Rejection is a difficult thing to reason with. Truly, when we are rejected once, it hurts, and it often takes some time to get past the pain of that rejection. But when those rejections start to pile up, one on top of the other, well, that’s a whole new ball game, isn’t it?
Feeling rejected by those I hold in high esteem happens to be one of my Achilles heels. Satan knows that, and he absolutely loves rubbing salt in that torn heel every single chance he gets. In truth, I think rejection in one form or another falls on just about everyone’s radar of “Ouch, that really hurt my heart.” Consequently, rejection is one of Satan’s favorite playgrounds.
Recently I had to deal with yet another of those ever-occurring moments where rejection slammed my heart into the back of my chest. When that happened, that little voice started almost immediately:
“What did you expect? Of course they rejected you. That’s what happens every time. Why do you expect anything else?”
Do you ever hear that voice when you’re rejected? The funny thing is, that voice is you, isn’t it? It’s your voice talking to you in your head, reminding you that you shouldn’t be surprised at this turn of events, because it isn’t a turn of events at all. It’s exactly what always happens, so you had better just go with it.
This is your life. Get used to it.
So, when I heard those familiar words that I wasn’t wanted or needed—again—I also heard that condemning voice—my voice—reminding me that I shouldn’t be surprised. However, I also remembered a sermon I just heard a couple of weeks ago that our pastor taught on spiritual warfare. He very wisely reminded us that one of the enemy’s favorite tactics is stealth, and his favorite method of stealth is to disguise himself as us. I mean, think about it. The one voice you will always believe is yours. My pastor said that, and he’s right. I will always believe me. I might not believe you or my husband or any other person, but I will always believe my own voice in my head. What better voice to use as a disguise than mine!
That morning when my spirit was doing battle with my flesh after this most recent rejection, I knew that it was a lie that I heard in my head. I remembered my pastor’s words; I remembered that the voice I was hearing, though it sounded like me, was actually the enemy’s and that he was speaking lies to me. I knew that truth, but knowing that truth wasn’t stopping how that lie was making me feel. I still felt rejected. I still felt unwanted, unneeded, and ultimately unloved. My heart, as it most often does, was completely ignoring my head.
I was at the gym while I was engaging in this internal battle, as I often am. I find the battle with my physical body cathartic when I’m battling my spiritual against my flesh. Maybe I’m also masochistic.
Yeah, I probably am.
Be that as it may, as I was sweating and working out, that voice was unrelenting. I kept speaking against it even as it yelled louder and louder in my mind.
Then suddenly, out of the darkness that was threatening to overtake all that was inside of me, these words boomed inside of my mind:
“What then shall we say to these things?”
I recognized this immediately as Romans 8:31. This is the first part of the Triumph Song as written by Paul in Romans 8:31-39, which is more than likely my favorite passage in the bible. And then the phrase just kept repeating itself, over and over in my head.
“What then shall we say to these things?”
“What then shall we say to these things?”
“What then shall we say to these things?”
Do you see what was happening there? When the lies of the enemy had invaded my brain, the only thing that could dispel those rancid, foul untruths were the very words of my Father, and those will invariably come from Scripture. Satan can disguise himself as me, but he cannot disguise himself as God.
What then was I to say to these things that Satan was saying to me? I needed only to remember the rest of the Triumph Song to know the answer to that.
What are you to say to the lies that Satan tells you about who you are and what you mean to your Father when someone rejects you in this life?
What then shall we say to these things?
1. We say that if God is for us, who can be against us?
The very Creator of the universe, I Am who is I Am, is in your corner and He is FOR YOU! He has a plan for you, and He knows intimately what that plan is. This is not small stuff. It’s huge! When Satan tries to convince you that you are unwanted or unloved because someone here rejected you for this or that, just remember that the Lord of literally everything chose you to be His from before time began. He wrote your name in His book because He wants you. That Great God is for you.
We say that to these things.
2. We say, “No” to Satan, because in all these things we are more than conquerors through God who loves us.
This, my friends, is another biggie. Paul doesn’t just say that we are conquerors; he says we are more than conquerors. How can we be more than conquerors? It’s in the way that we win. We win in eternity for sure, but our winning here is a different kind of winning. It might not look the way the world thinks winning ought to look. Jesus’ win certainly didn’t look the way the world thought it should look, but demons howled at His death and resurrection because the win was complete, and they knew it. Even when it may appear that we are losing here, when we keep our eyes trained on our Savior, we win. That makes us more than conquerors, and in that, we say, “No” to Satan and his empty lies.
3. We say that we are sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Wow. That should stop all of us in our self-pitying tracks. Not anything anyone does or says or doesn’t do or doesn’t say will ever separate us from God’s love for us. And notice that these things can’t separate us from His love for us, not our love for Him. I’m afraid we are separated from our love for Him quite often. Our love for Him tends to be very circumstantial if we are all honest with ourselves.
But God’s love is constant. Not one thing can separate us from His amazing, ever-present love for us. That’s astounding. That’s awesome. And those are the words that Satan simply can’t say. He has no comeback, and he is silenced before them.
What then shall we say to these things when we are rejected, when Satan disguises himself as us and tells us that we are unloved and unwanted? We repeat God’s very words to ourselves, and what better words than the Triumph Song of Romans 8:31-39.
If God is for us, who can be against us?
We are more than conquerors through God who loves us.
Nothing can separate us from God’s love for us.
www.debwaterbury.com. Used by permission.