Not Rejected: How I Know What God Thinks of Me – IOTW Report

Not Rejected: How I Know What God Thinks of Me

Tuesday, 23 May 2017, 21:00 MJA Uncategorized 38

“For the sake of his great name the Lord will not reject his people, because the Lord was pleased to make you his own.”
1 Samuel 12:22

The Stream: I struggle with feelings of rejection. It isn’t so much that I am rejected as I feel rejected. I feel rejected when a piece I write isn’t up to par and I get a critical email about it. I feel rejected when I make a B in my PhD class rather than an A. I obviously did something wrong, I tell myself. There are many other situations in which I feel rejected.

But should these events frame how I feel about myself? Are grades or affirmations about my work really the bar I should be trying to reach?

One morning recently I prayed, “God, I know you don’t reject me, please fill me with joy and love and peace.” But I still felt awful about myself. As I was reading my Bible, I scoured the pages for anything about rejection. Every time I found a verse about rejection, I highlighted it.

And you know what? I found some treasures that I want to share with you. I hope they bless you like they blessed me.

What God Thinks of Us

Here’s how I know what God thinks of me — of us.

38 Comments on Not Rejected: How I Know What God Thinks of Me

  11. Thank you, MJA. Without God’s grace and mercy and love for me I don’t know how I would’ve made it the last few years since my wife died and ended up going over the deep end. God showed me how big he is and how little I am when I sat on the bow of the USS Kitty Hawk CV63 after flight ops had shut down for the night and I was able to catch a few moments watching the whole entire Universe unfold in front of me on very pitch black dark nights with no lights except red ones on the deck. I was 21, riding on the World’s largest aircraft carrier watching the entire Milky Way unfold in front of me in the middle of the Pacific Ocean and the Indian Ocean where I could se the Southern Cross. As big as that ship was it was nothing compared to the vastness of the Universe with stars everywhere 360 degrees all around me clear down to the horizon. God showed me how big he was and how much he cares for little seemingly insignificant me and how much he cared for me and everyone else in those quiet moments. It was one of the most humbling experiences I’ve ever had. I did get to see a lot of stars and the Milky way again a few years ago while camping with friends at a high mountain lake In N. Idaho at over a mile high in elevation. Once again I was awestruck at just how big God is and how much cares he cares for us. I was probably the one up most of the night watching the stars under clear blue skies watching it all unfold. Sometimes I think some of my friends think I’m nuts.

  14. Aardvark; ditto that. Stationed at Keflavik while dad was being called home to the Lord. Similar thoughts even though it was only dark from 0100-O300. Still had time to marvel at the stars. That God guy, he’s a good egg. Think I’ll stay with him.

  15. The Word from the Holy Bible
    NIV PSALM 139
    13 For you created my inmost being;
    you knit me together in my mother’s womb.
    14 I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
    your works are wonderful,
    I know that full well.
    15 My frame was not hidden from you
    when I was made in the secret place,
    when I was woven together in the depths of the earth.
    16 Your eyes saw my unformed body;
    all the days ordained for me were written in your book
    before one of them came to be.
    17 How precious to me are your thoughts, Oh God!
    How vast is the sum of them!
    18 Were I to count them,
    they would outnumber the grains of sand—
    when I awake, I am still with you.

  18. Aardvark; ditto that. Went to the gulf of Tonkin on board the USS Oriskny CV 34 as a brown shirt. There were times that I was able to lay down on the flight deck at night with a pair of Canon binoculars 7×50 and look into the Milky Way. It was an experience that touched my soul and become a life time memory. To me this universe is no accident. When I look, I see intelligent design. The middle of the ocean is a dark place. But it sure makes the heavens bright.

  20. MJA, Love is not based on performance, accomplishment. degrees, or any other external.
    The Creator knows all about our past, present, and future. The Father loves us anyway, just as we are. There is nothing we can do to separate from his love. {Romans 8]

  21. You don’t even have to go to sea. Go to your garden.
    There are caterpillars out there now. Soon they will pupate and become butterflies.

