Have you ever worked so hard for something just to have it ripped away from you? For example, Olympic gymnast Shawn Johnson worked her whole life to compete in the Olympic games and win gold only to walk away from the 2008 games with 3 silver and 1 gold. Talk about disappointment. Shawn tells her testimony on iamsecond.com and shared about how she felt like a failure. Tim Tebow is another one I can think of who was a star quarterback in the NFL and even won the Heisman only to turn around and be traded multiple times and told he wasn’t good enough. Tim writes about these low points in his new book, Shaken. Tim, better than most knows what it feels like to be rejected and feel like you have no purpose.
It is easy when something we love and something we have worked for is taken away, to feel like you are a failure and like you have no purpose. In the moment, it hard to see the why and to look past the hurt that has been caused. Rejection hurts and it is something that we are all going to have to face in life. In these moments, we can choose to dwell in our pain and feel sorry for ourselves or we can choose to look to the One who is bigger than all our problems.
First, let me tell that it’s okay to be hurt. It’s okay to be angry and want to cry. We were created as a people with emotions and that is something that is so beautiful about us as humans. Thankful we have a God who hears our cries and is there to comfort us. Psalm 34:17-18 says, “When the righteous cry for help, the Lord hears and delivers them out of their troubles. The Lord is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit.” How encouraging to know that we can a God who loves and cares about us even in our deepest time of need. We can cry out to Him whenever and He hears us.
There are so many places in the bible where it talks about Gods plan and purpose for our life. (Jeremiah 29:11, Romans 8:28, Exodus 9:16, Proverbs 19:21, and I could go on and on.) We see throughout scripture that no matter what we are faced with in life that we have a purpose. God even had a plan for the Israelites when they were led out of Egypt and for King David when he slept with Bathsheba and had Uriah killed, or for Daniel when he was in the lion’s den. Don’t you think that if God had a plan and purpose in all these situations that he has one for you too? You might not have the job you want, you might not be on the team you want, but no matter the situation, God is going to use you. Don’t lose sight of Him because you have a purpose and while it may be hard to see at times, you can hold on to the truth that we serve a God who can move mountains and a God who we can place our identity in, even when the world shakes us.
