Rejection and Fools Gold!

What do you want in a spouse? What do you want in a friend? These questions are not merely rhetorical. I’m sure I sound like a short-order cook, but I am feeling more like an old-time miner. Rejection is like that pan that those old-timers used to sift through the dirty water and debris in order to find the gold nuggets hidden in the river’s bottom.

As I have been dealt some blows, the worth in my relationships have become brilliantly clear to me like gold ore shining in the light of the sun as it beats on the shallow water depths in that miner’s pan. The fool's gold proves to be true to its name. It looks like the real-thing until adversity takes a bite out of the relationship. I hope you can learn from my experiences. So, go back and answer those questions, will you? Now, ask yourself what kind of friend and spouse do you want to become. Interestingly, rejection will get you closer to the person you want to see in the mirror.

I know rejection can be a good teacher. In fact, I have written in my blog about rejection before. Recent events had led me to a deeper revelation: the longer the rejection, the greater the impunity of its effects, the greater the call God has on one’s life. Think about it. Moses spent forty years in the desert after trying to rescue a couple Israelites from destroying each other. He ended up shepherding some gnarly sheep for forty years. All those years were a mere set-up for forty years with the true gnarly sheep, the nation of Israel. He obviously learned his lesson because he often found himself face down before G-d Himself. 

 That’s what people’s rejection can do for you- it can drive you to your knees making you the most-humble man or woman, an awesome intercessor, a friend of God, one who abides in His presence, and sees and carries His glory. YAHOO! Don’t let people drive you away from you’re Abba. Instead, run like crazy to Him and hide the tabernacle of His praise when you find yourself holding onto a piece of fool's gold.

Let’s look at Caleb, whose unceremonious name means dog. That’s got to bite. Pun intended. But he had the last laugh. He was one of two who made it into the Promise Land of the original people who left Egypt (Numbers 14:29-30; 26:64-65; 32:11-12).  Moreover, when God spoke of him, he said that His servant Caleb had a different kind of spirit. It takes a different kind of spirit to believe God when everyone else doubts.

Caleb was a warrior; despite the fact that he was a descendant of Esau, he grabbed a possession with the rest of Israel. He fought bravely claiming, "I am eighty and I am strong as when we first left Egypt." Wow! He took the name dog and rose up with a legacy that few have ever matched. So much for rejection:

"Surely there shall not one of these men of this evil generation see that good land, which I sware to give unto your fathers, Save Caleb the son of Jephunneh; he shall see it, and to him will I give the land that he hath trodden upon, and to his children, because he hath wholly followed the LORD"  (Deuteronomy 1:35-36).

The truth was that Caleb was an intercessor and a buffer for the people; he “quieted the people before Moses," and said, “Let us go up at once, and occupy it; for we are well able to overcome it” (Numbers 13:30). He resolutely proclaimed “If the Lord delight in us, then he will bring us into this land, and give it us” (Numbers 14:8). In his attempt to motivate the people to go up and possess the land which God had promised (Genesis 17:8), he insisted stirred up the people's wrath to the point that they wanted to kill him (Numbers 14:10). Imagine that! Believing God and exhorting people to believe was worthy of the death penalty. Truly, going back to Egypt was fool's gold, but trusting in God was where they real value lie, and Caleb knew it.  God declared, " But because my servant Caleb has a different spirit and follows me wholeheartedly, I will bring him into the land he went to, and his descendants will inherit it" (Numbers 14:24).

Listen friend, when God accepts you, the whole world must shut its mouth like it did before Caleb. What does rejection offer you: resiliency, courage, and undivided devotion to whom and what matters most- you remember those gold nuggets the next time you hear a door shut in your face. I must tell you that I believe that the greatest gift that rejection provides is the ability to love people who have wounded and hurt you and the ability to extend grace because you have received grace and mercy straight from the throne room.

A Fellow-Miner,

MJ
I would like to acknowledge Francine Rivers for her insightful work on the life Caleb and Ginger Garrett for her exhortation on the purpose of rejection.