Feeling Better: Devotions From Time Of Graceনমুনা

My Life: Nobody likes me

Isn't it amazing how long our memories of rejection persist? Last to be chosen for sports . . . no one to dance with at the prom . . . years of struggle to get hired . . . 40 years old and still single. What's even worse than not having anyone close is to be rejected by the one person you thought you could count on. 

When memories of rejection dominate our thoughts, it's because we are putting human relationships in first place. The way out of that gloom is to let God take his throne back in our lives. Sometimes God allows us to be rejected and burned by other people so that his steadfast love will shine all the brighter. "Though my father and mother forsake me, the LORD will receive me" (Psalm 27:10).

When you read the stories of the books of Joshua and Judges, you get the sense that God will do absolutely anything--even breaking the very laws of the universe he created--to make the lives of his people better. If God's faithful love and promises are the first thing we trust in and depend on, everything else will fall into place in its time. When you know that you can absolutely depend on the Lord's affection for you, you can face anything. "In the day of trouble he will keep me safe in his dwelling; he will hide me in the shelter of his tabernacle and set me high upon a rock" (Psalm 27:5).