By Not Known
Saul, as the first king of Israel gave us much for for thought. His recklessness and arrogance had caused his downfall in so many ways. He failed as God’s king because he took things into his own hands and did many things with utter disregard for God and his instructions. He went for personal honour instead of God’s. In the end, he was rejected.
However, in life, rejection is not uncommon. Every one of us experiences rejection at some time in our lives. Like Saul, it could be because of a failed relationship. Or we could feel rejection when we were repeatedly turned down for a job we really want. In fact, those who do not experience rejection are those who do not have interaction with others. Such people are lonely and probably reclusive too.
The fear of being rejected also produce damaging patterns of behaviour in our lives, We often stop believing that we are good enough for anything. Eventually, we become obsessive, clingy and perhaps even jealous of others. Such insecurity leads us on to want to destroy relationships around us. This happened to Saul when the deepening feelings of rejection led him to feel so insecure with others especially David, that he went out of his way to “get rid” of him.
At other times, rejection leads us to anxiety and anger as we falsely believe that others do not want to be with us. This strengthens the belief of self-negativism and triggers other destructive feelings of humiliation and inadequacy. The more one dwells on these feelings, the deeper the fears take root, and the worse the person becomes.
Recognition of the problem is a good start in dealing with it. Following that, we need to know the limits of our capacity in dealing with demands and expectations. We simply need to learn how to say no to them. Learn to accept compliments and graciously know that God has made us who we are and that we just need to be ourselves.
Most of all, be assured of being God’s child. That God has a plan for each of us and that he wants us to fully depend on him to realise his unique plan for each person.