God Himself experienced painful rejection almost from the time of man's creation. He made Adam and Eve in the deepest hope of a happy and successful relationship. They were created in His own image. He ardently wished for their total success. He wanted them to make the right choices that would lead them to the abundant life now—and eventually eternal life in His Kingdom. But they chose another way, as did their descendants.

Roughly 1,700 years after Adam and Eve, the vast majority of mankind had completely jumped the track. The jewel in the crown of God's creation, the ones with whom He personally identified, those He had lovingly made in His own image, had overwhelmingly turned their back on Him.

How do you think our Creator felt at this critical juncture in human history? "And the LORD was sorry that He had made man on the earth and He was grieved in His heart" (Genesis 6:6). God felt the deepest of emotions toward His wayward sons and daughters. At the time of the flood He knew what it was like to experience loss and rejection.

Yet God continued to work with mankind. Later He started a great work with one man, Abraham, which continued through his progeny. Eventually these people grew into the nation of Israel. God nurtured Israel in the wilderness after delivering the nation from the cruelty of human bondage in ancient Egypt. But they never wholeheartedly responded.

Some 500 years passed, and little changed in the way of human nature. Humanity still could not seem to see what God wanted them to perceive. Once again He was rejected by His own nation. They wanted a human king instead. In great disappointment God told His prophet Samuel: "Heed the voice of the people in all that they say unto you; for they have not rejected you, but they have rejected Me, that I should not reign over them" (1 Samuel 8:7).

Throughout human history the nations have rejected God's blessings for the empty shell of a way of life that has produced enormous pain and suffering, turning their backs on the One who alone could give them justice and peace. GN