    No atheist will ever convince me that a crawly worm can suddenly decide to become a beautiful butterfly and go airborne if God didn’t gift that to us.

    Caterpillars and Butterflies are a simple reminder to anyone with half a brain that there is a grand designer.
    Only stupid people are in denial about this. Yeah. You that identifies as the a sensible liberal. You give yourself too much credit. You are simply in denial because it serves whatever lifestyle suits you. That is all.

  22. You’re welcome, guys.
    We love you, Callie <3

    iwitness02- I agree. When I have doubts, one of my dogs will walk into the room and I look at her and I think, No way she was an accident. She's so many things working all at once! She was created from something microscopic, she was born and now she is her full size and visibly an amazing little animal. And the same goes for when I see my little nephew, when I see a butterfly, water, and so on. No way we are just coincidences and accidents.

  25. Good stuff. God love His people. He chose us before the foundation of the world. This, and when you really think about the cost of salvation and our position as beings before we are saved…….should be enough to buckle your knees and just be silent in awe of Him. It overwhelms me……

    This is what separates Christianity from every other religion. We have nothing to add. He has done it all.

  29. “Without faith it is impossible to please God.”

    That has always been true. What that means is, faith specifically in what He says He wants YOU to believe.

    Example: you can find passages in the Bible where God forbad eating pork and lobster as very wrong things to do.

    But to try to transfer that warning to today, where there is no prohibition on pork or lobster, turns the Word of God into a lie and makes God a liar.

    He won’t stand for that.

    There are dozens of examples where Christianity has, over the past 2,000 years, done things exactly like that. Indeed, such twistings of God’s Word have been made the foundation of entire “Christian” belief systems that are very devout but nonetheless false, lifeless and utterly void of Him.

    The question you have to ask yourself is, Do I belong to one of those systems?

    Eternity depends on it, because all who preach and believe false gospels (which are many) will not be saved unless and until they hear and believe the Truth.

    Every single beat of your heart brings you one moment closer to death. After death, judgement. If you have not been forgiven and justified in Christ, you will be cast into the Lake the Fire. So you might want to look into it.

  30. The movie The Shack is surprisingly good. I mean, really really good, if you love God and want to watch a story about God’s love and forgiveness.

    I kept watching for moments to declare B.S.!, but they never came. Be sure to have a box of tissues.

    I highly recommend it.

  31. If they show Wallowa, Or. and Wallowa Lake in the movie I might go see it, otherwise not. Wallowa is one of my favorite places since I had relatives living there who we visited fairly often. It is also where the US Govt. kicked Chief Joseph and the Nez Perce Indians out of back in the 1870’s. We read The Shack in our book club, it does have an interesting take on thing s that I’m not quite sure I agree with totally.

  32. If the tomb is empty then anything is possible. Jesus defeated death & invited us to join him.

    It was always soooo hard for me to believe that His resurrection & promise of everlasting love counted for ME, but it did!

    And I also marvel at the intricacies of this world….the complexity of critters & plants & the galaxy itself. No way it came from anything but God’s intelligent design.

  33. It warms my heart to see so many comments from people here about faith, God, Jesus and the Bible. Sometimes it feels like no one else out there is…….then MJA or someone else here has a post like this……

    Thanks and God Bless IOTWReport…..

    Muddy

  35. God will not reject anyone, it’s you who rejects God.

    that’s called free will, believe in him or don’t.
    follow his commandments or don’t.
    your choice to not believe will break his heart but it’s really up to you.
    He will last forever, you ? only if you believe.

  37. Ignatian spirituality teaches us to pray for humiliations (the B instead of an A, and worse) so we can increase our humility which will decrease our pride, the number one big daddy of all sins. They might smart for a while, but they benefit us in the long run.

  38. David’s walk with God gives me encouragement. He was favored of God. Suffered much. Was not a pajama boy. Never turned on God for his own failings. Suffered consequences, yet stayed faithful.

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