Rejection A Suffered Pain.
Rejection is suffered by many of us how we handle it is determined how we apply the word of God and destroy the clutches of it in our life.
Rejection A Mental Strange.
Christ was Rejected By His Own.
Ps.118.22 “22 The stone which the builders rejected Is become the head of the corner.”
41:7, 8 A whispering campaign was going on against the sick man, and the prophets of doom were outthinking themselves in conceiving calamities for David. They spread the word that a fatal disease had attacked him and that his next stop would be the morgue.
41:9 Perhaps the “unkindest cut of all” was the treachery of one who had been an intimate friend. Of all the sorrows of life, this is certainly one of the bitterest—to be betrayed by one who has had close associations with you. It is a sorrow the Savior experienced in the betrayal of Judas, and a not-uncommon experience in the lives of those who follow this Captain.
The Lord Jesus quoted verse 9 in connection with Judas. However, it is significant that He omitted the words “my own familiar friend in whom I trusted.” Knowing in advance that Judas would betray Him, the Lord had never trusted him, so He simply said, “He who eats bread with Me has lifted up his heel against Me” (John 13:18).
41:10 David turns away from the one who had, as it were, stabbed him in the back, and looks instead to the LORD for mercy. When others were deserting him, he counts on the Lord to stand by faithfully. He then makes what might seem to be a strange request: “and raise me up, that I may repay them.” If at first this seems unworthy of a man of David’s stature, we must remember that he was the Lord’s anointed ruler of Israel, and it was his duty as king to deal with sedition and betrayal. While as an individual he might have chosen to tolerate villainy and treachery against himself, as the king he was obliged to suppress any attempts to overthrow the government.
41:11, 12 David sees in the failure of his enemies’ plots an indication of the Lord’s favor toward him. Then he adds:
You uphold me in my integrity,
And set me before Your face forever.
If we prefer this translation, it may sound as if David is boasting excessively. But he actually was a man of integrity in spite of his sins and failures. And compared to his foes he was a paragon of virtue. It is entirely possible that the Lord did uphold him because He saw sincerity and righteousness in his life.
Gelineau’s translation of the verse presents less difficulty:
If you uphold me I shall be unharmed
and set in your presence for evermore.
In this version everything is dependent on the Lord rather than on David’s integrity. The Lord’s sustaining grace assures safety in this life and a standing in the presence of the heavenly King forever.
41:13 Confident and serene, the psalmist now raises his voice in a parting burst of praise. Jehovah, the covenant-keeping God of Israel, is worthy to be worshiped from everlasting to everlasting. David could add a double Amen to this tribute, and so can we!
12:9 Paul’s prayer was answered, but not in the way he had hoped. In effect, God said to Paul, “I will not remove the thorn, but I will do something better: I will give you grace to bear it. And just remember, Paul, that although I have not given you what you asked for, yet I am giving you what you need most deeply. You want my power and strength to accompany your preaching, don’t you? Well, the best way to have that happen is for you to be kept in a place of weakness.”
This was God’s repeated answer to Paul’s thrice repeated prayer. And it continues to be God’s answer to his suffering people throughout the world. Better than the removal of trials and sufferings is the companionship of the Son of God in them, and the assurance of His strength and enabling grace.
Notice that God says, My grace IS sufficient for you. We don’t have to ask Him to make His grace sufficient. It already IS!
The apostle is completely satisfied with the Lord’s answer, so he says, “Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.”
When the Lord explained the wisdom of His actions, Paul said in effect that that was the only way he would want it to be. So instead of complaining and grumbling about the thorn, he would rather boast in his infirmities. He would get down on his knees and thank the Lord for them. He would gladly endure them if only the power of Christ might rest upon him. J. Oswald Sanders puts it well:
The world’s philosophy is, “What can’t be cured must be endured.” But Paul radiantly testifies, “What can’t be cured can be enjoyed. I enjoy weakness, sufferings, privations, and difficulties.” So wonderful did he prove God’s grace to be, that he even welcomed fresh occasions of drawing upon its fullness. “I gladly glory … I even enjoy”—my thorn.”49
“Because I called and you refused,
stretched out my hand but nobody responded,
you ignored all my counsel
and didn’t want my rebuke,
I too will laugh—at your calamity;
I’ll mock you when your terrifying fear comes—
when your terrifying fear comes like a storm—
and your calamity arrives like a tornado;
when distress and despair come upon you.”
“Then they will call to me and I won’t answer;
they will search for me early, but won’t find me,
Because they hated knowledge
and did not choose the fear of Yahweh,
Because they didn’t want my counsel,
despised my every reproof,
They will eat of the fruit of their ways
and be filled with their own schemes.
p 537 “Now, the turning away of the naive will kill them,
and the ease of the stubborn fools will destroy them.
“But the one who listens to me will dwell securely
and will be at ease from the terrifying fear of evil happenings.
2:10 Peter closes this section by referring to the book of Hosea. Using the prophet’s own tragic family life as an object lesson, God had pronounced judgment on the nation of Israel. Because of their unfaithfulness to Him, He said He would no longer have pity on them and that they would no more be His people (Hos. 1:6, 9). But the casting aside of Israel was not final, for the Lord also promised that in a future day, Israel would be restored:
Then the Lord said to him, “Loosen the sandals on your feet; the place where you are standing is holy ground.
I have seen the ill treatment of My people in Egypt, and I heard their groans, so I have come down to set them tree. Come now, I will send you to Egypt.”
This Moses—the one whom they rejected, saying, “Who appointed you a ruler and a judge?”—God sent as a ruler and redeemer with the assistance of the angel who appeared to him in the bush.
This man led them out, performing wonders and signs in the land of Egypt, in the Red Sea and in the desert for forty years.
This is the Moses who told Israel’s sons, “From among your brothers God will raise up a Prophet like me.”
This man is the one who was in the church in the desert together with the angel who spoke to him at Mount Sinai with our fathers, who received living oracles to give to us.
This is the one our fathers wouldn’t obey, but thrust him aside and in their hearts turned back to Egypt,
saying to Aaron, “Make gods for us who will lead us; we don’t know what has happened to this Moses who led us out of the land of Egypt.”
So at that time they made a calf and offered a sacrifice to the idol and applauded the works of their hands!
But God turned away and delivered them over to the worship of the stars of the sky, as it is written in the prophets’ book,
You didn’t offer victims and sacrifices to Me forty years in the desert, did you, house of Israel?
Indeed, you carried Moloch’s tent
and the god Rephan’s star,
the images you made to worship—
and I will deport you beyond Babylon.
Our fathers had the testimony tent in the desert, just as the One Who spoke to Moses commanded him according to the model that he had seen.
13:57, 58 They were offended at Him. This prompted Jesus to point out that a genuine prophet is generally more appreciated away from home. His own district and His own relatives allowed their familiarity to breed contempt. Unbelief largely hindered the Savior’s work in Nazareth. He healed only a few sick folk there (cf. Mark 6:5). It was not because He could not do the works; man’s wickedness cannot restrain God’s power. But He would have been blessing people where there was no desire for blessing, filling needs where there was no consciousness of need, healing people who would have resented being told they were sick.