Reject the Lie You Are Rejectable in God’s Delight

Never again will you be called "The Forsaken City"
or "The Desolate Land."
Your new name will be "The City of God's Delight"
and "The Bride of God,"
for the Lord delights in you
and will claim you as his bride.

Isa 62:4

I have a soft spot in my heart. It's the remnants of a painful wound that, although healed much by God over the years, is still easily triggered when stepped on - rejection. 

Due to years of rejection as a child from my peers and then a divorce in my early twenties because my ex chose alcohol over his daughter and me, this wound runs deep. And the enemy loves to poke at this soft spot. He can take small things and tear at this wound, reopen it, flooding my life with pain. 

The other day, my husband (the amazing one I've been married to now by God's grace for over thirteen years) stepped on this rejection nerve. He loves to snowboard, and we have been having a fantastic snow year, so he has been going a lot. But, unfortunately, I do not like to snowboard or ski. I could live where it is forever summer or be a snowbird heading south for warmer weather. But this particular weekend, I thought a winter event sounded fun: dogsledding, ice skating, and hot chocolate around a fire. I wanted to take the family. But another big storm was coming, so, when I asked my husband if he wanted to go, he told me he was thinking of going snowboarding instead. 

Instantly, my rejection soft spot was stepped on. I could feel the hurt spreading in my heart when the enemy joined in, poking at the weak spot and sending firey darts aimed right at it. 

"See, he doesn't want to hang out with you."

"Snowboarding is more important than hanging out with you." 

"He likes snowboarding more than you. And you are not a snowboarder, so he doesn't like you."

And the worst part is, I start agreeing with them because there is still a little girl in me who feels unliked and rejected. Certainly, no one delights in her company - she should know that by now. Hasn't it been shown over and over to her?

But, of course, this is not what he meant and not what he said. And this is not the truth. I needed to remind myself of the truth and fight with the truth. 

The hard truth is life will be filled with moments of rejection if we take every different opinion, differing desire, or conflict in the schedule as a rejection. If we believe that we are easily rejectable, everything will feel like a rejection. We must heal from the belief that we are easily rejected. 

But how?

God has taught me over the past few years that the key to healing and withstanding future instances of rejection is to heal the from the belief that I am rejectable by knowing and experiencing His delight in me. You see, the only place we will never be rejected is in our Father's love. He delights in us, His precious daughters, and longs for us to come to Him so He can sing over us (Zeph 3:17). 

But this is hard to believe for those with a rejection wound. We have to learn to believe that God truly and unconditionally loves us. But even further, we have to believe that He does not just love us with obligatory love because he has to as a father, but that He truly delights in us. He likes us. He delights in us like a parent delighting in their children. Happy to be with them and delighting in who they are. 

This may be a new thought for you. It certainly was for me. But God has been using my children and how much I delight in them as a reminder that He, as the perfect Father, delights in me more than even I delight in them. He has also made it a point to take me to many places in the Bible where He talks of His delight in us, and I would like to share those with you.

For the Lord delights in his people; he crowns the humble with victory. Psalm 149:4

He brought me out into a spacious place; he rescued me because he delighted in me. 2 Samuel 22:20

The Lord your God is with you,
the Mighty Warrior who saves.
He will take great delight in you;
in his love he will no longer rebuke you,
but will rejoice over you with singing." Zep 3:17. 

And my new favorite, the one that helped me get through this recent disappointment that felt like rejection and defeat the enemy's attempts to make me feel rejected and rejectable: 

Never again will you be called "The Forsaken City"
or "The Desolate Land."
Your new name will be "The City of God's Delight"
and "The Bride of God,"
for the Lord delights in you
 and will claim you as his bride. Isa 62:4

I may have faced rejection from my peers and ex-husband, but God has redeemed me. I may face new situations where I or my ideas are rejected, but I am not rejectable. And neither are you. The Lord delights in us and has claimed us as His bride (Isa 62:4). So we must reject the lie that we are rejectable. The Lord takes great delight in us. The King of the Universe made us, likes us as we are, and delights in us. 

Will you let Him delight in you? Sing over you? Tell you He is crazy about you and would never reject you? It's time to fight the enemy's lies that you are rejectable. You are a daughter of the King - a masterpiece knit together by the master creator in your mother's womb, and He takes great delight in you. 

Let's Pray: 

 Our Father in heaven, you are so good. You are the master creator and we know that your works are wonderful. Help us to believe that we are one of those marvelously made works of yours and that you delight in us. So often in life others have made us feel rejected and rejectable, but you say you rejoice over us. You say you delight in us. Help us to believe this truth and fight with this truth. It is in your love we are healed. In Jesus's mighty name, Amen.