Not Cast Off Forever

There’s nothing worse than being rejected. Cast off. Maybe a boyfriend broke up with you or a boss fired you. Maybe even your parents or siblings seem to have turned against you. There’s nothing worse than being rejected by other people. You ask: “Doesn’t anybody love me?”

Actually, there is something worse than being rejected by other people: Being rejected by God. Have you felt that? Like God is angry with you? Like there’s no way to overcome your guilt? There’s nothing worse than feeling God’s punishment instead of his grace.

That’s how God’s people felt long ago: Cast off. Because of their sins, God let their enemies conquer their country. In the middle of that destruction, they must have asked: “Doesn’t God love us?”

Here’s what God wrote in the Bible for those hurting people: “No one is cast off by the Lord forever. Though he brings grief, he will show compassion, so great is his unfailing love” (Lamentations 3:31-32). Aren’t those beautiful words? Those people weren’t cast off forever. No one is.

Including you. Though others may reject you, God doesn’t. How can you know? He sent his Son Jesus to die on the cross for your sins. When you see that Jesus was willing to die for you, you can know: “I am not cast off. I am loved. I am loved with an unfailing love!”

Trust this: There’s an expiration date on every suffering. “No one is cast off by the Lord forever.”

Pastor Nathan