Overcoming Rejection

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In Acts, Stephen is making a defence of Jesus and he refers back to Moses. He said, “This is the same Moses that you rejected with these words: Who made you ruler and judge?” (Acts 7:35)
Moses knew that he had been called by God to leave the people, but was also brought up in an Egyptian householders. Growing up he would have needed to wrestle with questions about his identity.
He saw an Egyptian oppression an Israelite and ended up killing him. The next day he tries to break up a fight between two Israelites – one of them had seen him kill the Egyptian and rejected him. Moses ran away.
Rejection has a powerful effect on our lives. It altered the way Moses saw himself.

Moses was no ordinary child (Acts 7:20) and was educated in Pharaoh’s palace.
Moses then spent years looking after sheep.
God called Moses to go back and to rescue the people. This was an incredible encounter and commissioning with God.
Moses was an eloquent, well-educated man and yet he said to God, “Lord, I have never been eloquent, neither in the past nor since you have spoken to your servant. I am slow of speech.”(Exodus 4:10)
For 40 years, he had been looking after sheep thinking about the time his fellow-countrymen rejected him. It had got into his soul and he began to have a skewed impression of himself.
When Colin was a young preacher, somebody had criticised his preaching and this got into his system and affected him for years.

When God told Moses to go, Moses said to God, “Who am I… please Lord, send someone else.”(Exodus 3:11, 4:13)
There wasn’t anyone else. All the other baby boys his age had been obliterated.
Sometimes when you have been rejected it causes you to say that you can;t do things, even when you know you can.

Some people who have been rejected end up isolating themselves and then causing further rejection.
At this point, even the Lord was starting to get angry with Moses.
Rejection can turn negative quickly – when things go wrong you can tend to get negative quickly.
Moses eventually went and Pharaoh rejected him and put harder burdens on the people.
Moses immediately complained to God – “Is this why you sent me?” (Exodus 5:22-23)
With rejection, setbacks immediately become compounded and turn to negativity instead of regrouping for another attempt.

When Jesus sent the 12 and the 70 he knew they would get rejected.
In the short instructions he gives them, he explains what to do when they get rejected for the gospel – shake the dust off their feet.
The idea is that it’s their problem, not yours.
Don’t let the rejection stick to you.

Anger and rejection can get mingled together.
Deal with it before you go to sleep.
For Moses it was 40 years undealt with and it caused a massive skew of his character.