The second part of this post series really has nothing to do with the first. Well, sorta? It is a running theme in life. We face rejection all the time. What happens when rejection comes as something we lost that we want back? What were the circumstances that led to the loss? What are the steps needed to recover what was lost? I want to pose these questions carefully to not imply that I need to reverse the direct effects of rejection in order to accept it or be content with God’s provisions in lieu of what is lost. And what is even making me think that the cure for rejection is recovery? What is the role of recovery within this concept of rejection? (That might be a question I try to tackle in part 3 if there is one).
Several months ago, I had recovered my King James bible from Estonia. I did not open it for several weeks because I knew where the bookmark was. My bookmark was on 1 Samuel 30. My heart was too heavy and burdened by the loss of my wives (plural?) and children (very plural) to bear reading this, one of my favorite passages in the bible.
So David and his men came to the city, and, behold, it was burned with fire; and their wives, and their sons, and their daughters, were taken captives.
And David was greatly distressed; for the people spake of stoning him, because the soul of all the people was grieved, every man for his sons and for his daughters: but David encouraged himself in the LORD his God.
1 Samuel 30:3,6 KJV
As a form of discipline, I forced myself to open my King James Bible. The pages naturally unfolded to the place my bookmark was located. I found something interesting. Chapter 29 of 1 Samuel was visible on the left side while chapter 30 was hidden behind my bookmark. So I thought, well, if Chapter 30 is too difficult to read right now, let’s just read chapter 29.
Then Achish called David, and said unto him, Surely, as the LORD liveth, thou hast been upright, and thy going out and thy coming in with me in the host is good in my sight: for I have not found evil in thee since the day of thy coming unto me unto this day: nevertheless the lords favour thee not. 7Wherefore now return, and go in peace, that thou displease not the lords of the Philistines. 8And David said unto Achish, But what have I done? and what hast thou found in thy servant so long as I have been with thee unto this day, that I may not go fight against the enemies of my lord the king? 9And Achish answered and said to David, I know that thou art good in my sight, as an angel of God: notwithstanding the princes of the Philistines have said, He shall not go up with us to the battle. 10Wherefore now rise up early in the morning with thy master’s servants that are come with thee: and as soon as ye be up early in the morning, and have light, depart.
1 Samuel 29:6-10 KJV
For several months I had stopped updating my blog. I wanted to write part 2 of this love and rejection series. I had several ideas of where to take the concept, but nothing felt exactly right. When I read 1 Samuel 29, I knew God was speaking to me. David went his own way to fight against Saul, and in doing so he left his family and all the families of his soldiers unprotected. But when he was rejected by the Philistine lords, God used this rejection to set David back on the path he should have been on which was to refocus himself on God’s leading… which led him to recover all the women and children taken captive.
I pose this question to myself and to anyone reading. When we face rejection, what is God moving us toward to recover?
David encouraged himself in the LORD his God… and so shall I.
Yet the LORD will command his lovingkindness in the daytime,
And in the night his song shall be with me, and my prayer unto the God of my life.
Psalm 42:8 KJV