they made plans to kill him. “Here comes the dreamer!” they said. “Come on, let’s kill him and throw him into one of these cisterns. We can tell our father, ‘A wild animal has eaten him.’ Then we’ll see what becomes of his dreams!”
So when Joseph arrived, his brothers ripped off the beautiful robe he was wearing. Then they grabbed him and threw him into the cistern. Now the cistern was empty; there was no water in it. Then, just as they were sitting down to eat, they looked up and saw a caravan of camels in the distance coming toward them. It was a group of Ishmaelite traders taking a load of gum, balm, and aromatic resin from Gilead down to Egypt.
Instead of hurting him, let’s sell him to those Ishmaelite traders. After all, he is our brother—our own flesh and blood!” And his brothers agreed. So when the Ishmaelites, who were Midianite traders, came by, Joseph’s brothers pulled him out of the cistern and sold him to them for twenty pieces of silver. And the traders took him to Egypt.”
Genesis 37:18-20, 23-25, 27-28 (NLT)
Joseph’s brothers rejected him in a way I can’t even begin to comprehend. They were willing to sell their own flesh and blood for a few bucks. Joseph’s life was worth about $400 to his brothers. Aren’t you glad that your life is worth more than that to those who love you? I am! Joseph was now faced with a choice. Does he take that rejection and let it stew in his mind and heart and become insecurity, or does he surrender that rejection and allow God to mold him into something great? If you have read the story of Joseph, you know that he chooses the latter, and God blesses him for it. “The Lord was with Joseph, so he succeeded in everything he did as he served in the home of his Egyptian master.” Genesis 39:2 (NLT) The Lord was with Joseph and blessed him because he surrendered those feelings of being rejected to God.
After awhile the wife of Joseph’s boss decided she wanted Joseph to pay attention to her. She tried several times to force herself on him, but each time he ran away. The last time he ran away, he left his coat in her hands. The rejection that this wife felt turned into fury and she accused Joseph of attacking her. Because she said this, Joseph was put in prison. Again, Joseph was rejected. His boss chose to believe his wife, who probably was known to have relationships with other men, over the word of Joseph, who was known to be honest. Still Joseph chose to surrender the sting of rejection to the Lord, and the Lord blessed him even in jail.
“But the Lord was with Joseph in the prison and showed him his faithful love. And the Lord made Joseph a favorite with the prison warden. Before long, the warden put Joseph in charge of all the other prisoners and over everything that happened in the prison. The warden had no more worries, because Joseph took care of everything. The Lord was with him and caused everything he did to succeed.” Genesis 39:21-23 (NLT)
Time passed and over the course of a few events, Joseph found himself second in command in Egypt. A huge famine happened, and Joseph’s brothers were forced to go to Egypt in search of food. Joseph of course recognized his brothers, but since he was just a kid the last time they saw him, they did not recognize Joseph. After a few tests, Joseph revealed himself to his brothers and said the most humble thing I can imagine saying. “You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives. So then, don’t be afraid. I will provide for you and your children.” And he reassured them and spoke kindly to them.” Genesis 50:20-21 (NIV)
Joseph chose to forgive each person who rejected him. Joseph chose to surrender those negative feelings and anger he must have felt to the Lord, and the Lord was able to bless Joseph and allow him to prosper even in the most of dire circumstances.
What does this mean for us? We will face rejection, and when we do, we have a choice. We can be like the older son in the first story and dwell on those feelings. We can replay the conversations and actions that occurred when we were rejected in our minds, and plant that seed of rejection deep into our being. Doing so will only allow that seed to grow into insecurity, which when it is fully grown will turn into pride. Or we can surrender those thoughts and feelings to Jesus, and allow him to work in our life and teach us the lessons we need to learn. We can kill the seed of insecurity and pride before it even has a chance to be planted by taking our thoughts and feelings captive and forcing them to become obedient to Jesus. We then open the door for Jesus to do a beautiful work in our lives, and bless us beyond anything we can begin to comprehend. What will you choose next time someone rejects you?
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