Judges 11:7

New International Version (NIV)

Jephthah said to them, “Didn’t you hate me and drive me from my father’s house? Why do you come to me now, when you’re in trouble?”

For Meditation

Rejection is one of the most painful conditions anybody could be subjected to. We reject things because they don’t meet our standards. Sometimes, there is nothing wrong with a product, yet, we find fault with it. It is a human deficiency. We simply strain to find fault with something we don’t like in order to reject it. Unfortunately, we take it into our relationships. We think some people are not our type, or that there is something wrong with them, and so we reject them.

Jephthah was subjected to such cruel rejection at the hands of his brothers who couldn’t forgive him for being the son of a prostitute. He didn’t determine the relationship between his father and mother, but they held it against him. No one asks to be born to certain parents. But unfortunately, the world sees things differently. Jephthah’s brothers saw through a different periscope, and all they saw was the son of a prostitute; not a brother. Consequently, they couldn’t imagine sharing the family inheritance with him. They mistreated him and made his life miserable until he fled from them. Jephthah, however, didn’t let the brothers’ rejection discourage him. He did not wear it as a garment to a pity party. Rather, he wore it as a challenge to a better future (Judges 11:1-3).

No one should allow people’s opinion to define them. We chose what we want to be when we recognize what God has invested in us. It is a mind game people play with us and when we allow them to determine who we are, they demarcate our lives for us and we become the biggest losers. We shouldn’t allow or accept that from anyone. Jephthah looked beyond his brothers and his circumstances and saw the ability and faithfulness of God. All he had then was “a gang of scoundrels” (3), but he made the best of it. When the Ammonites came against Israel, there was no warrior as mighty as Jephthah, and the elders of Gilead fell on him for leadership (4-11). He became an indispensable reject to Israel as their leader for six years.

1. Isn’t God good?
2. Has He ever put you down as your parents, friends, or spouse might have done to you?
3. Why then have you allowed mere mortals to determine your self-worth?
4. Did God deny you salvation because you were undeserving?
5. Do you see the riches of His grace in Christ Jesus (Eph. 2:8-9)?

I pray you realize that your worth is never from any person, but only in Christ Jesus, who was himself, rejected by His people; but is now exalted to the highest place (Phil. 2:9).

So: Don’t accept people’s condemnation as a garment to be adorned with and be sorry for yourself. Rather, challenge yourself by their rejection and make something out of yourself for the glory of God in Christ Jesus.

When people reject you, Christ bids you to come to Him.

Shalom